ANXIETY
Anxiety is a general feeling of unease, such as worry or fear, ranging from mild to severe. We all suffer from anxiety from time to time, however, for many, it is more of a chronic condition affecting their daily lives. Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a long term condition of anxiety over a wide range of situations or issues. People often find themselves tense, feeling restless or worried and have difficulty sleeping.
Possible causes have been suggested, some of which are overactivity of certain areas in the brain involved in emotions and behaviour, an imbalance in serotonin and noradrenaline, hereditary or a history of traumatic experiences in your life and/or unresolved issues. The physical manifestations of anxiety are hyperventilation causing respiratory muscles to tighten, poor diaphragmatic breathing, poor oxygen perfusion in all body tissues, inadequate carbon dioxide removal from the body, over stimulation of the bowel leading to irritable bowel, constipation, diarrhoea, increased sweating among many others. Psychologically, anxiety can prevent the individual from performing tasks to the best of their ability, impair concentration, can result in low self esteem, agoraphobia and other phobias.
WHAT PRACTITIONER AT THE AARK CLINIC SHOULD I SEE?
Various therapies available at The Aark clinic can be used singly, or in combination, to help combat the debilitating symptoms associated with anxiety and other anxiety related disorders. They can help restore balance back to your life and give you the control you need. Please contact us to discuss with our expert practitioners.
HYPNOTHERAPY & COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY FOR ANXIETY
Nina House uses a combination of Hypnotherapy & CBT to help you deal with anxiety. Hypnotherapy can be used for relaxation, but also helps with positive suggestion. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy looks at your thoughts, behaviours and emotions and aims to re address the balance between these. This has shown to be a very successful method of dealing with the symptoms of anxiety, reprogramming the way you think, feel and act, which in turn, allows you to cope with things that may have previously caused attacks of anxiety.
OSTEOPATHY FOR ANXIETY RELATED SIDE EFFECTS
Osteopaths do not claim to treat Anxiety as the condition is vastly complex. It is a combination of mental, emotional and physical. However, Lloyd Tilney uses Osteopathy to treat many of the physical effects of anxiety. For example, a person with anxiety may have increased tension across the shoulders, tight muscles in the neck. They typically shallow breathe leading to poor recruitment of the diaphragm muscle ( the diaphragm is fundamental to many crucial physiological functions).
Its important to remember that our muscles, joints, tendons, bones are intrinsically linked to our organs, you cannot affect one without the other. So by working on the joints, muscles, bones etc osteopaths are also having direct effects on the visceral organs. This is how osteopathy can help.
Osteopathy does not deal with the emotional side of anxiety but rather focuses on the physical ramifications that anxiety plays upon the body. Anxiety compromises breathing mechanisms causing shallow breathing, tight diaphragm, chest, upper back and neck muscles which leads to poor oxygenation of the body. By working on the problem backwards ie the physical results that the emotions play on the body, an Osteopath can help you take in more oxygen with better breathing mechanisms, can apply techniques to release joints in the neck which can cause a reset of the Vagus (controls autonomic) and Phrenic nerves which control diaphragm. By calming and resetting the sympathetic nervous system, symptoms can be alleviated or reduced.