WHAT'S NEW (S)

information and support for family and friends of those with anxiety disorders

PMS and High Anxiety

The Clarke Institute in Ontario, Canada has released a study showing what many women knew for years. There is a definite relationship between PMS and high anxiety. Click here to go to their site.

Wheelchairs and Canes

Ever thought of using a wheelchair for mastering those particularly difficult places such as malls, ferry ramps, etc. Try putting the person you are looking after into a wheelchair and going around that way. I have had very good success with it. After one or two trips in a wheelchair it seems so much easier to get out of the chair part way through the outing and carry on. The support person will have the chair if it is needed.

I had never heard of the idea of a wheelchair being used. Perhaps it has. My 'discovery' of it was born out of desperation as I tried to help someone onto a ferry for an appointment with an anxiety professional. It did not look like it would be possible to have this person walk up the ramp onto the ferry and I was somewhat stymied until I saw the wheelchair sitting in the terminal. After a brief discussion, the person I was with said she would give it a try and away we went. I had also expected the 6 deck ferry to be a problem but after a couple of rounds in the wheelchair she was up and away leaving me to babysit the chair.

Shortly after I mentioned the wheelchair as a tool for the support person, a support group in Venezuela told me they had been using walking canes for some time. The canes allowed them to focus on something other than the surroundings and, if they felt dizzy, the cane helped to support them.

Anxiety Disorders and Heredity

Several studies have indicated that the potential for anxiety disorders can be inherited. It is not at all unusual for find several people in the same wide family who exhibit them in one way or another. Coming from a family with anxiety disorders does not necessarily mean a person will develop anxiety -- it seems there must be some trigger. Triggers can be anything from stress to the huge hormonal changes that occur with puberty.

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