A Report On Anxiety Disorder: Types, Symptoms, Causes, And Treatment

Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or fear; sometimes it is characterized by physical symptoms such as sweating and feeling of stress. Being anxious is a common feeling, yet not all cases can be classified as anxiety disorder as it’s a serious medical condition. Anxiety disorders are a group of mental illness that keeps the person that is suffering from it from going on with his/her normal life. Each anxiety disorder differs in type, symptoms, theories on causes, and treatment.

Many people think being anxious is classified as an anxiety disorder. However, being anxious has different symptoms from having an anxiety disorder. Anxiety is a normal feeling for people and doesn't interfere with their life; for instance, someone could feel nervous or panicked because of an interview but that doesn't stop him/her from doing the interview. On the other hand, when having an anxiety disorder, there will frequently be extensive fear, worry, panic, and nervousness to the extent that it interferes with one’s daily life and activities. Also, one of the major differences of anxiety and anxiety disorder is the lengths of emotion (stress) it could go on for several weeks or months even. Symptoms of an anxiety disorder could be out of control to handle and sometimes it could also be dangerous to the person suffering from it and the people around them. For instance, having the feeling of intense panic, stress, and uneasiness. It could also lead to having problems sleeping, breathing, and concentrating; sometimes, could lead to physical symptoms such as sweating, trembling, nausea, and heart palpitations. There are several types of anxiety disorders with their own level of severeness and their own symptoms.

There are six major types of anxiety disorder: GAD, social anxiety disorder, specific phobias, panic disorder, OCD, PTSD. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is similar to the symptoms of normal anxiety but more severe. GAD is when someone constantly feels intense anxious, fear, panic, and worry in a chronic, excessive, and unreasonable manner; even when he/she is doing a normal daily task such as doing chores or running errands. Therefore, having GAD is a disturbance to the normal everyday life and always feeling there is something horrible going to happen. Likewise, social anxiety disorder could interfere in one's daily life and be a negative effect on their personal relationship, working lives; people that have a social anxiety disorder tend to avoid situations where they'll not talk or do anything that draws attention. For example, it could stop them from talking to people, doing presentations, and anything that involves a social interaction. This is because they have this constant fear and anxiety of being judged, criticized, and being humiliated. In addition, a social anxiety disorder could also be classified as a specific phobia as it is an intense unwarranted fear of a situation or object. Some examples of specific phobias are claustrophobia, arachnophobia, and agoraphobia. Consequently, exposure to phobic stimulus sometimes provokes an immediate panic attack. When someone has a panic disorder, he/she often gets panic attacks which are acute episodes of anxiety with the combination of short breathiness, chest pains, and dizziness. Consequently, panic attacks are often mistaken for heart attacks. On the other hand, when someone has an obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) he/she is obsessively worrying about something and tries to neutralize it by doing an action. For instance, always keeping everything tidy. Finally, the last major anxiety disorder is post-traumatic stress (PTS), people who have PTS went through a traumatic experience that left a psychological mark on them such as war, sexual assault, car accident, etc. similarly, the etiology about anxiety disorder comes from different perspectives.

There are different perspectives about the causes of anxiety disorders such as psychoanalytic perspective. Anxiety disorders by psychoanalytic theorists are caused by unresolved, unconscious conflicts which are among the desires of the id, ego, and superego. For instance, someone who desires something that is forbidden might cause a conflict between his/her id, which desires that something, and his/superego, which forbids such a thing. In addition to psychoanalytic perspective, there is also the humanistic perspective where the root of anxiety disorders in a person’s feelings, self-esteem, and self-concept. For example, if a person feels like a failure who can't really achieve anything from life, he/she would develop a low self-esteem that would trigger an anxiety disorder. However, cognitive theorists believe that anxiety disorders results from dysfunctional and irrational ways of thinking; a representation of that is when a person who suffers from GAD may have unrealistically high standards for his/her own behavioral. Thus, thinking irrationally that he/she must excel at everything, this triggers anxiety as it is impossible to reach this goal. One of the recent perspectives is sociocultural; it states that anxiety disorders result from a dysfunctional society such as sexism, racism, peer pressure, etc. Take for instance, an individual who everyday deals with racism; this triggers anxiety in that individual which could lead to social anxiety disorder. On the other hand, behaviorist theorists believe that anxiety disorders are learned. For example, imagine a boy that got stuck in an elevator alone and someone found him later and ever since that boy has claustrophobia. Thus, behaviorists believe that the boy learned to associate the fear of enclosed places with the fear of being alone. The final perspective of the causes of anxiety disorder is biomedical perspective; this perspective sees that anxiety disorders result from biological factors such as hormonal imbalances and differences in the brain structure. Anxiety disorders can result from several other factors such as traumatic experience, severe stress, side effects from medications, etc. However, there are treatments that help control anxiety disorders so it would not control a person's life.

Many people ask the same question over and over, is anxiety treatable? Well, with over 40 million people in only the United States that suffer from anxiety disorders, psychologists found different ways of treatment for each anxiety disorder. Also, the severity of the disorder can affect the type of treatment. In some cases self-treatment can work if the anxiety disorder is not that severe. How? Through stress management, relaxation techniques, and exercise. For instance, when someone learns how to manage his/her stress, it will help limit potential triggers. Also, meditation is one of most common and efficient relaxation techniques. As well, professionals suggest that exercises help limits anxiety as it releases chemicals in the brain that trigger positive feelings. On a different note, more severe anxiety disorders need to be treated differently; for instance, the most common treatment is psychotherapy. The two major types of psychotherapy that could help a person with an anxiety disorder are cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure therapy. CBT helps patients understand the thoughts and feelings that influence a behavior; it focuses on changing the irrational way of thinking and behaviors and improving emotional regulation through talking therapy. CBT helps control one’s thoughts and makes one develop a sense of confidence over them, therefore, not feeling overwhelmed by them. Similarly, exposure therapy is one of the most effective psychotherapy that helps treat anxiety disorders by focusing on changing the object that one fears; it helps retrain the brain to become less afraid. This specific therapy is most effective for the people who suffer from specific anxiety. For instance, if someone has a fear of elevators, he/she would gradually face that fear. In more severe cases, psychologists suggest medications to help control the symptoms of an anxiety disorder. Medications such as antidepressants; the most widely suggested for anxiety is the (SSRI) which relieves the symptoms of anxiety and depression. SSRI has been used to treat GAD, PTS, OCD, and a social anxiety disorder, and it says that it takes 2-6 weeks for SSRIs to reduce anxiety. Moreover, Benzodiazepines, Tricyclics, Beta blockers, and buspirone all help reduce an anxiety disorder and its symptoms. However, all these medicines have side effects such as nausea, jitters, drowsiness, addiction, weight gain, dry mouth, and sexual dysfunction. Thus, it is important to notice the symptoms of an anxiety disorder and act upon it to prevent it from being severe.

Although being anxious is common, anxiety disorders are a more severe state and should be taken seriously as it is a medical disorder. It is normal for people to anxiety now or then, as there are several situations that are stressful and uncomfortable. Unlike an anxiety disorder, normal anxiety doesn't interfere with people’s lives. There are six major types of anxiety disorders: a GAD, a social anxiety disorder, a specific disorder, a panic disorder, OCD, and PTS. Each one of these anxiety disorders has their own symptoms; for example, someone who suffers from a panic disorder he/she will continually get panic attacks. Moreover, there are different perspectives about the etiology of anxiety disorders. Theorists have their own unique in-take of how an anxiety disorder starts; take for instance, psychoanalytic theorists believe that an anxiety disorder starts within the unconscious mind where there is an unresolved conflict among the id, ego and superego. As well, sociocultural theorists believe that social ills are a major factor of the cause of anxiety disorders. On the other hand, anxiety disorders can be caused by more than one theory combined. For instance, someone can suffer from a panic disorder due to his/her fear of heights and experiencing racism at school. Finally, treatment can be done in several ways such as self-treatment, psychotherapy, and taking medication. People decide on what treatment they are doing, depending on the severity of the disorder. Also, people can do more than one treatment at time, depending what's right for them and what the psychologist suggested. It is important to check and notice if someone has the symptoms of an anxiety disorder as it can affect his/her life in a negative way. Do you still think anxiety is just about being nervous?

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