People with autoimmune thyroid disease, are at higher risk for developing anxiety disorders.
Following a brief description of Generalized Anxiety Disorder I list some methods for helping cope with GAD:
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a common anxiety condition affecting approximately 6.8 million Americans. The type of anxiety found in this condition is a severe and ongoing (chronic) type of worry, lasting at least six months. People with GAD also tend to worry irrationally over things that the average person would see as insignificant. There are methods for helping cope with this sometimes disabling anxiety disorder as addressed below.
Remind yourself that worrying about problems or potential ones will not help to diminish them. People with GAD tend to believe that by not pondering their problems, they are not staying prepared to deal with them and so they will ruminate constantly about their existing problems and about those that might arise. This causes them to become stressed out and unable to function at their best level when working, studying and attending to family duties. A type of self therapy that is often used in methods such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is to reassure one's self that this type worry is irrational and far exceeds that which these problems are deserving of. By either repeating this in the mind or by actually speaking reassuring-type thoughts aloud to yourself, you can help calm the worried thoughts and bring them more under control. It might also be helpful to actually write these reassuring thoughts on paper and carry them with you for reading to yourself at times worried thoughts begin to crop up. Reassuring thoughts that can be helpful would be for example to say, "I'm in control of any problems that might arise; they are not in control of me" or "I refuse to sweat the small stuff because it is all small stuff" or "My worry will not diminish my problems and they will all wait until I'm ready to deal with them at another time". There are CBT programs available online or you may ask your doctor to refer you to one that can help you learn these methods.
Use distractions to take your mind off of worried thoughts. An effective method for accomplishing this step would be to replace thoughts of worry with ones about your accomplishments, your blessings in life such as family, friends and things you can look forward to such as retirement, your children and your grandchildren. Replace worried thoughts with anything that brings you peace of mind, positive excitement and pleasurable experiences. This is of course easier said than done at those times you're tempted to worry but it can be accomplished with practice. Taking time to reflect on good memories of things you have experienced in life can also be an effective distraction to help your mind not gravitate toward worry-thoughts.
Give yourself leisure time to enjoy things that help relax your mind. This requires giving yourself permission to enjoy hobbies, sports and other types of leisure activities that help keep your mind in a more relaxed state. Remember that everyone needs time to unwind and relax and that the human body and mind require rest, relaxation and enjoyment, which helps to keep us balanced rather than stressed out, nervous, anxious and in a state of worry. Remind yourself that you deserve these types of restful activities because you spend enough time working and attending to the other duties and struggles of life. Things that people find help them to have relaxed minds include being involved in the arts, such as painting, sculpting and writing. Others find relaxation being involved in outdoors activities such as fishing, hiking and camping. Others enjoy mild exercise, horseback riding or watching movies they enjoy.
If GAD symptoms become overwhelming, ask your doctor about medications that can help. Taking a prescribed drug for emotional symptoms that you find difficult to cope with on your own is nothing to be ashamed of. Drugs such as permanent or as-needed anti-anxiety medications and SSRI antidepressants may become necessary if chronic worry caused by GAD is too severe to cope with on your own. Admitting you need the extra help is admirable and you should not be embarrassed if you are in need of a medication to help with your anxiety. Millions of people need medications of these types to help them better cope with anxiety disorders and depression and you are far from being alone.
Pace yourself so that your schedule doesn't become overwhelming to you. People with GAD have a tendency to push themselves too hard by taking on too many tasks at a time. Their perceived need to do this comes from their worry that they will get behind on their duties, causing them to mount and to become too difficult to manage. This is a scenario that should be avoided by GAD sufferers because constant multitasking will result in becoming stressed out due to feeling overwhelmed with the many duties being performed. Ways to avoid taking on too many duties would be to avoid any unnecessary commitments and to write down a manageable schedule and to abide by it as closely as possible. When performing a job for an employer, a GAD sufferer should remind himself that a reasonable amount of performance is what his job requires and he should not have to overextend himself. Most employers want their employees to pace their work because the quality of it is usually more important than the quantity.
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