According to the World Health Organisation (2014) a state of wellbeing is when an “individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to contribute to her or his community.”
Stress often triggers anxiety in our lives. This stress arises in any event, situation or circumstance occurring in an individual’s environment, which is perceived by the individual to be threatening to his/her well-being and healthy functioning. Lazarus 1984.
It’s natural to experience stress and anxiety from time to time; that’s part of being human. But when you have crippling anxiety — the kind that overpowers you to the point where you are unable to regularly attend to day-to-day functions — you might be dealing with an anxiety disorder.
Anxiety levels are typically classified by the level of distress and impairment experienced into four categories:
If they are not helped people can then develop anxiety disorders. ‘People with anxiety disorders usually have recurring intrusive thoughts or concerns. They may avoid certain situations out of worry. They may also have physical symptoms such as sweating, trembling, dizziness or a rapid heartbeat.’ Encyclopedia of Psychology
Mental health is a continuum, ranging from a state of optimum health, to having an illness or disorder, which affects thoughts, emotions or behaviour. Most of us are somewhere in the middle of this continuum for the majority of the time. We all do experience challenges to our mental health but most are able to respond to these constructively.
The symptoms of anxiety disorders can easily be ignored because they tend to develop gradually over time. Given that we all experience some anxiety, it can be hard to know how much is too much.
Anxiety diagnoses are characterized by three areas: physical, psychological, behavioral.
Some of specific signs include:
It is significant that 55% of the World Health Organization’s focus is mental health because of the international increase in stress anxiety levels. They claim that anxiety and depression will be the number one cause of disability in the developed and developing world by 2030.
According to Beyond the Blue 2014, ‘Mental illness is the third-highest burden in Australia with cancer and vascular disease being the first and second. On average 1 out of 6 people (1 out of 5 women, and 1 out of 8 men) will encounter depression at some stage in their lives. Many will live with more than one mental illness such as anxiety and depression that commonly occur together.”
Join the Hope Guardians community!
Subscribe for regular updates and insights.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
Thank you for expressing an interest in Hope Guardians. We are working hard to achieve our goal of thousands of free online 1-to-1 therapy sessions with mental health professionals. In the meantime, let us know how you’d like to help, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!
Thank you for expressing an interest in Hope Guardians. We are busy recruiting therapists to join Hope Guardians in order to ensure the highest quality of therapist for you. Feel free to send us your details below but please understand we cannot assist you just yet and will be in touch as soon as we can!
Leave a Reply