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Understanding anxiety, taking control of your fears |
How do you know if you have an anxiety disorder? |
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Everyone feels some degree of anxiety or uneasiness from time to time.
Having to stand up and speak in public is first on many people's list of anxious moments. So is taking a test or the first day on the job.
You know the symptoms: you feel shaky, your heart pounds, your hands feel clammy and your stomach quakes.
No one who has an anxiety disorder should suffer needlessly. Speaking to a doctor about anxiety is the first step to feeling better.
Feeling anxious temporarily is one thing; but when your anxiety is so serious that is interferes with your life and work, leads you to avoid certain situtations or keeps you from enjoying life, you may have a medical condition known as an anxiety disorder.
Don't let the words scare you. The good news is that effective treatments for anxiety disorders are available. Knowing about the disorders is important because to solve a problem of any kind, you must first be able to recognize and identify it!
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The telltale signs include the following:
In addition, anxiety causes physical symptoms, such as restlessness, irritability, disturbed sleep, muscle aches, headaches, gastrointestinal distress and difficulty concentrating.
People with anxiety disorders frequently have symptoms of depression.
This kind of anxiety can severely hamper your ability to live a full and enjoyable life. It can lead to chronic (long-term) anxiety and other illnesses. Individuals with anxiety disorders frequently develop major depression.
Trying to ignore or wish anxiety away rarely works. More than likely, the anxiety will control your life - instead of you controlling the anxiety. For all these reasons, be confident that you are acting wisely by asking your doctor about treatment for your anxiety.
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Common anxiety disorders... |
Specific phobia & Social phobia |
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Generalizied anxiety disorder
People with generalized anxiety disorder are constantly worrying about all sorts of things and expect the worst. They suffer distress about any number of things - their job performance, relationships, school grades, possible misfortune - even though there may be no real threat of any of them. It's normal to worry about such things when a difficulty arises. But people with generalized anxiety disorder are in a state of worry that seems endless.
Panic disorder
People suffering from panic disorder experience repeated feelings of intense, sudden terror or impending doom. These panic attacks can happen several times a week or even within the same day. The attacks reach their peak in about 10 minutes, but leave the individual emotionally drained and frightened.
Panic disorder sufferers often live in fear having another attack because the attacks can occur without any warning.
Panic attack symptoms include:
Since there is no way to predict when the next panic attack might occur, the individual may avoid the place or situation where the first attack occured - or become afraid to go out in public at all. It's not surprising that many of these people also suffer from depression.
Agoraphobia
People with this disorder suffer anxiety about being in places or situations from which it might be difficult or embarrassing to escape - such as being in a room full of people or in an elevator.
It's pretty common for people with panic disorder to develop agoraphobia because they fear help might not be available if an attack occurs. In extreme cases, persons with agoraphobia may even be afraid to leave their house.
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Specific phobia - A persistent fear of specific things (like spiders) or situations (flying).
Social phobia - persistent anxiety about social or performance situations (public speaking, taking a test) due to fear of embarrassment.
People with a phobia suffer such intense anxiety that they take extreme measures to avoid the situations or objects that make them so afraid. The closer the person is to the feared object or situation and the less chance of escape, the more intense is the anxiety - even to the point of panic.
Examples of specific phobia include persistent fear of:
Examples of social phobia include persistent fear of:
Remember, everyone has some anxiety about such social situations. With social phobia, however, the fears become severe and limit the activity of the phobic person.
Social phobia can drive a person to drop out of school, avoid making friends or become, and remain, unemployed.
It's important to seek help for phobias because they are associated with feelings of inferiority and low self-esteem.
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Obsessive-compulsive disorder |
Examples of common compulsions |
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Obsessive-compulsive disorder (abbreviated "OCD") is as common an illness as asthma or diabetes. It affects as many as 6 million people a year.
An individual with OCD becomes trapped in a pattern of:
If severe and not treated, OCD can destroy one's work, social life and even family relationships. The obsessions are unwanted ideas or impulses that repeatedly surface in the OCD sufferer's mind. They are typically not related to a real-life problem but nevertheless cause a significant level of anxiety.
Examples of common obsessions:
To neutralize or ward off their obsessions, many people with OCD make up "rituals" that they feel must be followed without exception. These rituals or compulsions often are repetitive behaviors. Performing these acts gives some relief from the anxiety, but only temporarily.
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People with OCD realize their obsessions and compulsions are unreasonable, but can't stop them. Often they suffer needlessly with OCD because they are embarrassed to bring these symptoms to their doctor's attention. Unfortunatley, this delays their getting effective treatment. In many cases, OCD is made worse by coexisting symptoms of depression.
Postraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Persons with PTSD reexperience an extremely traumatic event that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury to themselves or another person. Typically, the traumatic event left the person with PTSD feeling intense fear and helplessness. Examples of such events are military combat, sexual assualt, natural diasters and severe auto accidents.
Symptoms of PTSD include continued flashblacks and reliving of the event, nightmares and intense distress when exposed to an object or situation that was related to the event. This leads PTSD sufferers to avoid thoughts, conversations or activities that may remind them of trauma.
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How are anxiety disorders treated? |
Treatment programs for anxiety disorders |
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Medical researchers have found that both medication and psychotherapy (counseling) are effective for relieving symptoms of anxiety. Often the two treatment methods are combined.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy - also called "talk therapy" or "counseling" - involves working on the symptoms and causes of your anxiety disorder with a doctor or other trained mental health professional.
Many people - including celebrities and public leaders - have sought the help of mental health professionals to help them deal with crippling anxiety and have succeeded.
Treatment programs for anxiety disorders often combine psychological counseling and medication
Your doctor may prescribe medication that relieves anxiety disorder symptoms.
A drug called clomipramine was the first medication approved for the treatment of OCD. It belongs to a class of drugs called tricyclics.
More recently, certain medications known as SSRIs(for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) have been found to be effective for controlling symptoms of OCD. SSRIs have been used for years to treat depression, which often develops in patients with anxiety disorders.
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SSRIs have relatively few side effects compared to tricyclics. It usually takes three or more weeks before the full benefits of SSRIs take effects.
Benzodiazepines are another class of drugs used to treat anxiety symptoms. Benzodiazepines provide immediate relief of anxiety but are not used for long-term treatment because of their potential for addiction. (Benzodiazepines are not effective for depression.)
Speak with your doctor about which treatments or combination of treatments are best for your particular anxiety condition.
Take the steps that can help relieve your anxiety
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