Anxiety is a common feeling, and everyone has once felt it. It could come in situations where you need to present something, go for a job interview, wait for results such as medical results, or when you are so much after achieving something. It is a natural way for the body to respond to stress. It is a blend of nervousness and fear. However, when it lasts more than six months and interferes with your life, it becomes a disorder.
Anxiety Disorder
Unlike normal anxiety, which comes and goes, anxiety disorder is always present, intense, and sometimes draining.
In as much as anyone can be affected, American Psychiatric Association says women have a more likelihood of being affected than men. If untreated, it gets worse.
Types Of Anxiety Disorders
Generalized anxiety disorders
An anxiety condition is marked by persistent anxiety, heightened worry, and tension, even without triggers.
Panic attacks
This means that you frequently and repeatedly have panic episodes at unexpected times. It is accompanied by symptoms such as chest pains and heart tremors, breathing difficulties, dizziness, or stomach discomfort. These panic episodes may raise the alarm that they’ll happen again. Refrain from circumstances where they’ve occurred to avoid them happening.
Phobia
An extreme fear of a sure thing, circumstance, or behavior.
Social anxiety Disorder/ social phobia
This is a severe dread of people judging you in social settings. It is an anxiety condition marked by overwhelming anxiety in routine social interactions and excessive self-consciousness. A social phobia may be so prevalent that a person experiencing symptoms encounters them almost all the time they are in public in its most severe form.
Social phobia may be experienced when speaking, drinking, or eating in public.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
This means that you frequently have irrational thoughts (obsessions) that cause you to engage in particular, repetitive actions (compulsions). People frequently engage in repetitive tasks like cleaning, counting, checking, or hand washing to eliminate or prevent obsessive thoughts. Nevertheless, engaging in the “rituals” only reduces anxiety for a short time, while refraining from doing so greatly increases it.
Substance/ drug-induced anxiety disorder
It is characterized by signs of panic or severe anxiety triggered by being exposed to toxins, abusing drugs and stopping using them, or taking prescription medicines.
Agoraphobia
It is whereby you fear and frequently refrain from circumstances or avoid locations that can make you panic or trigger feelings of embarrassment, and helplessness or make you feel confined.
Separation anxiety disorder
This indicates that you are afraid of being alone or separated from your loved ones.
Selective mutism
Even when they can talk in some contexts, like at home with close family members, children could consistently struggle to speak in some contexts, like school. This may affect how they operate at school and in their social life.
Hypochondria
It is often called illness anxiety disorder. This is worrying about your well-being.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
It may manifest after exposure to a scary experience that posed a threat or where severe physical damage happened. Traumatic events that might set off PTSD are military conflict, accidents, calamities caused by nature or people, and violent personal attacks.
Anxiety Disorder Symptoms
Different people experience anxiety differently. Some have a racing heart, others stomach aches; the emotions can range from person to person. You may feel out of control because of a disconnection feeling between your mind and body.
You might occasionally have a panic attack and feel anxious and fearful including the fear of a particular place or thing.
Its symptoms can be physical, mental, and emotional. They include;
Physical Anxiety Disorder symptoms
- Restlessness, sweating, trembling
- Unexplained aches and discomfort
- Having a faster heartbeat
- Breathing quickly (hyperventilation)
- Having issues falling asleep
- Having digestive system issues
- Dry mouth
- Nausea.
- Numbness or tingling in the hands or feet.
- Muscle tenseness
Mental Anxiety Disorder symptoms
- Difficulty managing worrying thoughts or ideas
- Difficulties concentrating slumbering weariness irritation
- Intense, uncontrollable thoughts
- Nightmares
- Recurring memories or flashbacks of catastrophic events
- Experiencing fear, panic, and unease.
Emotional Anxiety Disorder symptoms
- A desire to refrain from things that trigger your anxiety
- Feeling jittery, fidgety, or uptight
- Feeling drained or feeble
- A feeling of disaster, terror, or impending peril
A child has anxiety disorder if;
- They have a phobia or obsession that makes it difficult for them to enjoy life, get through the day, or finish their tasks.
- It is perplexing to both parents and children.
- Does not get better despite rational explanations for the concerns.
Causes of Anxiety Disorder
There is no specific cause of anxiety disorders since everyone has been anxious at some point in life. Some are triggered by inherited traits. However, people who are already anxious seem more prone to anxiety disorders when faced with challenging situations.
However, for some people, it could be linked to;
Medical causes
Anxiety could be linked to some underlying medical conditions. Anxiety-related signs and symptoms are at times the first cautioning signals of a medical condition. The doctor may request to carry out tests to search for anxiety symptoms if they are suspicious it may have a medical cause.
Mental health and medical conditions that may feature anxiety as a symptom include;
Major depressive disorders
Depression and anxiety are closely related to one another.
Chronic disease
Managing ailments, including diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), may cause anxiety symptoms.
Inflammatory conditions
Anxiety can cause persistent inflammatory conditions and illnesses like arthritis.
Substance use disorders
Self-medication is a common strategy used by anxious people to treat their symptoms.
Chronic pain
People with chronic pain conditions frequently experience anxiety
- Thyroid conditions like hyperthyroidism
- Respiratory conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma.
- Abuse or withdrawal from drugs
- Withdrawal from alcohol, benzodiazepines, or other drugs that treat anxiety
- Rare tumors that release specific hormones that aid in flight or combat
- Lack of oxygen in conditions such as pulmonary embolism, emphysema, or high altitude sickness (a blood clot in the vessels of the lung)
Certain drugs occasionally have the adverse effect of anxiousness.
Anxiety could be a medical condition if;
- You don’t have any blood relatives who suffer from anxiety disorders (like a parent or sibling).
- You didn’t grow up with an anxiety illness.
- Because of your anxiousness, you don’t avoid particular situations or objects.
- You experience abrupt anxiety that doesn’t seem tied to current events and have no prior history of anxiety.
Life events such as;
- Stress at work, school, in a marriage, or in other intimate connection
- Financial stress
- Stress caused by a dire medical condition
- Stress caused by world events or political issues
- Stress brought on by unforeseen or unclear global occurrences, such as a pandemic
- Stress resulting from a psychological tragedy, such as the loss of a loved one
Risk Factors For Anxiety Disorders
These are factors that could intensify the possibility of having anxiety disorders. They are such;
Suffering from an illness
You may worry about your future and treatment when you have a significant sickness or health condition.
Trauma
Children who observed horrific events or experience trauma and abuse are more likely to suffer from anxiety disorder eventually. Adults who have been through traumatic experiences may also acquire anxiety disorders.
Personality type
Some personality types have a higher chance to develop anxiety disorders than others.
Stress build-up
Excessive anxiety may be brought on by a pile of lesser stressful life circumstances, such as persistent financial worry, work stress, or a major incident such as a loss in the family.
- Suffering from other mental health conditions, such as depression
- Drug abuse
Anxiety can be triggered, caused, or worsened by the usage, abuse, or misuse of drugs or alcohol.
Having blood relatives with an anxiety disorder
Effects Of Anxiety Disorders
- Issues with the stomach or bowels
- Headaches and ongoing discomfort
- Social isolation
- Issues at Work or School due to reduced confidence
- Other mental health conditions, such as depression (which frequently coexists with an anxiety disorder)
- Abuse of substances
- Sleeping Disorder
- Poor Quality of Life due to missed opportunities
- Suicide
Prevention f Anxiety Disorder
There is no sure way to prevent anxiety but what could help is;
- Get assistance as soon as possible. Like many other mental health issues, waiting to get treatment for anxiety might worsen it.
- Avoid using drugs or alcohol, however, stopping the utility of one of the substances can trigger your anxiety if it is your addiction. Anxiety can be triggered or worsened by substance use and alcohol. Look for a support group or visit your doctor if you cannot stop using them on your own.
- Remain active. Engage in things you enjoy and find them positive for your self-image. Socially interact with kind people because they can help you relax. Also, exercise for relaxation, such as deep breathing.
- Meditation and visualization
- Sleeping well and having an optimum diet
- Learn interpersonal skills to deal with challenging people and circumstances, or take parenting classes to help you deal with your kids.
- Examine your medications: Consult your doctor or pharmacist before using over-the-counter drugs or herbal cures. Some of these may worsen anxiety symptoms due to the substances they contain.
- Avoid caffeine: Stop or reduce your caffeine intake, which includes cola, coffee, tea, and chocolate.
Relationship Between Irritable Bowel Syndrome And Anxiety
The consequences of stress can sometimes be felt in the stomach. IBS patients have unpleasant digestive issues, including stomach pain, constipation, and diarrhoea They commonly experience anxiety and depression as well, which can exacerbate symptoms.
IBS and anxiety are related because the nervous system has some control over the gut. The stomach may be impacted by the neurological system’s reaction to stress. Between 50% and 90% of IBS patients may additionally suffer from an anxiety or depressive illness. Psychotherapy and stress reduction techniques are two possible IBS treatments.
