Is anxiety an illness of our emotions?

[Julie996]

Hello

I have been diagnosed as having anxiety and the symptoms-  range from low - very high.
Although i am physically well ie , exercise, diet, sleeping etc , i also have continuing thoughts that seem real , its like memories could , are distorted, or my imagination in some way, i wander if this is due to my emotional state, anxiety and low self esteem?. I am able to hold down a responsible post/ job

[MrGreen]

I would class it as an illness of the mind. Thus the term mental health. Emotions do come into it big time. We are feeling very low. So we can get emotional. There are some therapies that involve the emotions / crying. Thus working on the principle that if we let go of those emotions we should begin to feel better. So if you ever feel like crying then go ahead and cry. It will do you good.

[Jikan]

Namaste Julie,

Having been diagnoised with anxiety are you taking any medications or participating in any form of adjunct therapy(i.e. counseling, accupunture, etc.)?

You range of emotions is not unusual for a person suffering from anxiety, but with proper treatment they should be somewhat more stable rather than flying all over the place.

You're doing a lot of the right things like exercise, diet and sleep which are very important. I find it's imperative that I maintain a ritualistic routine in order to maintain some sanity.

If your symptoms are bouncing around and you're not on medication, that may help. Talk therapy can help with your self-esteem issues, from which I think we all suffer.

Seek out a good(qualified) mental health provider and let them know what's been going on and I'm sure you can et a lot more stability in your life.

Michael(Jikan)

[Nasal_Problems]

Hi Julie,
Lots of people with anxiety can hold down responsible jobs. That's great! Just cause you have anxiety doens't mean your not intelligent. Actually, it's been shown that people with anxiety tend to be MORE intelligent.... we have great imaginations, that's for sure.

I know what you mean about your imagination.... I think of these as racing thoughts.

It's important to understand something when you experience these. First, you are completely normal everyone experiences these. Second, your mind and "you" are not the same. For instance, during the day I often talk to myself (not out loud of course). Most people do this too. When I do talk to myself (planning out my day when getting ready for work for instance), I often notice myself (or my mind) saying "you" to me. To provide an example, "you have to take the dog out then grab something to eat before work." Why would that happen if we (me and the you) weren't seperate?

The reason I mention this, is everyone gets racing thoughts. Right now, your problem is you aren't letting them (and your mind) be. You think there's something wrong with having them. A person without anxiety would just observe the thought and move on like it never happened. Those with anxiety try to make them stop because they think there's something wrong with having them, which actually increases them. You can't control your mind (thoughts) in that way, it's actually counterintuitive to do so because once you try to fight your mind, you're getting it juiced up on something being wrong and the thing that is wrong is your mind thinking, which happens all the time.  

My advice... let the thoughts float by... do not judge them. Since I've learned this, it has helped me much. Hope it helps you too, and I hope this post wasn't too confusing.

Good luck. :)

[Julie996]

Thanks

Yes i have been on various anti depressants- Effexor at the moment - for nearly 20 years, and i have a therapist who i like and trust- in many ways. I  had accupuncture last year - in the hope it would bring my adrenalin levals down, to no avail, so i met with my therapist twice weekly- just to ground me as such. I have woobled for many years and have dipped in and out of various talking therapies and complementary ones, and last year- the lid blew off- so to speak, after a spell of Homeopathy and stress at work.
I an fine on a rational leval- as you might notice- but other wise....
Julie