Experiencing periodic anxiety is a normal part of everyday life. It is our body’s natural response to stress, and it also alerts us of potential danger. It is purely natural to feel anxious when going to a job interview, giving a speech, before taking a test, when faced with a problem at work, or when making an important life decision. From the dawn of humanity, this emotion has been a crucial part of survival. It enabled early humans to appropriately react to approaching predators or imminent danger by triggering bodily alarms. These alarms were in form of increased heart rate and a rise in adrenaline levels to activate evasive actions. Today, anxiety revolves around health, work, money, family, relationships and other critical aspects of life. This level of anxiety does not necessarily hinder us from appropriately and effectively conducting our routine activities. However, when the duration and intensity of the anxious feeling becomes overwhelming and/or out of proportion to the initial trigger and interferes with our normal life activities then it can be diagnosed as an anxiety disorder.

There are different types of anxiety disorders, most of them have common signs and symptoms that can be categorized as physical, mental and behavioral. The physical symptoms include shortness of breath or hyperventilation, increased heart rate, gastrointestinal problems, sweating, trembling, nausea, muscle tension, numbness or tingling sensations in the hands and feet. The mental symptoms include uncontrollable and obsessive thoughts, feeling of uneasiness or panic, problems with concentration and sleep issues. The behavioral symptoms include restlessness or the inability to stay still or calm, ritualistic behaviors such as repeatedly washing hands, and increased irritability (Vahratian et al., 2021).

Anxiety disorders take various forms. These forms include generalized anxiety, panic disorder, phobias, social anxiety, separation anxiety, agoraphobia, selective mutism and substance induced anxiety. Generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by individuals experiencing highly unrealistic and excessive tension as well as worry with very little or no triggers. The worry is usually about everyday life events. Panic disorders are characterized by panic attacks of intense fear or terror. The individual experiences feelings of impending doom and physical symptoms. Phobias are anxiety disorders where an individual exhibits an unreasonable intense fear of a specific situation or object such as cats or darkness. This fear will lead to avoidance of the thing or experience even if the individual acknowledges the fear as being irrational or extreme. Social anxiety disorder is experienced as extreme fear of public embarrassment, ridicule or negative judgments in social settings to the point where daily interactions become very difficult. Separation anxiety disorder manifests itself as fear or worry of separation of a loved one or place such as one’s home that naturally provides feelings of security or safety. This can cause the individual to become excessively clingy or refuse to leave their home even when necessary. It may eventually lead to agoraphobia. Agoraphobia is characterized by an individual’s fear of leaving their home because of the fear of being in situations/places/events that might be hard to escape or acquire help should they need it. For example, being in an elevators, public transportation, concerts or airplanes. Selective mutism is common among children but can also occur in other ages. The individual will consistently fail to speak in certain settings or situations like school or at home thus negatively affecting their schoolwork and social functioning. Finally, there is substance-induced anxiety disorder which occurs when an individual experiences intense panic, fear or worry after abusing drugs, withdrawing from drugs, taking certain medication as well as being exposed to toxic substances.

Anxiety disorders have a variety of causes and risk factors that might increase the likelihood of an individual suffering from the disorder. These factors are genetic predisposition, imbalanced brain chemistry, medical factors, environmental factors, trauma and alcohol and drug abuse. Genetic predisposition is where the disorder is passed down from one generation to the next through genes. Imbalanced brain chemistry caused by the misalignment of electrical signals and hormones can result to the occurrence of the disorder. Medical factor such as symptoms of specific diseases or the side effects of medication that can result to anxiety. Environmental factors in the form of work, family, or relationship stress may cause anxiety disorders. Traumatic experiences such as car accidents or any form of abuse can cause anxiety since they overwhelm the individual’s psychological coping mechanisms. Finally, the abuse or subsequent withdrawal of drugs and alcohol can also cause anxiety. This is because any substance introduced into the body system affects the body’s normal function and the subsequent remove of the substance also affects the body.

There are different ways of treating anxiety disorders that involve a combination of medication and psychotherapy. Medications such as antidepressants and anti-anxiety are prescribed by a psychiatrist to alter brain chemistry and minimize the likelihood of anxiety attacks occurring. Beta-blocker medications are prescribed to relieve some of the physical symptoms of anxiety. Psychotherapy helps the individual with emotional regulation of the symptoms they are experiencing. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying the triggers of anxiety and rectifying them. Exposure therapy focuses on managing the fears causing the anxiety disorders by gradually facing the fear until it becomes nonexistent. Click here to find a psychotherapist.

Anxiety, as an emotion is an integral part of human life and is experienced by every individual in their daily lives. Nonetheless, extreme manifestations of anxiety should be addressed immediately and managed appropriately. Therefore, we should all strive to keep watch of our mental health. Wellbeing structures such as stress management, relaxation techniques, regular exercise and having a support system of family and friends should always be in place.

Reference

Vahratian, A., Blumberg, S., Terlizzi, E., and Schiller, J. (2021). Symptoms of Anxiety or Depressive Disorder and Use of Mental Health Care Among Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic — United States, August 2020–February 2021. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vol. 70, No. 13 (pp. 490-494). https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7013e2.htm