People of all ages find it difficult to control their thoughts and maintain a balanced state of mind.
Some people describe their mood as “anxious”. However there are differences between having anxiety and feeling everyday stressors.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety it the assumption that in the near future, you or someone close to you will experience:
- More pain than pleasure
- Greater loss than Gain
- More negative than positive
- Greater drawback than benefit
A lopsided perception has been created. This imbalanced perception of reality leads to the symptoms we call anxiety.
There are several types of anxiety, each have different features.
Sub-types include:
- General anxiety disorder (GAD)
- Panic disorder
- Obsessive compulsive disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Social phobia,
- Social anxiety
- Specific phobias.
Signs of general anxiety disorder include:
- Excess daily anxiety
- Worrying about various events
- Difficulty controlling worry for more than 6months.
Feeling restless, poor concentration, muscle tension or poor sleep most days in the past 6 months.
Western Medical View
Firstly, Western medicine doesn’t know what causes general anxiety disorder.
The Merck manual describes anxiety as a response to stressors such as the end of a relationship.
Symptoms of anxiety are often associated with physical disorders such as:
- Hyperthyroidism
- Tumour of the adrenal gland
- Cushing’s syndrome
- Heart failure
- Abnormal heart rhythm
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Physical exam, history and lab tests are used to find whether anxiety is due to a drug or physical problem.
Side effects from caffeine, alcohol, drugs and sedatives are known to trigger feelings of anxiety.
Genetic factors and learned behaviour from others are considered.
Treatment is symptomatic with anti-depressants, anti-anxiety drugs and SSRIs. These can be effective after a few weeks but come with side effects.
Chinese Medical (CM) View
Chinese medicine views the physical body and the mind as part of a dynamic whole.
Anxiety is considered a normal reaction to stress and can help as a coping mechanism.
However, it’s considered a problem if anxiety becomes an excessive reaction to everyday problems.
It becomes a problem when it lasts long after an event has already passed.
There are two types of anxiety in Chinese medicine:
- “Fear and palpitations” (Jing Ji) is caused by external events such as fright or shock. It comes and goes.
*Palpitations meaning a subjective sensation of the heart beating in the chest (not tachycardia).
- “Panic throbbing” (Zheng Chong) is not caused by external events, is continuous and more serious. This is due to constitutional problems.
5 Underlying Causes of Anxiety in CM
1. The most common cause of Anxiety in Chinese medicine is insufficient blood flow through the heart.
2. Secondly, unresolved emotional stress (excessive worry, fear, joy, shock, unresolved guilt, grief or shame), often combined with a weak adrenal gland.
3. Irregular diet impairs a wide variety of functions throughout the body including gut health. Diets high in carbohydrates are generally unhelpful. High proteins and fat diets have been clinically effect to reduce feelings of anxiety.
4. A heavy loss of blood during childbirth or menstrual bleeding. This leads to heart blood insufficiency and symptoms of anxiety, and post-natal depression.
5. Finally, working long hours without rest for many years is taxing and leads to a deficiency of the adrenal glands. This may affect the heart and cause chronic anxiety and fear.
Treatment may include acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine depending on the cause. Both the symptoms and the underlying cause are targeted.
4 Lifestyle Tips To Manage Anxiety
- Firstly, get a correct diagnosis
- Secondly, avoid stimulants such as coffee.
- Finally, book an assessment here.
David L. Edwards is an author, Chinese medicine physician and acupuncturist. He is the author of The Body Fat Formula and The Pocketbook guide to Chinese medicine (available on amazon). David is the director of Barefoot Health and Wellness health programs.
Apply for an assessment here.
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References
- Porter, Kaplan (editors). The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, 19th ed. Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Whitehouse Station, N.J. pg. 1493-1502, 2011.
- Maciocia, Giovanni. The Practice of Chinese Medicine, Churchill Livingstone, New York, pg. 387-403, 2008.
- Demartini,, John, The Breakthrough experience course notes, The Demartini Institute, 2012.
Hi there, thanks for the great article. I have a question I’m hoping you might be able to answer.
I was wondering, What’s the difference between general anxiety and social anxiety?
My doctor told me I may suffer from anxiety but I
don’t know which… I would appreciate any insight you
can provide.
Hi Mental health education. Thank you for your question.
It’s always best to ask your doctor more questions about his/her diagnosis so that you are both on the same page.This will allow you to develop good communication with your doctor.
In response to your question, there is some overlap in general anxiety disorder (GAD) and social anxiety disorder.
The key differences are that social anxiety is a persistent fear of one or more social or performance situations in which the person is exposed to a new groups of people or to scrutiny by others. A person may fear that he/she will act in a way that will be embarrassing in the social setting.
GAD on the other hand is more generalised. It’s excessive worry about a variety of events or activities outside of the social setting. GAD is associated with 3 or more (1 or more for children) physical symptoms: restlessness, feeling on edge, fatigued, poor concentrating, irritability, Muscle tension and sleep disturbances.
Both Social and GAD are expected to have occurred for more days than not for at least 6 months to confirm a diagnosis.
An ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVE on the difference of the two is this…
GAD is the perception that you or someone else are about to experience more pain than pleasure, more loss than gain, more negative than positive, more risk than reward. The lopsided perception creates the physical symptoms of fear and anxiety.
While social anxiety can sometimes be a comparison of yourself to others.
For example, the perception that a person/s have something you don’t forces you to feel they are above or better than you. This perception creates feelings of inadequacy and a low self worth. In this situation, it’s wise to ask yourself what qualities you see inside those people you feel insecure around. Next, ask yourself where you have displayed these same qualities and who else sees those inside of you. This can help to level the playing field in your mind.
Again, I recommend going over your diagnosis with your personal physician so that you can achieve your desired outcomes together .
It’s really a nice and helpful piece of information. I am happy that you shared this useful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.