What is anxiety?

Anxiety is associated with several symptoms that collectively arise due to strong emotions. Anxiety is thus termed as a mental disorder that is characterized by strong feelings of fear, worry which are strong enough to interfere with the normal behavior of a person.

Wait, so should we consider emotions such as fear, worry, anticipation as an abnormal trait? No, these are normal human characteristics and we all feel them. Hence, there is an inevitable demand to raise awareness and also be aware so you can make out the difference between normal and abnormal feelings.

HOMOEOPATHY & ANXIETY

When we deal with anxiety disorder, few things are of utmost importance. Firstly, to know when to seek help and secondly, to choose the judicious path of wellness. Holistic ways & integrative management has played a wonderful role to help many with their anxiety and related fear. Let’s unravel few important facts related to anxiety and also the role of homoeopathy in its management.

Anxiety is a normal emotion, a part of our natural mind make-up. It’s a human tendency to look forward to things and anticipate, or fear thinking about impending dangers. Now, why are we talking about something natural? The suffering arises when this very natural feeling crosses its border to start interfering in the processing of your thoughts and decision-making.

Why we don’t suffer from anxiety disorders, while we all anticipate?

Researches are unable to mention the main underlying cause behind anxiety. They indicate that a combination of genetic, environmental, and factors affecting the brain & thought processing is responsible for it.

In homoeopathy, where every person is treated individualistically not just considering the diseases but the man as a whole. In this mode of holistic treatment a lot of importance is given towards the constitution of a person. “constitution” is the combination picture of their physical and mental make-up. Through these it easily explains that different individuals have different susceptibility and constitution, hence few are predisposed to develop anxiety and related disorders easily whenever they meet a trigger incidence during their lifetime. Some individuals carry it through generations until it is expressed & holistically treated through homoeopathy.

When to seek help?

Anxiety has many faces, it manier times escapes the notice of the sufferer and people around them. It is important to know when your feelings have crossed the limit of being normal and are abnormal now. Let’s quickly collect the symptoms and signs of anxiety and know when to seek help. Anxiety generally manifests symptoms in both the physical and mental spheres.

Mental sphere changes to be observed are:

1. Trouble concentrating
2. Dread and apprehension for things coming next
3. Thoughts of impending danger
4. Lost focus and poor decision making
5. Irritability at trifles
6. Afraid of expressing as doubtful about own’s thought.

Physical sphere changes observed are: Anxiety affects body response to various stress factors and also increases stress hormones and other neurochemical mechanisms in the brain. Hence, we get to see changes such as,

1. Palpitations or pounding heart
2. Breathlessness or air hunger
3. Dyspnoea or pain in the chest while breathing
4. Pain in several parts of the body
5. Numbness
6. Twitches and aches with sudden coldness or heat in certain body parts.
   1. Insomnia
7. Nervous diarrhea or constipation.

When to seek help?

Ask certain questions to yourself,

1. Do you worry and think negatively, on the edge all the time and for everything unlike before?
2. Does your worry and this troubled feeling affects your everyday routine of study, work, diet, or exercise?
3. Do you avoid people and your social circle to avoid being anxious?
4. Do you feel suspicious about people and things and doubt their every behavior?
5. Do you suffer from sudden perspiration, increased heartbeat, and shortness of breath episodes at a regular interval?

6. Are you losing control over your body and mind?

7. Do you have suicidal thoughts?

If the answer to any four of these questions is yes, you need to talk about your complaint with someone trained to guide you forward. Avoiding social gatherings and work is not the solution as anxiety is of any kind, you run from one and it makes its way to another form. It will not leave you but linger in your subconscious mind affecting your conscious thoughts and living.

Why choose Homoeopathy for anxiety relief?

We all behave differently to various triggers and stressors both on the physical as well as the mental plane. We have our ways of responding, some fear to travel via air route others have a wonderful experience while doing the same. It is like we all are tailor-made individuals just unique and one of our kind. Similarly, we need tailor-made remedies that are dynamic and could relate to our individual experiences and individual complaints.

With homeopathic prescription, we try to match the remedy as much as possible with the individual, not just the present complaint but taking into consideration the suffering individual. We try to understand what leads to the development of anxiety and associating complaints. We get into the history layer by layer and with every layer get some major pointers that lead us to the similimum. This is what an unprejudiced homoeopath is trained for, looking at every case from a fresh point of view and not being biased or comparing a new sufferer with the earlier observed or treated case.

The homeopathic remedies themselves have a very extensive profile with thousands of symptoms related to physical body response, mental picture, and emotional ( response to stressors) response. Hence, a remedy may cure someone’s fever, others gastritis, and the third one’s anxiety. This makes homeopathic materia medica, vast and updated storehouse of medicine.

Case discussion:

A female 25 years old, mother of 4 years old daughter visited with complaints of palpitations, shortness of breath & for the air hunger she had to open her mouth and breathe. Twitching & numbness of extremities, here and there changing locations ( episodic ). Appetite decreased, weight gain, pain in joints since 3 years. Her complaints precipitated after marriage.

Mentals: Had seen the demise of her father at a very young age, after her father she took up the responsibility and earned for herself and supported family too. After marriage her mother-in-law was bossy and she couldn’t work, she stated this made her anxious, as she felt she is losing her identity.

After making note of many other required details, homoeopathic remedy pulsatilla was prescribed in the potency 200, after a few repetitions and proper management with diet and exercise, she recovered completely in just 2 months. She developed a more positive perspective towards life, & never had the anxiety episode again. This is how a holistic approach can help many leads healthy living.

Lifestyle management:

The holistic approach is to consider the well-being from every aspect and diet and other therapies play a vital role in it. Certain dietary restrictions of taking too many stimulants such as caffeine, nicotine, and others should be avoided. Eat foods that calm your gut and mind “ Satvik” foods. Exercise a bit so your body has happy chemicals and perform breathing exercises to overcome shortness of breath and suffocative feeling. Affirmations and journaling can also be combined in a constructive way for the management of anxiety.

Mental health issues are prevalent in our society like an iceberg, there is more than we see. For a healthy society, we need to have healthy individuals not only physically but mentally too, let’s be more aware and help spread every piece of the right information and holistic approach with homoeopathy along with its benefits.

Stay calm and welcome healing.