Anxiety is an unpleasant feeling that we all experience at times. It is a word often used to describe when we feel ‘uptight’, ‘irritable’, ‘nervous’, ‘tense’, or ‘wound up’. Symptoms may cause us to withdraw from social contact to avoid feelings of worry and dread. We may also find going to work difficult and stressful and feel unable to cope with it leading to absence. When we are anxious we normally experience a variety of uncomfortable physical sensations. These include:
- Increased heart rate
- Muscular tension
- Sweating
- Trembling
- Feelings of breathlessness
As well as this, anxiety affects us mentally too. For example, when anxious, we often worry for large periods of time, so much so that our worry can feel out of control. These worries are often about a variety of issues and commonly our mind jumps quickly from one worry to another.
Anxiety also influences how we behave. For instance, when we feel anxious, we often avoid doing things that we want to because we are worried about how they will turn out. Although short experiences of anxiety are part and parcel of daily life, it becomes challenging when anxiety begins to follow people around and is a regular feature in their lives.
Help is available for people with anxiety; effective therapy for anxiety is psychological, holistic and personalised and needs to be delivered over a sustained period, you can ask your GP for help or approach local NHS services but you are likely to experience a waiting list. Silver Street Clinic offers an initial appointment within 10 days of referral and will take the form of a detailed assessment normally lasting for up to 90 minutes. The assessing clinician will ask you questions about the problems you are experiencing and will also take a history. After the initial assessment the clinician will give a recommendation for appropriate therapeutic plans.
Specialist Clinicians:
Kate Tyler Paula Appleton Emma Flint Maria Garcia-Tejon Mags Aldridge Julian Hayes Helen Watson Kevin Amazona Laura Fulcher