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Dr Sacrifice Chirisa Mental Health Matters
Life has a way of creating stressful and anxious moments, it might be waiting for the results of an exam, it might come from rumours of layoffs at work, it could be as simple as your pay cheque not getting you through the month or that your spouse was cheating and you just found out.

Everyday someone you know is getting stressed or becoming anxious. However, when the pressures of life continually increase, you may feel stressed and anxious all of the time. The pressure can be so great that you wonder if you will be able to carry the load of stress and anxiety even one step further.

Everyone experiences stress and anxiety at one time or another. If you are not stressed right now you will be sometime late, that is the reality of life. Research has shown that everybody gets into a serious stressful situation between 3-5 times in a year.

The difference between the two is that stress is a response to a threat in a situation. Anxiety is a reaction to the stress; so any threat or uncertainty leads to stress and if the stress is there long enough or severe enough anxiety develops and if this continues it may lead into depression.

Whether in good times or bad, most people say that stress interferes at least moderately with their lives. Chronic stress can affect your health, causing symptoms from headaches, high blood pressure and chest pain to heart palpitations, skin rashes and loss of sleep (insomnia).

Anxiety disorders and depression are treatable. Many people experience meaningful symptom relief and improvement in their quality of life with professional care.

However, treatment success varies. Some people respond to treatment after a few weeks or months while others may take longer. If people have more than one anxiety disorder or if they suffer from other co-existing conditions, treatment may take longer. An experienced provider will conduct a comprehensive assessment before discussing an individualised treatment plan.

People with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) a common manifestation of anxiety experience excessive anxiety and worry, often about health, family, money, or work. This worrying goes on every day, possibly all day. It disrupts social activities and interferes with work, school, or family.

GAD is diagnosed in adults when they experience at least three of the symptoms below on more days than not for at least six months; only one symptom is required in children.

Symptoms of GAD include the following:

• Restlessness or feeling keyed up or on edge
• Being easily fatigued
• Difficulty concentrating or mind going blank
• Irritability
• Muscle tension
• Sleep disturbance (difficulty falling or staying asleep or restless, unsatisfying sleep).

Luckily, one can learn how to reduce the impact of stress and anxiety. Physical activity is a proven way to reduce stress. Regular participation in aerobic exercise has been shown to decrease overall levels of tension, elevate and stabilise one’s mood and improve sleep as well as self-esteem.

Other effective methods include mind-body practices of breathing exercises and praying. Relaxation techniques have been used to assist in the treatment of stress and anxiety.

If all has failed one must consider the use of medication and psychotherapy. This is best done under the guidance of a psychiatrist or psychologist.

• Dr Sacrifice Chirisa is mental health specialist at Parirenyatwa Hospital, one of Zimbabwe’s major referral centres.