Holistic Anxiety Treatment

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Treating Your Anxiety with a Holistic Approach

Here at Our Body and Mind we like to take a holistic approach to healing. That means we examine both the body and mind – in other words, the whole, when looking at our health. Instead of merely targeting one symptom at a time (even if we do so via natural remedies), we try and see the whole picture. In other words, what is the underlying cause of the problem or health issue? Once we know that – we can work on treatment based not only on natural remedies but on lifestyle changes.

Anxiety is one of the most common concerns in mental health today. While anxiety is a natural reaction to certain situations such as danger, it becomes problematic when it's the the reaction to much more minor situations and when the condition dominates most of your conscious awareness.

In this article, we will present a holistic approach to anxiety treatment – with tips for managing and preventing unwanted anxieties altogether. First, however, in the spirit of holistic treatment, we need to define anxiety and explain a little bit about what triggers it in today's hectic lifestyles.

Definition of Anxiety

Anxiety: distress or uneasiness of the mind caused by fear or danger, whether real or perceived.

Anxiety is the instinctive physiological reaction often referred to as "fight or flight". Ancient humans relied on anxiety to warn them of pending danger and to aid them in quick instinctive decisions to either retreat or attack when time did not allow the long, logical, contemplative process of thinking and evaluation.

We no longer need anxiety for our survival, but our brains perceive many of the conditions of our modern lives as threatening danger (and in fact, they may very well be dangerous), and so they produce the physiological sensations of anxiety.

Over-stimulation is a common cause of anxiety, for example. When our senses are over-stimulated, we become overwhelmed and can not filter what to tune out and where to place our focus. As a result, panic begins to rise in the conscious awareness and before you know it, you are suffering a full-blown anxiety attack.

The Underlying Causes of Anxiety

Based on this more traditional definition of anxiety, it is difficult to understand then, why the symptoms seem to appear out of "nowhere". Many times people experience the symptoms of anxiety, but deny them by saying "but I don't have any reason to feel this way".

We have to broaden the definition then in order to see how anxiety is the result of more subtle and less dramatic causes. In a nutshell, the chaotic busyness of today's modern life creates stress, and the brain interprets stress as the threat of danger and/or loss. In other words, stress is the major cause of anxiety.

The brain perceives stress as danger lurking in the shadows and creates the same physical sensations of worry and panic, i.e., anxiety. There is an unseen, unidentifiable threat to your peace of mind when you are burdened by too much stress, and this is a very real and valid danger in today's society.

Identifying Symptoms of Anxiety

Anxiety manifests itself in the body in the form of a tight chest, racing heart, sweaty palms, and other unfamiliar, worrisome symptoms.

Anxiety can cause insomnia, headache and other physical pain, lack of appetite, irritability, and an overall gloomy perception of the world. Clearly these symptoms all affect your quality of life.

Recognition of Anxiety Symptoms

In either case, you simply can not talk yourself out of the symptoms. When anxiety has taken over your whole being, you are truly disabled in your normal functioning. The first step in finding a cure then, is recognizing your symptoms and calling the kettle black, so to speak: recognize that what you are experiencing is real and identify it as anxiety.

Anxiety is a serious mental health disorder and requires serious attention and deliberate intention to overcome. Fortunately, the medical community and most of society have finally come to admit the reality and the severity of anxiety, and as a result, there are many cures available to treat this disorder. In our world dominated by Western medicine, we hear a lot about pharmaceutical drugs that are designed to reorder your brain's chemistry to set it back on balance. But what if you want a more natural way to restore your mental health?

Holistic Anxiety Treatment

Fortunately there are many natural cures for anxiety that address both the body and mind, using a holistic (whole being) approach. In particular, these constitute two main categories:

1. Lifestyle changes
2. Natural herbs

Changing Your Lifestyle to Reduce Anxiety

You may not be able to change your job, fix all your personal relationships, find a quick fix for your financial woes, or create more hours in your days (these are the major stressors in most people's lives). You can, however, make changes in your lifestyle that will help you better manage those problems. Exercise and diet, for example, have a tremendous affect on how you feel. Prioritize yourself so you do things regularly that you enjoy. This also has a powerful impact and can work to free you from the chains of anxiety.

A change to your lifestyle will often address the core, or source, of your anxietal issues. While you're adjusting the way you life your life, it can help to also move toward a natural diet and focus on natural herbs and supplements. Read our articles on Herbs for Anxiety and Herbs for Depression.