Guilza Sislian

A feared situation or object that causes anxiety will lead to the desire to avoid or escape that situation😨. Escape results in a reduction or relief from the distressing sensations associated with anxiety, but the next time the person confronts the object or situation they experience these feelings again, and thus a vicious circle develops🔄. It is argued that for fear reduction to occur, the feared stimulus must be confronted without avoidance or escape🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♂️. Thus therapy focuses on breaking this vicious circle.🤓

Adults with generalized anxiety disorder😰often worry about everyday, routine life circumstances, such as possible job responsibilities💼, health🤒 and finance💰, the health of family members🤕, misfortune of their children👎🏻☘️, or minor matters (e.g., doing household chores or being late for appointments).

Children with generalized anxiety disorder tend to worry excessively about their competence or the quality of their performance.🤓

Adolescents engage in self-harm to get relief from life stressors or abate emotions such as anger, frustration or depression. Inflicting physical pain in the form of self-harm provides distraction from stress and feelings. Adolescents also experience euphoria when self-harming. Endorphins are released when the body is injured, resulting in a pleasurable sensation. Self-harming behaviors can become addictive.

Even if a parent or teacher suspects that someone is self-harming, it is still important to be as nonjudgmental as possible in persuading him or her to open up. Not only does this apply to the self-harming but also to the issues that may have led to the self-harming in the first place. Even though this can be especially hard for parents, it is important to avoid emotional confrontations if possible and get the self-harmer to agree to see a professional.