TM4T Stress Armoury 20 - Tracking anxiety

You are going to have a lesson observation in a week's time. It's Mr Grimface, everyone's least favourite deputy head, and you are already feeling a deep sense of dread. You know it's illogical but you keep on thinking that you will make some epic mistake and it will be the end of your teaching career.

You're so anxious that you are having trouble sleeping and because your sleep is disrupted you are grumpy and snappy in the morning and your partner is starting to snap back at you. You are also feeling nauseous and you just can't see yourself getting through this observation successfully.

OK. Let's start with the usual warning about managing-the-middle. Anxiety is not stress. Anxiety is a serious medical condition. If you believe you are suffering from anxiety see a doctor. However, many of us get anxious at work, little-anxious not big-anxious, but still enough to cause us some stress.

This section doesn't offer any hints or tips on how-to-fix-anxiety. The key point is to understand anxiety and be able to spot the symptoms and know when to go to the dox.

Definitions

Anxiety is a persistent, excessive, and/or unrealistic worry about everyday things. Obviously, worrying about stuff is perfectly normal, but it becomes a problem when it begins to interfere with life, work and relationships.

Chemistry and Biology

The feeling of anxiety is directly linked to a fight-or-flight response. That is, you experience anxiety and its effects when your body believes that you're in danger. There may be several sudden physical changes during an anxiety attack, because your body is preparing to survive an anticipated threat.

Everyone has their own cocktail of behaviours, but the following are common effects: your heart rate might increase giving your muscles fresh blood to run or fight; your breathing may speed up so that your heart has more oxygen to pump faster; your increased heart rate may make you feel warm and you may flush and sweat to cool down. Your muscles are now pumped with energy, so they're tensed and flexed, but your stomach may be getting less blood than usual, which makes you queasy, and your brain may be getting less blood than usual which makes you dizzy.

By this time, of course, you're pretty much no use for anything in a classroom.

Anxiety and Performance

People are different, and teachers are no different to people, so teachers are different too.

Some teachers perform better when they are a little anxious – it provides the pressure to move them towards peak performance. Others, however, do not respond well to anxiety at all, and find that pressure diminishes performance from the word 'go'.

There is some evidence to support desensitising – in other words, if you experience a little anxiety repeatedly, then you adjust and learn to cope with it, but in general people don't change much without a lot of effort.

You therefore need to know as soon as possible in your career what works best for you, and try to tailor your work-life to allow you to thrive.

Types of Anxiety

'Anxiety' is one of those words – like 'stress' which is used to mean different things in different contexts, and we must never forget that some of those contexts are medical. Anxiety is an umbrella medical term, applied to a number of quite serious disorders, including the following nasties.

Panic Disorder – Panic attacks are spells of sudden intense fear or hopelessness, sometimes lasting minutes, sometimes hours. These attacks begin abruptly, reach a peak within 10 to 20 minutes, but may continue for hours, usually subsiding spontaneously. First-time sufferers may fear they are having a heart attack or a nervous breakdown. Common psychological and physical themes associated with panic attacks include the fears of impending death or loss of sanity; depersonalisation (a feeling of watching you are doing from the outside), sweating and shaking, a sense of doom or danger, heart palpitations, tingling or dizziness, choking or nausea.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) – This applies if you experience anxiety regularly for an extended time - six months or more is the general guideline. During this time you may consistently expect the worst to happen, or things to go wrong, or disappoinment to be just around the corner; even when others argue logically that there is no basis for worry (though the anxieties may focus on legitimate causes for worry: money, career, relationships, health).

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) – This disorder does not apply to people who are simpy meticulous and well-organised. Popular perception tends to focus on the 'compulsive' element, which involves repetitive routines to ease anxiety, but can also clearly lead to anxiety. However, the obsessive element, which involve intrusive thoughts that you cannot let go, can also cause anxiety.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – PTSD may occur if you have experienced a traumatic event; for example sexual assault or threat of death. Symptoms include flashbacks, memory loss, and avoidance of situations with traumatic associations.

Social Anxiety Disorder – This is not just shyness, though it may be mistaken for it. It is an extreme fear of being scrutinised, criticised or judged by others, of being embarassed in social situations.

Specific Phobias – phobias involve illogical fears. Many people feel anxious when faced with a snake or spider, or travelling by plane. Fear is a rational response to situations that can pose a threat to our safety.

However, some people react to objects, activities or situations (the phobic stimulus) by irrationally exaggerating the danger. Their feelings of fear or terror are completely out of proportion to the actual threat. Sometimes the mere thought of the phobic stimulus is enough to cause a reaction. These types of excessive reactions may be indicative of a specific phobia.

 For more information on specific anxiety disorders and more general advice, click here.

So: in case the message above isn't clear, anxiety is a big deal. In terms of 'what to do about anxiety', follow the advice below.

a) Be anxiety aware, and get professional medical help if you are displaying the symptoms described above.

b) Be stress aware. Some anxiety disorders are genetic in origin, but long-term stress is also a frequent trigger. Use the techniques in your stress armoury to actively manage stress.

You will find that some of these stress management techniques – for example keeping a stress diary – will help you to identify sources of anxiety too.

c) Have a healthy lifestyle – especially exercise. Exercise may sound a rather Victorian remedy, but it works; it helps to reduce early symptoms of anxiety and builds up your tolerance for stress.

d) Breathe. Breathing exercises help to control stress and manage short-term anxiety. Again, this sounds very old-fashioned ('take ten deep breaths') but again, it does work: slow, steady breathing at the first signs of anxiety.

e) Eat sensibly. We have all seen how Year 8 behave after their lunchtime feeding frenzy. If we are prone to anxiety, then what we eat has an effect on the number and severity of the attacks, though dietary control is no substitute for medical advice. You should avoid or reduce foods like alcohol, caffeine, energy drinks, and chocolate. You should also be aware of chemicals, both over-the-counter medications, and products containing chemical additives. The exact chemicals and products to watch out for are beyond the scope of this website, but any reputable pharmacist will advise on medication, and your GP will advice on chemical additives. You should also, of course, follow everyday good dietary advice, balance the foods you eat, don't skip meals, drink plenty of water, and avoid excess. End of lecture.

f) Think positively. Anxiety is characterised by involuntary negative thoughts and to some extent these can be offset by conscious positive thoughts. Ofen anxious episodes are preceded by little spells of self-sabotaging thoughts, and learning to think positively can help to combat these.

When negative thoughts do appear, write them down. Then write down logical arguments refuting these negative thoughts.

Other techniques, like meditation (to relax and increase self-awareness) and visualization (to emphasize positive outcomes) can also help.

g) Time for tea. Anxiety can arise around the silliest sources. Sometimes, even petty time management issues can build up and represent a serious source of stress and anxiety. What you need is a good website dealing with time management for teachers.