Anxiety is a natural human reaction. And contrary to popular
opinion, anxiety can be beneficial because it alerts poeple to
potential dangers and gives off an adrenaline rush that can help
them accomplish a task in record time.
But like many things, anxiety when taken into the extreme can
have disastrous results. These feelings can lead to panic
attacks and chronic worrying that can slowly affect the way a
person deals with other people and with normal life situations.
Anxiety disorder, as psychologists would want to call this
condition, can range from something as simple as feelings of
uneasiness to responses as severe as feelings of terror and
claustrophobia. Fortunately, among the psychological disorders,
anxiety problems are one of the most common and the most
treatable. Combinations of medications and behavior therapy are
often given. Symptoms of anxiety problems include fast heartbeat
and palpitations, chest pains and difficulty in breathing,
anxious thoughts that persist even without any concrete reason,
dizziness and nausea, sweating, trembling, difficulty in
concentrating, fearful thoughts and feelings of disorientation
and claustrophobia.
Below are the types of anxiety disorders as mentioned in the
DSM-IV.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder is characterized by excessive but
unwarranted worries that a person cannot stop having. Although
most people will experience these kinds of feelings every once
in a while, a disorder is only diagnosed if the feelings persist
for six months and start to affect work and the person's
relationships with other people. Some of the common symptoms
that people should watch out for are physiological reactions
such as headaches, trembling, muscle tension, sweating, and
trouble staying or falling asleep. There are also bouts of
restlessness and sweating.
Panic disorder is another type of anxiety disorder characterized
by feelings of terror that strikes so suddenly without immediate
cause. Often, people who are having panic attacks feel pains in
their chest with their heartbeats going fast. Some will also
feel lightheadedness and even nausea. They will find it hard to
breathe and may feel unwarranted fears. Although most attacks
usually last for about a few minutes, there are some that last
for almost ten minutes and even those that continue on for an
hour. A disorder is diagnosed when the attacks happen in a time
frame of just four weeks.
We fear a lot of things but there are some people who are quite
irrational with their fears. These fears on things are called
phobias. There is a long list of phobia forms, having a specific
name for each item that is feared. A person, for instance, who
is afraid of open spaces has what psychologists like to call
agoraphobia. Phobias are characterized by extreme anxiety and
even panic attacks when confronted by the object being feared.
Many of the symptoms that are felt during panic attacks are also
felt during phobic episodes.
Post-traumatic stress disorder also falls under anxiety
disorders. PTSD, as it is often called, often developed after
experiencing, witnessing or participating in a traumatic and
terrorizing event such as death, war, torture and other extreme
circumstances. PTSD is characterized by intense anxiety and
nightmares at night. People who have PTSD also find it difficult
to sleep and to concentrate on things. Often, anxiety attacks go
to the extreme when confronted with situations that have
similarities with the one experienced.
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