When is Anxiety a Problem?

We all become anxious from time to time. It becomes a problem when it interferes with life in the absence of real threat, or goes on too long after the danger has past.

What if I just Avoid Things That Make Me Anxious?

Avoiding situations that make you anxious might help you feel better in the short term. The trouble is the anxiety keeps returning, and has a habit of spreading to other situations. This can lead to you avoiding things like shops, crowded places, lectures or tutorials. So although avoidance makes you feel better -

• Relief is only temporary - you may worry about what will happen next time.
• Every time you avoid something it is harder next time you try to face it.
• Gradually you want to avoid more and more things.

OK, So What Else Can I Do To Feel Better?

• Learn to manage stress in your life. Keep an eye on pressures and deadlines and make a commitment to taking time out from study or work.
• Learn a variety of relaxation techniques. Physical relaxation methods and meditation techniques really do help.
• Look after your physical self. Eat healthily, get regular exercise and try to keep a regular sleep pattern. Avoid alcohol, cannabis and junk food.
• Practice deep abdominal breathing. This consists of breathing in deeply and slowly through your nose, taking the air right down to you abdomen. Visualize the air travelling right down to your abdomen and say the word "calm" to yourself as you breathe in. Then breathe out slowly and gently through your mouth. As you breathe out visualize the stress and tension leaving your body with your breath and think the word "relax." Deliberately let your muscles go floppy as you breathe out. Take three deep breaths at a time. If you breathe deeply for too long you may feel dizzy from the extra oxygen. You can repeat the three breaths after a short time of breathing normally.
• Learn to replace "negative self talk" with "coping self talk." When you catch yourself thinking something negative like "I can't do this, it's just too hard," try to change it to something more positive, like "This is hard but I can get through it." It can be helpful to think of "changing the tape" that runs through your mind. It is useful to make a list of the negative thoughts you often have and write a list of positive, believable thoughts to replace them.

Anxiety can be exhausting and debilitating. Don't suffer alone for too long. It often helps to talk to a Counselor or Psychologist, who can help you find ways to deal with stress in your life and teach you skills to manage anxiety.

What Are The Classifications?

Anxiety disorders can be classified into several more specific types. The most common are briefly described below.

• What is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a chronic disorder characterized by excessive, long-lasting anxiety and worry about nonspecific life events, objects, and situations. GAD sufferers often feel afraid and worry about health, money, family, work, or school, but they have trouble both identifying the specific fear and controlling the worries. Their fear is usually unrealistic or out of proportion with what may be expected in their situation. Sufferers expect failure and disaster to the point that it interferes with daily functions like work, school, social activities, and relationships.

• What is Panic Disorder?

Panic Disorder is a type of anxiety characterized by brief or sudden attacks of intense terror and apprehension that leads to shaking, confusion, dizziness, nausea, and difficulty breathing. Panic attacks tend to arise abruptly and peak after 10 minutes, but they then may last for hours. Panic disorders usually occur after frightening experiences or prolonged stress, but they can be spontaneous as well. A panic attack may lead an individual to be acutely aware of any change in normal body function, interpreting it as a life threatening illness - hypervigiliance followed by hypochondriasis. In addition, panic attacks lead a sufferer to expect future attacks, which may cause drastic behavioral changes in order to avoid these attacks.

• What is a Phobia?

A Phobia is an irrational fear and avoidance of an object or situation. Phobias are different from generalized anxiety disorders because a phobia has a fear response identified with a specific cause. The fear may be acknowledged as irrational or unnecessary, but the person is still unable to control the anxiety that results. Stimuli for phobia may be as varied as situations, animals, or everyday objects. For example, agoraphobia occurs when one avoids a place or situation to avoid an anxiety or panic attack. Agoraphobics will situate themselves so that escape will not be difficult or embarrassing, and they will change their behavior to reduce anxiety about being able to escape.

• What is Social Anxiety Disorder?

Social Anxiety Disorder is a type of social phobia characterized by a fear of being negatively judged by others or a fear of public embarrassment due to impulsive actions. This includes feelings such as stage fright, a fear of intimacy, and a fear of humiliation. This disorder can cause people to avoid public situations and human contact to the point that normal life is rendered impossible.

• What is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)?

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by thoughts or actions that are repetitive, distressing, and intrusive. OCD suffers usually know that their compulsions are unreasonable or irrational, but they serve to alleviate their anxiety. Often, the logic of someone with OCD will appear superstitious, such as an insistence in walking in a certain pattern. OCD sufferers may obsessively clean personal items or hands or constantly check locks, stoves, or light switches.

• What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is anxiety that results from previous trauma such as military combat, rape, hostage situations, or a serious accident. PTSD often leads to flashbacks and behavioral changes in order to avoid certain stimuli.

• What is Separation Anxiety Disorder?

Separation Anxiety Disorder is characterized by high levels of anxiety when separated from a person or place that provides feelings of security or safety. Sometimes separation results in panic, and it is considered a disorder when the response is excessive or inappropriate.

What Causes Anxiety?

Anxiety disorders may be caused by environmental factors, medical factors, genetics, brain chemistry, substance abuse, or a combination of these. It is most commonly triggered by the stress in our lives. Usually anxiety is a response to outside forces, but it is possible that we make ourselves anxious with "negative self-talk" - a habit of always telling ourselves the worst will happen.

1. Environmental and External Factors

Environmental factors that are known to cause several types of anxiety include:

• Trauma from events such as abuse, victimization, or the death of a loved one
• Stress in a personal relationship, marriage, friendship, and divorce
• Stress at work
• Stress from school
• Stress about finances and money
• Stress from a natural disaster
• Lack of oxygen in high altitude areas

 

1. Medical Factors

Anxiety is associated with medical factors such as anemia, asthma, infections, and several heart conditions. Some medically-related causes of anxiety include:

• Stress from a serious medical illness
• Side effects of medication
• Symptoms of a medical illness
• Lack of oxygen from emphysema, or pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in the lung)

 

1. Substance Use and Abuse

It is estimated that about half of patients who utilize mental health services for anxiety disorders such as GAD, panic disorder, or social phobia are doing so because of alcohol or benzodiazepine dependence. More generally, anxiety is also know to result from:

Intoxication from an illicit drug, such as cocaine or amphetamines

Withdrawal from an illicit drug, such as heroin, or from prescription drugs like Vicodin, benzodiazepines, or barbiturates

1. Genetics

It has been suggested by some researchers that a family history of anxiety increases the likelihood that a person will develop it. That is, some people may have a genetic predisposition that gives them a greater chance of suffering from anxiety disorders.

1. Brain Chemistry

Research has shown that people with abnormal levels of certain neurotransmitters in the brain are more likely to suffer from generalized anxiety disorder. When neurotransmitters are not working properly, the brain's internal communication network breaks down, and the brain may react in an inappropriate way in some situations. This can lead to anxiety.

How is Anxiety Diagnosed?

A psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, or other mental-health professional is usually enlisted to diagnose anxiety and identify the causes of it. The physician will take a careful medical and personal history, perform a physical examination, and order laboratory tests as needed. There is no one laboratory test that can be used to diagnose anxiety, but tests may provide useful information about a medical condition that may be causing physical illness or other anxiety symptoms.

To be diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), a person must:

• Excessively worry and be anxious about several different events or activities on more days than not for at least six months
• Find it difficult to control the worrying
• Have at least three of the following six symptoms associated with the anxiety on more days than not in the last six months:
• restlessness,
• fatigue,
• irritability,
• muscle tension,
• difficulty sleeping,
• difficulty concentrating

Generally, to be diagnosed with GAD, symptoms must be present more often than not for six months and they must interfere with daily living, causing the sufferer to miss work or school.

If the focus of the anxiety and worry is confined to a particular anxiety disorder, GAD will not be the diagnosis. For example, a physician may diagnose panic disorder if the anxiety is focused on worrying about having a panic attack, social phobia if worrying about being embarrassed in public, separation anxiety disorder if worrying about being away from home or relatives, anorexia nervosa if worrying about gaining weight, or hypochondriasis if worrying about having a serious illness.

Patients with anxiety disorder often present symptoms similar to clinical depression and vice-versa. It is rare for a patient to exhibit symptoms of only one of these.

What Are Common Symptoms Of Anxiety?

People with anxiety disorders present a variety of physical symptoms in addition to non-physical symptoms that characterize the disorders such as excessive, unrealistic worrying. Many of these symptoms are similar to those exhibited by a person suffering general illness, heart attack, or stroke, and this tends to further increase anxiety. The following is a list of physical symptoms associated with GAD:

• Trembling
• Churning stomach
• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Headache
• Backache
• Heart palpitations
• Numbness or "pins and needles" in arms, hands or legs
• Sweating/flushing
• Restlessness
• Easily tired
• Trouble concentrating
• Irritability
• Muscle tension
• Frequent urination
• Trouble falling or staying asleep
• Being easily startled

Those suffering from panic disorders may experience similar physical symptoms to those with GAD. They also may experience chest pains, a sense of choking, shortness of breath, and dizziness.

Post-traumatic stress disorders have a range of symptoms that are unique to this form of anxiety. Frequent symptomatic behaviors include:



• Flashbacks or nightmares of re-experiencing the trauma
• Avoidance of people, places, and things that are associated with the original event
• Difficulty concentrating or sleeping
• Closely watching surroundings (hypervigilance)
• Irritability and diminished feelings or aspirations for the future