According to statistics from the American Anxiety and Depression Association, almost 20% of adults deal with one or more anxiety disorders each year. This is equivalent to about 40 million people. Although anxiety is normal, unfortunately it can turn into something else. It is crucial to understand what anxiety is and how it affects your anxiety and start coping with its symptoms better.
The more you know, the more you can solve the problem at hand – and try to have a more enjoyable life because of it. Here’s everything you need to know about anxiety disorders and how to deal with the impact they may have.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is defined as fear or concern for the future, and its symptoms may range from mild to severe. Experience a certain level of anxiety is a normal part of life. But when anxiety becomes so aggravated that it can keep us away from normal daily activities or interrupt our ability to enjoy life, it can become an anxiety disorder. Even if your anxiety is not diagnosed, there are many ways to change your daily habits to relieve stress in your life.
What are the causes and risk factors for anxiety?
It is not easy to determine what causes anxiety, as it can be caused by multiple sources. Here are some risk factors that can cause anxiety and related diseases:
- Environmental factors: If you live in a messy or highly demanding environment, stressors can increase anxiety.
- Medical factors: Research has linked certain medical conditions to anxiety caused by increased hormones, such as cortisol.
- Daily stressors: If you are always in a stressful environment, anxiety can be a natural reaction.
- Genetics: Genetic factors may spread to anxiety.
- Drug or alcohol use: Certain drugs and excessive drinking may cause more anxiety than people who do not use these substances.
- personality: A certain level of forward-looking, fear and mental tension can be part of a person’s personality, and the way you approach the world, which is formed by a variety of factors.
What are the signs of anxiety disorder?
Common symptoms of anxiety listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Edition 5 include:
- Feel uneasy, “key” or otherwise “on the edge”
- Constant feeling of fatigue
- irritability
- It’s hard to concentrate or your mind becomes blank
- Trouble falling or falling asleep
- Muscle tone
Generally, a diagnosis is more likely if three or more of these exist for more than half a day of six months or more. You can still experience less anxiety, less symptoms, or less frequency in less time, but the persistence and diversity of symptoms are the causes of the diagnosis.
What are the different types of anxiety disorders?
Classification of how anxiety experiences manifest, including current symptoms and triggers of anxiety. While general anxiety disorder is one of the most common diseases, a combination of various types of anxiety can be experienced.
Common anxiety disorder
DSM-5 describes general anxiety disorder as “excessive anxiety and worry (worrying expectations) than at least six months, with about many events or activities (such as work or school performance).” This is the most extensive diagnosis, usually when a person is not worried about a single event more than others. Instead, those experiencing GAD fear, worry, or tension are associated with many aspects of life.
Panic disorder
While GAD may often involve lower intensity symptoms, panic disorder is associated with sudden onset of high intensity symptoms, which marks a “panic attack” or an onset of anxiety disorders. They can include intense fear, increased heart rate, chest pain, nausea, dizziness, crazy or unreal feelings. Isolated panic attacks are not usually considered panic disorder.
Separation anxiety disorder
Although certain ages and stages of life expect certain separation anxiety disorders, separation anxiety disorders may exist if a person feels excessively fearful about his or her own home or away from intimacy, such as parents or other family members. People with separation anxiety often worry that something bad may happen when separated from the person you are dependent.
Social anxiety disorder
Social anxiety disorder involves excessive or restricting stress and fear in social situations. People with social anxiety often worry too much about being watched or judged by others. For some, social anxiety can interfere with daily tasks, go to work or school and interact with others.
Phobia
Phobia is intense fear that goes beyond the general disgust or worry about something. When phobia involves triggers that are inevitable in daily life, they become diseases. The trigger must cause such a strong fear that the person cannot function properly while he is present, or must avoid it at all costs, even if it brings great difficulties and inconveniences to the person. Common types of phobia include:
- Animals – such as spiders, frogs, snakes and dogs
- high
- flight
- Blood
- Obtain an injection
Phobia
Phobia is just one of all kinds of phobia or fears that affects your life in a negative way. Although some phobic level fears can be simply avoided in most cases, such as people with severe fear of snakes, phobia is associated with narrow or crowded spaces, in public places or outside home alone. Because routine life requires us to encounter these situations frequently, phobia can interrupt life and make work, socializing, and errands difficult.
How to treat anxiety?
Treatment of anxiety often varies depending on the severity and how it has helped a person in the past. Your mental health professional may suggest your psychotherapy, medication, or a combination of both, and it may take several different trials to find the best approach for you.
Psychological therapy
There are many types of psychotherapy that can relieve people with anxiety, but the results may vary as each therapist takes his own approach to the given form of treatment. For example, a common treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy, has been studied and found that the “remission rate” for anxious patients is 51%, although this number may not show all patients who have gained some benefit from experience. Treatment can be performed in person or use one of the various online services available now.
The key to exploring psychotherapy for anxiety disorder is to try another therapist or treatment if your current therapist does not help you relieve anxiety.
drug
The most common type of anxiety medication used to treat anxiety disorders is called SSRI, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which are also used in Treatment of depression and anxiety. Common names for drugs include Prozac, Zoloft, and Lexapro. Other drugs may be prescribed, such as beta blockers, sedatives, and even certain antihistamines such as hydroxyzine. Other remedies, such as CBD, are not medical solutions, but anecdotes help people manage anxiety.
Talk to your psychiatrist about reasons to prescribe some anxiety medication and stay in touch with any side effects you are experiencing.
How to deal with anxiety
Since many people feel anxious as part of their daily life, a great way to start a path to lowering anxiety is to try some lifestyle changes that are considered useful. Learning how to relieve anxiety may be the beginning of learning how to get rid of anxiety in your own life and environment. Diagnosis and treatment are still options, but many people get better results when combining lifestyle changes with any of the above treatments.
- Use relaxation techniques: Deep breathing techniques, meditation and mindfulness practice are all designed to help people focus on the present and give up on forward-looking worries, fears, or stress. Including once or more relaxation per day can help you relieve anxiety. If you need guidance, there are a variety of mental health applications that can help you build your daily exercises.
- Try to manage stress: In many cases, stressful situations drive anxiety, including confusing family situations, unreasonable workplace expectations, and relationship stress. Although some stressful situations cannot change quickly, a valuable goal is to plan where possible to reduce stressors.
- Cut caffeine intake: Many people have observed that replacing some caffeine-based beverages with uncaffeine-based beverages to reduce caffeine intake can cause anxious thinking. If you choose this path, don’t cut caffeine significantly immediately, but slowly reduce your caffeine intake so that your body has time to adjust.
- Make sure you have support: Seeking help from family and friends, such as regular social time or help taking care of children or relatives, can enhance your connection and help you less lonely in a busy or overwhelming situation.
- Eat correctly and exercise regularly: Food additions such as vegetables, fruits, lean protein and whole grains can provide a range of health benefits, including reducing stress and anxiety. Exercising multiple intense exercises a week is also associated with helping the body with anxiety, allowing the person to handle stress in a healthy way later.
- Make sure you have enough sleep: Sleep interruption or short sleep cannot recover our bodies from anxiety in the previous few days. If there are ways to add more sleep or longer to your lifestyle, that can improve your anxiety.
When and how to get help for your anxiety
Basic anxiety levels come from a healthy place that helps us plan ahead and avoid dangers. But when your anxiety is not for you but the ability to calm you down effectively, it is worth talking to a mental health professional to learn more about how your specific anxiety symptoms compare to the diagnostic categories they have. Talking to someone can help us to be less lonely on the journey of greater mental health, whether it is leading to a diagnosis or simply helping us acquire new technologies to cope with anxiety symptoms.
Mental Health Resources
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