Anxiety Disorder

Anxiety is a common experience for all people. Some handles it smoothly while others could be immersed into it, knowing that they are heading for a long, dark alley with no point of return.

There are approximately 40 million Americans who have various types of anxiety disorders. Anxiety disorder may manifest in such a way that the person feeling it could have sensations of free-floating anxiousness without knowing the reasons that have triggered it. It may also appear like an intense and sudden attack of numbing or painful anxiety. Also, it may manifest as a social inhibition or irrational compulsions to be obsessed on certain rituals. OR, it may manifest as an illogical fear of something which seems not to bother other people at all.

Regardless of the variety of anxiety disorders, they still have one thing in common- persistence of symptoms and excessive and overwhelming worry and fear. The occurrence of attacks and the degree of its effects can possibly immobilize, disrupt once social interaction and cause enough distress that the patient may find it hard to cope and function normally in social situations. Basic characteristics of anxiety disorder are as follows:

o All-consuming and overwhelming sense of fear and worry

o Anxiety which could lead to self-imposed withdrawal

o Anxiety which inhibits the person from doing his normal functions

Meanwhile, anxiety disorders are often accompanied by anxiety or panic attacks. These are usually characterized by shortness of breath, chest discomfort, extreme trembling or shaking, nausea and/or dizziness, fear of going crazy, hot and cold flashes or sensations of looming death or doom.

The usual psychological and emotional symptoms of anxiety disorder, however, include dread or apprehension, behavioral problems which are usually observed among adolescents and children, hypervigilance, confusion, irritability, avoidance, insecurity, extreme self-consciousness and intense desire to escape.

On the other hand, physical symptoms, apart from what we have earlier mentioned include heart palpitations, sweating, dizziness, shortness of breath, insomnia, fatigue, queasiness, diarrhea or frequent urination and muscle aches or tension.

With these varieties of symptoms, people having anxiety disorders often believe that they have illnesses other than psychological disorders. If not, they are misdiagnosed of other psychological and mental diseases that are far worse than what they actually have.

Under the umbrella of anxiety disorders, several sub-categories are included. These are as follows:

* Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)- This is marked by exaggerated and chronic tension and worry without anything to provoke it. Someone who has this disaster often expects that a looming disaster will befall upon him, or a tragedy such as losing a job, a death of a love one or problems in the family may arise. It is of course hard to pinpoint where exactly the feared object or event is coming from. Nonetheless, for a person who has GAD, these fears are very realistic.

* Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) - The behaviors of the person comes from irrational thoughts or obsessions. These then results to compulsion of doing something that has no logical coherence. Normally, by performing the rituals r the compulsions, the person will feel more relived.

* Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder- panic attacks are period of intense discomfort or fear.

* Phobias- these are irrational fears of things that do not act as actual threats, more specifically to other people.

* Separation Anxiety- this disorder commonly roots from childhood. People who have separation anxiety normally feels extremely anxious with the prospect of losing contact with someone close to him.

* Social Anxiety / Social Phobia- this is an excessive feeling that the person is being watched, and thus being examined by the public's eyes.

There is no single cause for all the types of anxiety disorders. In fact, the root causes may be too vague that some tend to be common and indistinct. Among them are environmental factors that may have rooted during the developmental stages, personality traits and differences which often border on the negative factors, imbalances in the brain chemistry, factors on heredity, and traumatic experiences.

While anxiety disorders could be considered chronic, patients could still find help through early diagnosis and use of helpful preventive measures and treatments.

There are several ways in providing treatments such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, use of natural and herbal treatments and through medications. If you think that you have the symptoms of anxiety disorders, it is in your best interest to seek professional intervention to help relieve you from further aggravated conditions and to provide self-help treatments.