Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety Overview

Anxiety disorders are debilitating mental illnesses involving excessive worry, fear, and panic. Anxiety is the most common mental illness out there. It is very different from everyday nervousness and rational fears. Having an anxiety disorder means that your symptoms have made it difficult for you to get through your day on a regular basis. Women are about twice as likely to get diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. 

In the U.S., about ⅓ of people experience symptoms of an anxiety disorder during their lives. Globally, about 300 million people experience symptoms of an anxiety disorder. It is worth noting that mental health issues are historically under-diagnosed throughout the world, so these statistics could be higher. 

Symptoms

Everyone’s body is different; apart from debilitating worry, there are no universal signs of anxiety. The most common include shallow breathing, rapid heartbeat, sweating, and feelings of panic. A lot of people also experience general uneasiness, clammy hands, fidgeting, irritability, nausea, dizziness, inability to concentrate, tension throughout the body, crying, and rumination. 

Most of these are self explanatory, but what is rumination? It is a cyclic thought process where you cannot stop thinking about something. In the case of anxiety disorders, these thoughts revolve around your anxiety triggers. Rumination is relentless and difficult to break free from. Sometimes, using mantras or guided meditations can help you process and reduce rumination. 

Types Of Disorders

The diagnostic criteria differ based on which anxiety disorder you’re looking at. For example, with generalized anxiety, you must have had excessive worry and anxiety for greater than 6 months. There are quite a few types of anxiety disorders. Generalized anxiety has frequent episodes that occur for no reason; people who have this are anxious more often than not, and it can happen for any reason. Social anxiety is fairly common throughout the population; its basic definition is fear of social situations. However, the true root of this often lies with the fear of being judged or embarrassed in social situations.

Panic disorder is a severe type of anxiety where you feel intense, sudden panic that can feel like a heart attack. Separation anxiety manifests as a fear of someone leaving, but it is also a fear of something bad happening to someone. Then we have phobias – these are very specific, very intense fears. An example is agoraphobia, which is fear of being in specific places that may provoke panic; it often manifests as a fear of leaving the house. 

Both separation anxiety and specific phobias usually begin in childhood. The rest of the aforementioned types of anxiety usually begin during early adulthood. OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) used to be considered forms of anxiety, but that has changed. They nonetheless share many signs and symptoms with anxiety disorders. 

Treatment Options

Therapy is the best way to treat anxiety. Therapy involves breaking down your issues with a mental health professional in a confidential meeting. You meet with the therapist regularly until your symptoms are manageable. The therapist can help you problem solve, reframe harmful worldviews, learn to cope with your symptoms, and find resources to support you. 

There are dozens of types of therapy; the main two are CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy). These are two forms of evidence-based, coping-focused talk therapies. Other somewhat common forms include EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) and ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy), exposure therapy, and art therapy. Not every type of therapy works for everyone, so try not to get discouraged if you aren’t seeing results right away. Be open with your therapist about how you think things are going; don’t hesitate to ask for what you need.

Medication Options

Two main types of medications are used for treating anxiety disorders. For acute episodes like panic attacks and intense phobias, doctors will often prescribe benzodiazepines. These slow you down and allow you to stop focusing on the anxiety trigger. These are usually taken as-needed (at the onset of an anxiety episode), but in severe cases they can be prescribed for daily use. Benzodiazepines start working almost immediately. 

Many antidepressants double as anti-anxiety medications; SSRIs and SNRIs are the main types that are prescribed for both depression and anxiety. These take longer to start working – several weeks to several months. You may have to do some trial and error when it comes to starting anxiety medication; not everything works for everyone. All medication comes with the risk of side effects.

Take-Home Message 

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental illnesses in the world. There are several manifestations of anxiety including generalized anxiety, social anxiety, panic disorder, separation anxiety, and specific phobias. Much of the time, anxiety is debilitating, and it interferes with you living your best life. There are quite a few treatment options available, and it’s up to you to start the conversation with your GP or other healthcare professional. 

Starting the journey of treating your anxiety is life-changing. You can contact Anxiety UK for assistance finding resources for you. If Dialectical Behavioral Therapy sounds like it may be a good fit for you, consider joining a DBT skills group to learn coping tools; in-person availability depends on the area. You can find a wonderful DBT skills program online here. Don’t minimize your symptoms; if you think you have an anxiety disorder, it’s important that you be honest with yourself and your GP so that you can pursue treatment.