Book recommendation "Seelenfraß - Wie Sie den inneren Terror der Angst besiegen"
(Translation: "Soul junk - How you can conquer the internal terror of anxiety")
(Translation: "Soul junk - How you can conquer the internal terror of anxiety")
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The therapist: "Anxiety is often suppressed as stress"
Psychiatrist Margot Schmitz on anxiety at work and strategies to resolve it |
Do you know who has the best sleep? Civil servants. The reason: They are not usually faced with as much pressure as people in other careers. They don't need to be anxious about losing their jobs. For this reason, they live in a more stress and anxiety free way. And they are better at relaxing. Many people are tortured by the anxiety of losing a job. The anxiety of the economic and social decline. Above all, when they have the feeling of being helpless in the face of the danger. Helplessness fuels the anxiety. Anyone who has the feeling of being unable to master job-related assignments, anyone who has a fear of failing is equally living with an internal time bomb. Just like those whose bosses don't recognise their achievements or those who must continually expect to receive reproaches, accusations and who are at the mercy of their boss' moods. At the same time, bosses have an especially authoritarian manner when they themselves have anxieties, and don't feel able to cope with demands.
Thos who can find solutions for the problems with which they are confronted, are able to withstand stress. However, those who consider themselves to be continually stressed, also feel out of their depth. Chronic stress is nothing more than the anxiety of being unable to cope with the demands of daily life. Anyone describing this anxiety as stress is trying to suppress it. This is certainly of no help. The body rebels against it. In the case of chronic stress, it runs continually at full speed. It uses enormous amounts of energy. This causes it to get more worn out. And devours the soul's junk food. Chronic stress, anxiety triggers biological chaos in the head. We need stress hormones, such as cortisol, to enable us to react more quickly in acute danger. However, these hormones act like poison in the case of continual stress. They attack the area of the brain that is responsible for orientation and which helps us to conquer anxiety: the Hippocampus. Nerve cells die off there. The thinking-brain shrivels. The memory becomes damaged. It gets more difficult to understand contexts. Anxiety grows as a result of this.
But that's not enough. States of anxiety promote the metablosim in that part of the brain where the anxiety manifests itself: in the amygdala. The anxiety-brain becomes more dominant. Anxiety coaching is the best stress management because it is targeted at keeping the anxiety-brain in check, strengthening the thinking-brain, solving problems and managing anxiety (!) alone. A good anxiety coach is nothing more than a management consultant. If the anxiety-brain is out of control, it may be initially necessary to treat this with medication. So that the hyperactivity in the anxiety-brain is brought to a stop. It is necessary to obtain an exact diagnosis from a specialist doctor. Anyone suffering from such an anxiety disturbance and who is afraid of seeing a psychiatrist, quickly blocks the path that could lead him or her out of their anxiety.
What else helps?Sport. This reduces stress hormones. What causes damage: Alcohol, coffee and cigarettes. These lead you to fuelling the stress further.
