Although present day Halloween activities revolve around trick-or-treating and costume parties, historically masks were worn to placate the evil spirits. You may not be frightened by pumpkins carved into eerie faces nor believe in witches and goblins. But when is the last time you thought seriously about the "ghosts" that have been haunting you far too long?

Anxiety is often the fuel that drives your engine, and enables you to undertake the tasks of daily living and accomplish your goals. In this way anxiety provides you with nervous energy to make something of yourself despite lack of confidence or expectations of failure. It acts as the over ride button when you feel hopeless and cannot see light at the end of the tunnel. It also acts as a positive reinforcer by providing a sense of success when you have completed a set of tasks. The cycle of escalating anxiety followed by action and then an experience of completion is an addiction that is hard to give up.

One function that anxiety serves is that of protection. By letting you sweat the small stuff, it safeguards you from your big, unmanageable fears. Since anxiety can be so all pervasive it leaves no space for you to contemplate and face larger terrors - like loss, death, failure, being alone, completely responsible, and empty

When making and maintaining relationships is a strain, anxiety can be a way of allowing yourself to reach out and be connected to another person. It provides the impetus for you to ask for support, comfort, company and acceptance. So it gives you the opportunity to check if you are lovable, worth being with, and worthy of being taken care of. This may be a learned pattern of attachment from your early years. If you got attention from parents and caregivers when ever you became fretful, anxious and panicked, it is likely that you discovered anxiety to act as a powerful glue to get needed contact from significant others.

Have you choked off your true feelings and opinions? Is the risk too great to stand up for yourself? Do you have to a role that you don't like in order to keep a relationship going? Depression can be a very useful mask that covers up your anger, disappointment and resentment. Do your feelings feel like ugly uncontrollable monsters that will jeopardize your relationships? No wonder you need depression to sedate them!

There are ways to reduce and relieve stress without needing to take pills or self medicate with alcohol or some other drug. It requires that people take responsibility for themselves and find ways to simplify their lives, used stress reduction tools and change the way they think of and react to the stressors.

Having no purpose can have a significant negative impact on our emotional health. It's important to keep our minds active and busy to avoid getting into a depressive slump.

The depressive illness can range from interfering with our usual activities and relationships to making it hard to relate or communicate with others or to do day-to-day tasks. If you or someone you know has depression it is important to seek professional health care. However, there are many things that the depressed person can do to help themselves - the information on herbal remedies provided in this article is particularly geared to someone with mild or moderate depression.

It has been found that the traditional indicators of heart disease such as smoking, high cholesterol and high blood pressure account for about 50% of heart attacks. In trying to account for the rest the focus has moved to psychosocial factors - personality and behavior which give rise to stress hormones. This article looks at two factors anger and depression - they not only have a direct negative effect on the cardiovascular system but they also reduce the enjoyment of life.

When your inner self is left vulnerable to the whims of your fertile imagination, trouble will likely ensue. Your mind will remain in control only to the degree that you are unable to separate from its images and be inner directed instead.