Anxiety is an emotion that everyone can relate to. It doesn’t understand ages and appears when you least expect it, potentially ruining a delicious meal or a day of work. When it becomes unbearable it often causes a turning point in which it almost forces you to leave everything and seek help. The psychologist David Salas has received us to resolve all doubts about this emotion and how to deal with it in the work environment.
David Salas is a psychologist, born in Barcelona, ??who has always had a concern for people’s behavior. With extensive training and professional career, his field of work has specialized in anxiety disorders, depression, behavioral problems, coaching and psychoeducation, among others.
In his office, he treats people over 6 years of age with various pathologies and disorders that, according to what he says, are evaluated in a couple or three sessions and then a treatment can be given according to the tools that each person has and their context, which varies according to our individual experiences.
First of all, in a context in which mental health, and everything it encompasses, is the order of the day, it is important to explain what anxiety is. According to Salas, anxiety is an emotion, similar to stress. “It is an emotion that refers to a state of agitation, restlessness. The symptoms may be similar to those of stress, but they are not the same.” It can reach the point where it is so overwhelming that it dominates you, even preventing you from doing everyday things, according to the psychologist.
When does an anxiety situation become a disorder?
Anxiety is part of the normal repertoire of emotions and serves a useful function. We all suffer from anxiety. It is an unpleasant emotion, but it is in our bank of emotions that allows us to be attentive to stressful events. Anxiety goes from being pathological when the intensity of that emotion is disproportionate in relation to the stimulus or thought that provokes it.
When or how does it start to affect work?
Anxiety manifests itself in various ways and can influence how you interact in the environment. At work you may not be able to complete your tasks due to lack of concentration. We think that we are triggered from everywhere and more than that they are intrusive thoughts, which appear in a disordered and very intense way that we do not know the origin of and we do not know how to address them.
When would you say that all anxiety symptoms are disabling?
When we feel overwhelmed and are not functional. Where we carry out a task of greater responsibility during the day is at work. That’s when we notice that we don’t feel able to go to work, but we do feel able to go shopping at the supermarket. At work we have a responsibility and we have to demonstrate our attitudes and skills.
It is one thing to have anxiety and another to have a disorder. At what point can you work with a disorder like this?
When it is continuous over time and affects our daily lives, that is when we have to go to a doctor to diagnose what is happening to us and give us temporary sick leave. There we are no longer in a position to offer optimal performance at work.
Should people start going to therapy earlier, when they start showing the first symptoms?
It would be good to at least go to a professional to do an assessment. One of the most common phrases I see in consultations with people who suffer from anxiety is “I don’t wish it on anyone, not even on my enemies.” The guidelines we have mentioned are very good, but it is better not to reach final points.
Is there a specific tool or useful exercise to avoid or prevent that overflow point?
One of the things we perhaps talk about most in sessions is the meaning of a person’s work. For many people, work represents their identity. When they ask me “who are you?” You answer with your profession. Given this sense of belonging, it is better that you like what you do, what you dedicate yourself to, and that you are comfortable with the company because, otherwise, in the medium or long term, this ends up being your emotional ruin.
Other ways to avoid overflowing.
At work it is important to take short breaks. Nowadays we work very long days. That 8 hours thing is already part of the theory. Taking short breaks is essential. Don’t always make the journey ‘home-work and work-home’, make a stop for leisure, reading, library, sport, friends… or do another healthier routine. Practicing sports is essential, it is a way to prevent.
Let’s say we have anxiety unrelated to work, but it is affecting you. It is not healthy to block it to allow you to work in peace, because you cannot afford not to go to work. You don’t allow yourself to feel that way and you push that emotion away, isolate it and impose a series of more important thoughts. Would that, in the long run, be more detrimental to you?
Your attitude is decidedly to move forward, but you don’t feel well and you want to hide that. It’s like when you are in the pool and you take a small ball and with all your strength you put it under the water. You hold on with all your strength, but there will be a moment when you won’t be able to hold the ball underwater with your hands. And the ball will shoot up.
In your experience with psychoeducation, which is based on having knowledge of psychology as a tool for better mental health, do you think it could be a solution to prevent anxiety from overwhelming us?
Yes, it would help in part, but not completely because there are also those who need assistance. Today there is more knowledge about mental health terms that are used colloquially every day. This, sometimes, but not always, helps many people who acquire knowledge that they did not have long ago. And that’s good too. I think I have this, but I want to see… that will help, but we are not going to avoid it. It is important, but I would ask how do we do it? Because it would have to be taught in early childhood education and there would have to be mental health professionals to teach this type of subject. Or in secondary school and kindergarten that the parents did it. We are on a good path because knowledge has expanded and I think it is helping interested people take notes and learn things that were previously impossible if you didn’t go to the library.
