Anxiety and stress is a normal, healthy feeling that is experienced by everyone. It is the body’s way of reacting to situations and the daily pressures of life. Extreme anxiety can cause adverse effects physically, psychologically and emotionally.
Many people have particular worries about social situations like public speaking or talking to authority figures, or experience more general feelings of shyness or a lack of confidence. For some, however, these social anxieties and fears can become much more troubling and difficult to cope with.
This sort of anxiety is usually caused by bottled up emotions stored in the subconscious mind and it can be triggered by people, experiences and events in your everyday life which stir up these bottled up thoughts and feelings without you being aware of it happening – all you are aware of is feeling anxious or panicky.
Anxiety symptoms are varied. At their mildest, we might experience butterflies in the stomach. But more severe symptoms can include shaking, a racing heart, hot flushes, chest pains, breathlessness, dizziness, pins and needles and a sensation of feeling ‘unreal’ in the company of others.
When clients suffer from an anxiety disorder it may lead to avoidance of certain situations because they fear their anxiety may be triggered. This can in turn lead to relationship and/or career problems such as not being able to achieve potential job opportunities or promotions and being unable to develop personal relationships.