When Does Anxiety Needs Treatment (Anxiety Disorder)

When Does Anxiety Need Treatment?

Normal anxiety, physiological or alarm, is a state of psychological and physical tension that implies a generalized activation of all resources to react to a really existing stimulus, often well known, represented by difficult and unusual conditions or perceived as such.ax; apprehension; hypervigilance; restlessness.

Anxiety is pathological when it interferes with psycho-physical well-being. It is characterized by a state of uncertainty about the future, with the prevalence of unpleasant feelings. The disorder is characterized by the presence of strong anxiety feelings, which last for months and which interfere with the quality of life. This condition may be due to a problem relating to an imminent future, or to the possibility of more or less distant events. Anxiety often accompanies other psychological and psychiatric problems, as well as the unresolved conflicts of the person suffering from them. The intensity can cause unbearable suffering or determine defensive behaviors that limit the quality of life since, to drive away the disturbance, we leave the house or we perform rituals of various types with the intent to have control of the situation.

Anxiety disorders

Anxiety disorders are the most common form of emotional disorder and can affect anyone of any age. The duration or severity of an anxious feeling also has a physical impact and can be disproportionate to the original trigger or stress. The latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (DSM-V), an international reference text, classifies anxiety disorders into several main types. In previous editions of DSM, anxiety disorders included obsessive-compulsive (DOC) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in addition to acute stress disorder. The fifth edition no longer places these conditions under the umbrella of anxiety disorders which are classified into: generalized anxiety disorder, panic attacks and panic disorder, specific phobic disorders.

Generalized anxiety disorder. It is a chronic disorder that involves excessive anxiety and prolonged concern for non-specific events, objects and life situations. This is the most common anxiety disorder and people who suffer from it are not always able to identify the cause of their anxiety.

Panic attack. An intense feeling of terror for short or sudden periods characterizes the panic attack which is manifested by tremors, confusion, dizziness, nausea and difficulty breathing. Symptoms intensify rapidly, peaking after 10 minutes, but may persist for hours. Panic disorders are a shocking experience and usually occur after frightening situations or prolonged stress, but they can also occur without a trigger. An individual experiencing a panic attack can mistakenly interpret it as a potentially life-threatening disease since the most reported symptom is "feeling dying" and can make drastic changes in behavior to avoid future attacks.

Specific phobia. It is an irrational fear towards a particular object or situation. Phobias differ from other anxiety disorders because they have a specific and known cause. A person with a phobia might recognize a fear as illogical or extreme but remain unable to control the feelings of anxiety in his or her presence. The triggers of a phobia are environments (airplane / lift), animals (spiders, mice, dogs) or everyday objects.

Agoraphobia. Often misunderstood as a fear of open spaces and outdoors, it is instead the disturbance of those who are afraid, therefore avoid, places, events or situations from which it can be difficult to escape or where help would not be available if a person were trapped. A person with agoraphobia may be afraid of leaving home or using elevators and public transportation.

Social anxiety disorder or social phobia. It is the fear of negative judgment by others in social situations or public embarrassment. This disturbance can induce people to avoid public situations and human contact to the point of making normal daily activities extremely difficult. Selective mutism is a form of anxiety that typically occurs in children who are unable to speak in certain places or contexts, such as school, although they may have excellent verbal communication skills when they are in a context familiar to them. It could be an extreme form of social phobia.

Separation anxiety disorder. After separating from a person or a place capable of transmitting feelings of security, some people may experience an anxiety disorder with symptoms similar to a panic attack.

In the case of an anxiety disorder, the feeling of fear can always be present in such an intense way as to be debilitating: it can make you stop doing things you like (go to a concert for example) and, in extreme cases, do not take the lift, prevent you from crossing the street or even leaving your home. If left untreated, anxiety tends to worsen.

Diagnosis

Establishing when anxiety becomes a disease is not easy. Patients' ability to tolerate it is variable and it can be difficult to establish the causes of the pathological form. In the assessment of severity, it is considered whether: anxiety is a cause of malaise; interferes with normal functionality; it does not stop in a few days. To check if anxiety is secondary to other pathologies, tests, even blood tests, can be useful.

Anxiety and Its Symptoms

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is the body's natural response to stress. It is a feeling of fear or apprehension about what will come. The nervous feeling before an important life event during a difficult situation is a natural echo of the original "fight or flight" reaction triggered by an adrenaline rush. It is a normal emotion developed by the body as an alarm mechanism to avoid the dangers that directly or indirectly threaten survival. Over time, the concept of threat has expanded, so much so that currently it is not poisonous snakes or werewolves that trigger anxiety. Anxieties now revolve around health, work, money, family life and other crucial issues. Any event or situation, even in perspective, that is perceived as a threat, from the loss of the job, to the outcome of an examination, can trigger an anxious malaise. When this sensation occurs with a certain regularity and with levels disproportionate to the stimulus, a problem can develop that can compromise the quality of life on a psychic and physical level.

Symptoms

Anxiety can occur suddenly, as in panic, or gradually over the course of several minutes, hours or days. It can last from a few seconds to years, although a longer duration is more characteristic of anxiety disorders. Anxiety is perceived differently, depending on the person who experiences it. Feelings can range from butterflies in the stomach to a heart that beats too fast (tachycardia). The discomfort is due to the fact that one feels out of control, as if there was a disconnection between mind and body. The person has a general feeling of fear and worry, or fears a specific place or event.

The general symptoms of anxiety are represented by: a sense of fear and imminent danger; fear of dying or losing control; general voltage; inability to relate. The psychological symptoms of anxiety are: excessive worries about secondary issues; tendency to catastrophism; irritability and impatience; difficulty concentrating and poor attention; feeling of loss of one's personality and sense of reality; memory disorders; sleep disorders.

Neurovegetative symptoms are represented by:

·        difficulty in breathing,

·        feeling of tightness in the chest, air hunger (dyspnoea),

·        accelerated breathing (hyperpnea);

·        chest pain;

·        lightheadedness,

·        dizziness,

·        feeling of instability and

·        lack of balance, imminent fainting (lipotimia);

·        tingling in parts of the body; hot or cold flashes;

·        feeling of suffocation,

·        difficulty in swallowing,

·        feeling of "knot in the throat";

·        dry mouth;

·        fast or irregular heart beat (arrhythmic

·        excessive sweating;

·        sense of weakness and tiredness (especially in the lower limbs);

·        tremors;

·        frequent urination diarrhea;

·        muscle tension.

 Anxiety attacks can vary widely and symptoms can differ from subject to subject because the many symptoms of anxiety can change over time.

Anxiety and depression

A panic attack and an anxiety attack have symptoms in common, but they are different problems. Anxiety disorders can be so stressful and disruptive as to lead to depression. Alternatively, anxiety disorder and depressive disorder may coexist or depression may arise first, while the signs and symptoms of anxiety disorder may occur later. Pathological anxiety, in addition to being a disorder in its own right, accompanies many diseases, especially psychiatric ones: dementia, schizophrenia, depression and mania, sexual, personality and adaptation disorders.

What is the Real Cause of Anxiety

The Causes of Anxiety

The exact causes of anxiety disorders are unknown. As reported by the American National Institute of Mental Health, the available data show that genetic and environmental causes (lifestyle, stress, nutrition) are at the origin of the disorder.

Genetic Factors. 

Anxiety tends to be familiar, as twin studies indicate the involvement of the RBFOX1 gene. In part, however, the problem can arise from living in contact with anxious people. The involvement of the amygdala is also known, a small structure deep in the brain that processes the threat and alerts the brain when there are signs of danger. It appears to play a role in anxiety disorders involving fear of specific things, such as cats, bees or drowning.

Environment. 

An anxiety disorder can be triggered by environmental stresses, such as the breakdown of an important relationship or exposure to a disaster in which life is put at risk. When the response to stress is inadequate or you are overwhelmed by events such as public speaking, an anxiety disorder may arise.

Health problems. 

There are diseases that can induce anxiety. They include: heart disease, such as heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias; hormonal (endocrine) diseases, such as an overactive adrenal gland (hyperadrenocorticocism), overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) or a tumor that secretes hormones, called pheochromocytoma; lung (respiratory) diseases, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Fever can also cause anxiety. Anxiety disorders often occur in conjunction with other mental health conditions, such as substance abuse and depression. Many people try to relieve anxiety symptoms by taking alcohol or other drugs. Substances such as alcohol, nicotine, caffeine and other drugs can give a very brief improvement in symptoms, but in reality they worsen anxiety disorder.

Biological Factors. 

According to some studies on the brain, anxiety would be caused by alterations in the amount produced by some neurotransmitters, such as an excessive production of norepinephrine (the stress hormone) and a reduced production of serotonin (which regulates well-being) and GABA (which is an inhibitory neurotransmitter).

Drugs. 

They can cause anxiety: corticosteroids, cocaine, amphetamines and even caffeine. Abstinence from alcohol or sedatives, such as benzodiazepines (used for anxiety disorders), can induce anxiety and other symptoms, such as insomnia and restlessness.

Trauma.

 Being the victim of trauma (sexual abuse or having lived in war scenarios), being close to someone who is the victim of a traumatic experience or witnessing something traumatic, are all conditions that can promote anxiety. It is no coincidence that the hippocampus, a region of the brain that is involved in memorizing memories of threatening events, is smaller in individuals who have suffered abuse or trauma.

Gender.

 Females are most likely to have anxiety disorder than males.