How Anxiety Works in the Human Body

New scientific discoveries have recently revealed how the human body responds to the hormones that cause anxiety and stress - such as the fight and flight response. I have long been aware in my research how neuroscience can help provide sources of evidence and methodology into my counselling practice. At Enduringmind, Counselling in Twickenham I have many clients who are suffering with deeply ingrained patterns of anxiety – including generalised anxiety disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, panic attacks, phobias and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I firmly believe that these conditions have their roots in our evolutionary past, our childhood development and the physiological responses to stress. Now it turns out that we know more and more about how anxiety and stress is transmitted from brain to body and vice versa, not only in terms of how stress hormones – such as adrenalin and cortisol – are transmitted through our neuronal network from the limbic system, but right down to the molecular level through microscopic cells....

World Mental Health Day

Today is the 20th annual World Mental Health Day and it is no accident that the theme is "Depression: A Global Crisis."

Again this acts as a stark reminder that Mental Health is not an issue we can hope to wish away simply because it remains an invisible blight; locked away in the minds of millions suffering from mental ill health. It is also a timely reminder that a divided society and broken economy has an ever increasing destructive impact on the quality of all our lives – old and young, rich and poor and a diverse number of ethnic and social backgrounds.

‘According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), depression affects more than 350 million people of all ages, in all communities, and is a significant contributor to the global burden of disease. Although there are known effective treatments for depression, access to treatment is a problem in most countries and in some countries fewer than 10% of those who need it receive such treatment.’

The point of Mental Health Day is that it is designed to raise public awareness about mental health issues across the globe. The day is about promoting an open discussion/debate about mental disorders, improvements in prevention, promotion and treatment in mental health services.

‘UK insurance firm Aviva has found from its Health of the Workplace 2012 report, published on Monday, that while employees are generally feeling less stigma in the workplace, a third  still feel that mental health remains a 'taboo' subject that is seldom talked about. Over half of employees think that physical illness will always carry less stigma than mental health.’

‘The report also found that of those who feel stigma has decreased, around half (48%) of employees attribute this to a better understanding of mental health among peers and colleagues. Over a third of employees say that TV and press campaigns, such as Mind's 'Time to Change' campaign, have helped remove the stigma associated with mental health problems.’

That does not mean that the stigma of mental health has gone away – it still causes pain, isolation, loneliness and fear – for those who suffer from it and their immediate family. Over a quarter of people believe that celebrities talking openly about their mental health has created an increasing awareness and understanding of the problem, while under a quarter of employees believe that the Government's mental health strategy has helped. But has it. It would seem that when government pulls out funding for mental health services in the NHS, charities, counselling agencies, GP funding for mental health and IAPT (improving access to psychological therapies)

Dr Wright, medical director for Aviva, UK Health, said: ‘Mental health is high on the agenda for both employees and employers in the UK. Employers have a vital role in helping to support those who are suffering from depression, anxiety or other psychiatric conditions.’

Kevin Friery, clinical director of workplace wellness at UK recruitment firm, Right Management, said: ‘The relationship between mental health and work has come into the spotlight of late for a number of reasons. Not only are businesses beginning to gain a better understanding of the positive benefits of engaging in employee wellness but Government is moving more firmly to promote a shift from welfare to work, and this inevitably means more people who may have been absent from work because of mental ill-health will be encouraged to re-enter the workplace’.

Ultimately this means that the government is determined to measure the costs-benefits ratio before funding any mental health services that it regards as beneficial. Again, government ministers allow themselves to be swayed by consultation with powerful lobby groups, NICE, business leaders and mental health charities, including the people investing so much research in the ‘quick-fix’ cure, lauded by CBT mental health professionals. Surely, the standard has to be – does it work. Not does it have verifiable research carried out by organisations with vested interests in winning tax payers money for their services. And if it does work; who should decide. Well surely it must be the patient, or the client seeking therapy. This is why I believe we must use more self-report surveys with individual counsellors from all backgrounds, therapies and theories on a national register who get paid by results, judged on the basis of patient/client feedback, not the best most popular representations and research carried out by organisations with vested interests, winning government contracts.

PTSD - enduringmind - Counselling in Twickenham

I was just reading the article about George Michael cancelling his tour of Australia after finally realising how much of a traumatic experience his illness had had on him, with the doctors diagnosing a form of PTSD. In case you're not aware, george Michael had a bout of life-threatening pneumonia and had been left emotionally scarred and traumatised by the incident. Trauma is described as:

a unique overwhelming experience of an event or enduring conditions, in which:

1. The individual's ability to integrate his/her emotional experience is overwhelmed, or

1. The individual experiences (subjectively) a threat to life, bodily integrity, or sanity. 

Thus, a trauma usually creates psychological trauma when it completely overwhelms the individual's ability to cope,and threatens their psychological and physical integrity. It leaves that person fearing death, annihilation, mutilation, or psychosis. The person may feel emotionally, cognitively, and physically obliterated. The circumstances of the event commonly include abuse of power, betrayal of trust, entrapment, helplessness, pain, confusion, and/or loss.

This definition of trauma includes responses to powerful incidents like accidents, natural disasters, crimes, surgeries, deaths, and other violent events. It also includes responses to chronic or repetitive experiences such as child abuse, neglect, combat, urban violence, concentration camps, battering relationships, and enduring deprivation. 

The statement by George Michael in the article said: "I have today announced the cancellation of the shows in Australia which breaks my heart. By way of explanation all I can say at this time is that since last year's illness I have tried in vain to work my way through the trauma that the doctors who saved my life warned me I would experience.

"They recommended complete rest and the type of post traumatic counselling which is available in cases like mine but I'm afraid I believed (wrongly) that making music and getting out there to perform for the audiences that bring me such joy would be therapy enough in itself."

To my mind many people try to ignore the symptoms in the form of panic attacks, hyper-arousal, flashbacks, avoidance behaviours, angry outbursts and dissociative states. These symptoms are often successful disguised by the person suffering anxiety/PTSD; who finds coping mechanisms but suffers with the impact for years afterwards. I remember my own experience of a life-threatening illness in Africa, when I contracted malaria. 

I was very lucky to survive in many respects. I had stopped taking the preventative medicine after hearing rumours that it can make the symptoms of malaria incurable if contracted. I was also fortunate to receive Fansidar treatment only after a week or so of contracting malaria. But, I have to say it really obliterated me. I suffered constant aching, flu-like symptoms in my joints, sickness, diarrhoea, powerful headaches, hot and cold sweats and bouts of delirium  I was lucky to make it back from Senegal alive after having to trek back to The Gambia 2000 km in a non-English speaking country, whilst effectively spending half my time in a dissociative state.

In the end the medicine cure was almost as bad as the illness itself. I lost 2-3 stone in weight and was barely able to keep solid food down. Thanks to my African friends, who gently and patiently nursed me back to health, I did survive. I had all kinds of fearful experiences after my recovery: nightmares, anxiety and a sense of panic. But again fortunately the traumatic symptoms did not last. I also have a number of family members who suffer partially with trauma and I worked with survivors at Portsmouth Area rape crisis Service; veterans and psychotic patients in a psychiatric hospital and clients with serious mental disorders at MIND. I love the work and I quickly specialised in psychological trauma of all-kinds.

As an psychotherapist, counsellor and anthropologist I am also fascinated by how different cultures/societies deal with collective trauma during war, persecution, migration and natural disasters. i have for example studied shamans, spirit mediums and faith healers who provide their communities with the means to heal their wounds. I would like to hear from anyone who could add to library of knowledge about the issue from anyone suffering/healing trauma from their own perspective. In the meantime, I run a counselling practice at Endurinmind, Counselling in Twickenham.