The Little Blue Book

All of us feel anxious from time to time, because these feelings are normal. When we feel that little flush of anxiety (when something goes wrong at work, or the car in front brakes suddenly, or there’s an odd sound at night from outside the house), a shot of adrenalin is released in the brain to set us on edge and sharpen our responses – it’s nature’s way of preparing us for action. But clinical anxiety is different. This is when the anxious feelings don’t go away but grow in a knot in our stomachs filling our waking moments with chronic tension, with fearful apprehension and panic attacks, fatigue, helplessness and overwhelming emotional discomfort. Where we can’t sleep, or can’t stop sleeping, where we find it hard to go out, struggle to engage with people, struggle to concentrate (because we can’t quiet the beating drum in our heads), and where we’re always on edge. In Australia, anxiety disorder of this type affects more than one-in- ten adults in any year. For those affected, anxiety, like depression, can be both immobilising and dangerous. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), panic disorder, agoraphobia, obsessive compulsive disorder, are all anxiety disorders. Anxiety affects more women than men, and its triggers are varied. Negative childhood experiences, physical and sexual abuse, traumatic life events (witnessed or experienced), workplace stress or victimisation, intimidation and exclusion, can all be triggers for anxiety. And because it can be so disabling, anxiety can have a profound impact on a person’s ability to function socially and to be productive, organised and engaged when at work. It also puts sufferers at increased risk of depression, of substance misuse (‘self-medicating’ tomask the emotional distress accompanying the disorder), and of suicide. In high-stress work environments, such as those associated with ‘frontline’ duties, the pressures and trauma that can accompany these roles places these service personnel at increased risk of anxiety and of other metal health disorders. It also exposes them to comorbid substance misuse disorders such as alcohol, illicit drugs and prescription drug dependence and addiction. RECOGNISING ANXIETY DISORDER: RECOGNISING DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, AND OTHER DISORDERS 62