Anxiety

Anxiety is one of the most common forms of mental illness affecting nearly everyone at some stage in their life.  However, some will experience either more frequent occurrences of anxiety, prolonged or extended periods of anxiety, or extremely severe anxiety attacks.

A feeling of anxiety is a normal feeling that we get when faced with danger, fear or a threat.  Feelings of anxiety can be caused by many different social, emotional and physical factors, some of these may be; job loss, relationship breakdown, serious illness, a major accident or death of someone close.

Anxiety Disorders

There are many different forms of anxiety disorders. These include:

• Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) 
• Agoraphobia 
• Panic Disorder 
• Phobia (specific and social)
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) 
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

There is no one specific cause of an anxiety disorder, however, some triggers may include personality, learned response, heredity, and biochemical processes.

Anxiety due to personality may mean that the person is more sensitive or emotional about issues, even if the issues are not directly related to the person.

A learned response can mean that the sufferer has been exposed to a situation, people or objects that were upsetting or aroused anxiety, and then developed an anxious response when faced with, or when thinking about the similar issues.

A heredity anxious response can be the result of anxiety running in the family. People may also "learn" anxious responses from family.

Biochemical processes, although not proven, may be the result of chemical processes in the brain not functioning as required.

Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of anxiety are:

• excessive anxiety interfering with many areas of life 
• muscle tension 
• shortness of breath 
• excessive sweating 
• palpitations 
• stomach and bowel problems 
• irritability 
• startled reactions 
• light-headedness 
• diarrhoea 
• apprehension 
• impatience 
• feelings of imminent danger 
• restlessness 
• inability to relax 
• difficulty concentrating 
• trouble sleeping 
• lack of enjoyment 
• difficulty controlling worry

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of an anxiety disorder usually occurs when the feelings of anxiety are beginning to interfere with the person's daily activities.  An anxiety disorder usually begins in early adulthood and begins following a series of significant life changing or life affecting events.

Treatment

Treatment of an anxiety disorder may involve medication and/or specific forms of psychotherapy. Medications generally do not cure the anxiety, although they can relieve the sufferer from some symptoms.  There are many different types of anti-anxiety medications.

The main forms of psychotherapy used to treat anxiety are usually behavioural therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).  Behavioural therapy uses different techniques to alleviate the anxiety. This type of therapy may include breathing exercises or gently introducing the object or item that produces the anxiety attacks.

CBT, although using some of the same techniques as behavioural therapy, also teaches people how to change their thinking patterns.  For example, CBT can help to change thoughts like 'I can’t do this' into thoughts of 'I can handle this'.

References:

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