Stress and Anxiety

For many people, the festive season is a wonderful and happy time. For others, however, this time of year can actually be very difficult. The festive season can be a period that reinforces the extent to which people feel alone, or serves as a reminder of loss. For some it’s a very busy work period and no time for celebrations or even any rest. Whomever you are and where ever you fit there are several strategies that can help. In his latest article for HIF, mental health expert, Dr. Happy from The Happiness Institute shares five things you can do to have a (relatively) merry festive season.

Do you fear that you will be judged by others in social situations? Do your fears cause you to avoid groups of people or group events because you think you might embarrass yourself? If you answered yes to these questions, then you're probably experiencing social anxiety. According to mental health expert and psychologist, Dr. Happy, "The most common example of social anxiety is a fear of public speaking; but it can also be experienced as extreme anxiety associated with eating or drinking in public, signing one’s name under scrutiny, and even using public toilet facilities. At the heart of social anxiety for everyone, however, is a fear of negative evaluation." The good news is that treatments for social anxiety are relatively effective for most people, most of the time, and relatively quickly. In this article, Dr. Happy discusses social phobia and provides his advice on how to manage these fears.  

Financial stress - according to Money and Insurance Expert, Bessie Hassan from finder.com.au, “It’s never pleasant to feel the pressures that go hand-in-hand with financial strain. Thankfully though, there is a wide range of resources available to help us address our finances accordingly and prevent us from feeling overwhelmed.” In her latest article for HIF, Bessie offers her advice on how to manage these pressures effectively and highlights her top online tools to utilise.

Do you have a friend or relative who suffers from anxiety? According to Mental Health Advisor Dr. Happy, "The Festive Season is, for many, a time of joy and happiness. But the Festive Season is also, for some, a stressful period during which unpleasant emotions such as depression, loneliness, stress and anxiety can become exaggerated and troublesome."  With this in mind, we caught up with Dr. Happy to get his top 10 tips for helping a friend with anxiety this Christmas. We hope you find them useful! 

Did you know up to 40% of Australians will experience a panic attack at some time in their life? According to our resident mental health blogger, Dr Happy, “Panic attacks are discrete episodes of intense anxiety and physiological arousal, to such an extent that sufferers feel they’re going to faint, go crazy or even die. There is, however, some good news; and that’s that despite panic attacks being very distressing and potentially very disabling, they’re also very treatable in the majority of cases. In this article, Tim discusses the key components of effective treatment and the powerful and effective anxiety management strategies we can do to manage panic ourselves.