A growing number of people of all ages already suffer from anxiety on a regular basis due to a variety of internal and external causes. Often it can be traced back to a specific and unresolved trauma, while other more generalized anxiety comes from environmental stressors related to work, school, family and financial issues. Internal stressors include illness, genetic predispositions and brain chemistry that alters the way a person produces hormones, processes emotions and, ultimately, handles stress.
Add these individual factors to the pressures of round-the-clock news coverage, health and safety concerns, disrupted school and work routines, and extended isolation from friends and family due to worries about Covid 19 exposure, and anxiety levels can be exacerbated in young and old alike.
Whatever the reason behind them, anxiety disorders can be debilitating, with sufferers often experiencing worry to the point that it interferes with life’s daily activities. Whether sufferers struggle with an ongoing, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) or more sudden attacks of intense anxiety or panic, in extreme cases, both can manifest in physical symptoms and affect heart, digestive and joint health, as well as overall quality of life. Symptoms include heart palpitations, sweating/flushing, headache and backache, fatigue, restlessness, digestive issues like diarrhea and nausea, and difficulty sleeping and concentrating, as well as an onslaught of negative thoughts and fears.
As with other mental health conditions, it’s possible to find significant relief from anxiety disorders with treatment. Effective treatments include:
Talk and Behavioral Therapy – This involves working with a therapist to actively reduce anxiety symptoms, as well as to develop coping skills and address issues that may be preventing a person from participating in normal activities.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) – A psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences. Repeated studies show that by using EMDR therapy people can experience the benefits of psychotherapy that once took years to make a difference. It is widely assumed that severe emotional pain requires a long time to heal. Learn more about what EMDR is here.
NeuroEmotional Technique (NET) – This proven hands-on approach is particularly useful when dealing with anxiety triggered by unresolved stress. Using a manual muscle test to cross-check stress responses against specific points on the body NET can identify involuntary physiological responses like muscle spasm/tension, physical pain, decreased range of motion, etc. to stress triggers. Once the negative associations and stored response patterns are pinpointed, the body is more responsive to other prescribed healing therapies.
Acupuncture Therapy – Shown to effectively relieve pain and reduce anxiety by assisting the body’s own healing mechanisms, this ancient Chinese method works to restore energy flow that’s been interrupted by stress or other intense emotions along the body’s meridians. Patients often report immediate results.
Conventional Prescription Medications – Drugs often prove effective at treating anxiety disorders, but may require long-term use to keep anxiety at bay, and come with a host of undesirable side effects.
There are many reasons you might be feeling more anxious than normal right now. Talk with us about trying Acupuncture or the Neuro Emotional Technique to help with your anxiety issue. If you are already receiving treatment through traditional therapies, we can add these proven, holistic healing methods to your current treatment protocol to increase effectiveness and, hopefully leave you feeling better naturally.