Humans naturally become anxious when they perceive themselves to be in danger. It is accessible to us through our emotions, ideas, and bodily senses. Most people have occasional anxiety. Anxiety is especially frequent while adjusting to unpleasant events or changes, particularly if they potentially have a significant influence on your life.
When does anxiety become a psychological issue?
If anxiety interferes with your ability to live life to the fullest that you desire, it may develop into a mental health issue.
Among the anxiety disorders that are often diagnosed are:
Having frequent or uncontrollably overwhelming anxieties about a wide range of diverse things in your daily life is known as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). This can be a somewhat broad diagnosis because there are many distinct possible symptoms of anxiety; therefore, the issues you face with GAD may not be the same as those of someone else.
If you have social anxiety disorder, it implies that social settings—like parties, workplaces, or regular circumstances where you have to interact with people—trigger intense feelings of fear or worry in you. Another name for it is social phobia.
Having panic episodes on a regular or frequent basis without a known cause or trigger is known as panic disorder. If you have panic disorder, you may experience a persistent anxiety of experiencing another panic attack, to the point that this fear can set off panic attacks.
A phobia is an intense fear or anxiety brought on by a specific circumstance (like stepping outside) or a specific item (like spiders).
A diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be made if you experience anxiety issues following a stressful experience. Flashbacks or nightmares that feel like you're reliving all the terror and anxiety you had at the time of the horrific events can be a symptom of PTSD.
You may be diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) if you experience anxiety related to recurrent thoughts, behaviors, or desires. When you have health anxiety, you're obsessed with your health and have compulsive behaviors related to it, such as looking up symptoms or making sure you have them. It has to do with OCD.
When you have body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), your physical appearance becomes an obsession and a source of compulsion.
Some people experience anxiety issues during pregnancy or in the first year following childbirth, which is known as perinatal anxiety disorder or perinatal OCD.
Panic Attacks
An example of a fear response is panic attacks. They are an overabundance of your body's typical reaction to stress, excitement, or danger. How do panic episodes feel?
Physical symptoms of a panic attack might intensify rapidly. A beating or racing heartbeat, feeling faint, dizzy, or lightheaded, feeling extremely hot or cold, sweating, trembling, or shaking, and nausea (feeling sick) are a few examples of these.
Dissociation can take many different forms, such as chest or abdomen pain, difficulty breathing, choking sensations, shaking or jelly legs, and a sense of being cut off from your body, mind, or environment.
What is the source of anxiety?
It's challenging to pinpoint the precise origin of anxiety issues because everyone experiences anxiety differently. There are most likely numerous contributing elements.
* Previous or early life experiences, such as abuse (physical or emotional), neglect, parent loss, bullying, social exclusion, or racism;
* Your current circumstances, such as fatigue or a build-up of stress, a lot of change or uncertainty, feeling pressured at work or in school, long hours, unemployment, financial difficulties, etc.
* Issues with mental and physical health
* Drugs and medication
What treatments are offered?
Anxiety and panic disorder have been demonstrated to respond well to a number of evidence-based treatments.
Resources for self-help
Your doctor may suggest using a self-help resource as your initial course of treatment. This is due to the fact that it is readily available and has the potential to improve your condition without requiring you to explore alternative solutions.
One way to provide self-help is through workbooks. For instance, your doctor may suggest specific books from the Reading Well program, which provides Books on Prescription. The majority of neighborhood libraries participate in this program, so you can visit them and check out the books without really needing a prescription.
Programs for online cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT). To treat anxiety and panic attacks, there are numerous online CBT courses available.
Talking therapies
Your doctor should suggest talking therapy if self-help tools don't seem to be able to aid with your anxiety issues or if you've tried them and it didn't work. It is advised to use one of two talking therapies for panic and anxiety:
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) teaches you coping mechanisms to handle a variety of situations by focusing on how your ideas, attitudes, and beliefs influence your emotions and behavior.
Applied relaxation treatment is teaching yourself how to unwind in circumstances when you would typically feel anxious.
Medication
In order to assist you manage your symptoms, your doctor may offer to prescribe you medicine. medicine shouldn't be the only option available to you; talking therapies and medicine together can be beneficial for some people.
Depression-fighting drugs
This kind is typically referred to as an SSRI, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. SSRI side effects include difficulty sleeping and increased anxiety in certain individuals. Should they prove ineffective or unsuitable for you, an other type might be presented to you.
Pregabalin
In certain situations, such as when generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is diagnosed, your physician may choose to prescribe the medication pregabalin. This medication, which is licensed to treat anxiety as well as epilepsy, a neurological condition that can produce seizures, is an antiseizure medication.
Beta-blockers
Sometimes, beta-blockers are used to alleviate the physical signs of anxiety, like palpitations, tremors, and a fast heartbeat. However, as they are not psychiatric medications, none of the psychological symptoms are lessened by them. When your fear flares up in specific situations, they could be useful.
Tranquilizers with benzodiazepines
You can be recommended a benzodiazepine tranquilizer if your extreme anxiety is interfering with your daily activities. However, because these medications have unpleasant side effects and have the potential to become addictive, your doctor should only prescribe them briefly, at a low dose, to get you through a difficult time.
How can I help myself?
Living with anxiety can be very difficult, but there are steps you can take that might help.
* Talk to someone you trust.
* Try to manage your worries.
* Look after your physical health by getting enough sleep, proper diet, and physica activity.
* Try breathing exercises.
* Keep a diary to make a note of what happens when you are anxious or have panic attack.
* Try peer support such as forums and helplines.
* Complementary and alternative therapies such as yoga and meditation. Sources https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/panic-attacks/symptoms-causes/syc-20376021
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anxiety/symptoms-causes/syc-20350961
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-disorders
https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/anxiety-disorders/what-are-anxiety-disorders
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