One in four people, that’s a quarter of us, will at some time experience mental health problems during their life. It’s an astounding statistic from the World Health Organisation and according to a report by Mind there has been an increase from 15.5 per cent in 1993 to 26 per cent of adults reported having ever been diagnosed with at least one mental health problem in 2014. Many mental health problems including OCD, self-harm, eating disorders, insomnia and many physical problems are anxiety related, so why is anxiety increasing so rapidly.

This is the third instalment of my mini series on anxiety in which I’m going to give you some top tips for dealing with anxiety when it strikes, but also ultimate strategies to reduce the positive feedback loop that’s creating the anxiety described in the last article ‘Where does anxiety come from?’

In the last article ‘Will anxiety ever go away?’ I described the typical characteristic thought patterns the primitive part of your brain displays when anxiety arises and why it can feel like a life sentence. In this article, for those of you who like to understand the science and what is happening to you psychologically and biologically, I’ve gone in depth with the science of the stress response as, for many, it helps knowing it is a normal physiological response that has an on/off switch. So, here we go, sit tight for the science…

For those suffering from anxiety (or depression) it can feel like a life sentence, but the ironic truth is that the characteristic thought patterns associated with these conditions are what manifest those no hope feelings and despair. Anxiety can and will go away when you develop the skills and strategies to interrupt the negative thought pattern loop. This video is the first in a three part series about how to help anxiety.