Anxiety Disorders Symptoms - Coursework Example

Anxiety Disorders Anxiety disorders are different kinds of mental illnesses that disrupt day-to-day activities of people. A negative feeling about oneself and the world at large is the cause of anxiety. According to Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia, "anxiety disorder is a blanket term covering several different forms of abnormal, pathological, anxiety, fear, phobia and nervous condition, that may come on suddenly, or gradually over a period of several years and prevent pursuing normal daily routines." (Anxiety_disorder section, para. 1) People all over the world are suffering from anxiety disorders. In America alone, about 40 million people suffer from this mental illness. According to the website of National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], "these disorders fill people's life with overwhelming anxiety and fear. Unlike the relatively mild, brief anxiety caused by a stressful event such as a business presentation or a first date, anxiety disorders are chronic, relentless and can grow progressively worse if not treated." (Anxiety Disorders section, para.1) One should immediately see a doctor if he or she is suffering acutely from any of the following symptoms. Physical or somatic symptoms: fatigue, chest pain, short of breath, rapid heartbeat, lightheaded, panic sweating, insomania, migraines, irritable stomach or dizzy spells. Psychological or cognitive symptoms: feeling worthless, hopelessness, mood swings, living in fear, depression, frustration, restlessness, lack of concentration, social avoidance or anxiety. The following are the disorders, which are collectively termed as anxiety disorders. As it is significant; anxiety is the common symptom of all. Panic disorder Agoraphobia Social Anxiety disorder or social phobia Specific phobia or simple phobia Generalized anxiety disorder Obsessive - compulsive disorder Post traumatic stress disorder Panic disorder: According NIMH's website, " people with panic disorder have feelings of terror that strike suddenly and repeatedly with no warning. They can't predict when an attack will occur, and many develop intense anxiety between episodes, worrying when and where the next one will strike." (Anxiety Disorders section, para. 10) One can experience panic attack any time, sometimes even during sleep. There is no specific duration of the attack. Sometimes it may last for more than half an hour, sometimes it may be of 10 minutes and sometimes even lesser. It may happen that a person experiences a panic attack only once in his lifetime. But if panic attacks are frequent then it is advisable to see a mental health care practitioner. As stated in the website of NIMH, "panic disorder is one of the most treatable of the anxiety disorders, responding in most cases to medications or carefully targeted psychotherapy."(Anxiety Disorders section, para. 18) A person can get panic attack anywhere. For example, if a person experiences a panic attack while he is swimming, he may experience a terrible fear of drowning. The long-term effect on his personality would be that he might completely avoid going near a swimming pool, sea, river or pond and in extreme cases even his bathtub. Panic disorder causes acute depression and people suffering from it even turn alcoholic or drug addict to fight their depression. Agoraphobia: According to Dr. Sanjay Chugh, " The ancient term 'agoraphobia' is translated from Greek as 'fear of an open marketplace'. Agoraphobia today describes severe and pervasive anxiety about being in situations from which escape might be difficult or avoidance of situations such as being alone outside one's home, traveling in a car, bus or airplane, or being in a crowded area." (Mind/psychology/phobia/anxiety. asp section, para.10) Therefore people suffering from agoraphobia start getting panic attacks the moment they are away from their homes or people they trust and get help from. The more the distance from their home and dear ones, the more is the intensity of their restlessness and fear. Hence, "severely agoraphobic people avoid going out altogether and become virtual 'prisoners' in their own homes." (Turner, 2003, p.29) Social Anxiety disorder or social phobia: People suffering from social phobia are afraid of being with strangers or people whom they are not very familiar with. They experience difficulty in speaking and even sometimes reading, writing, drinking or eating in public. Whenever they are out in public they feel that everyone is looking at them. They start blushing, sweating, trembling or even sometimes have a feeling of nausea. They are very anxious before meeting people. They feel depressed after meeting them, thinking of what those people might have thought about them. Social interactions are very embarrassing for them. They avoid keeping friends and their school or work gets affected a lot due to this. Genetic factors are involved in the development of social phobia. This phobia develops generally in childhood or early adolescence. Specific phobia or simple phobia: Specific phobias are not very disruptive as people can try to avoid situations that make them tense. For example if a person fears a particular animal then he can just avoid that animal or if he fears injections then he can try to get alternative medications instead of injections. Normal people can also identify with this phobia, as everyone fears something or the other in their lives. Turner (2003) has stated: Specific phobias involve excessive anxiety with regard to specific objects or situations. There are five major subtypes of specific phobia listed in DSM lV: 1. animal type - for example, snakes or spiders 2. the natural environment type - for example fear of heights or thunder storms 3. blood, injection, illness or injury type - for example, fear of cancer or death 4. situational type - for example, fear of flying or getting in a lift 5. other type - this covers specific phobias that do not fit into the other categories (for example, a fear of vacuum cleaners). 'DSM lV' mentioned above stands for the fourth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published in 1952 by American Psychiatric Association (APA). All three; agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder and specific phobia are considered sub categories of 'Phobia'. As explained in Rees, Lipsedge, and Ball (1997), following features are common to all phobias: anxiety only occurs in certain circumstances it is out of proportion to the perceived threat it is recognized as excessive by the patient the patient avoids the situation that gives rise to anxiety anticipation of that situation leads to anxiety (p.104) Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): People suffering from GAD have unnecessary tensions and worries. For example if they are suffering from headache, they might imagine that they have brain tumor. People know that they are exaggerating the situation but have no control over their tensed minds. These people are very restless, suffer from headaches and muscle aches, sweat profusely, lack sound sleep, experience difficulty in eating and feel like going to the bathroom always. According to NIMH's website, " having this disorder means always anticipating disaster, often worrying excessively about health, money, family or work. Sometimes, though the source of worry is hard to pinpoint. Simply the thought of getting through the day provokes anxiety."(Anxiety Disorders section, para. 60) Often GAD occurs with one of the other anxiety disorders so to treat GAD, the other disorder should also be treated simultaneously. Turner (2003) stated, "it is sometimes called free-floating anxietyand is one of the more difficult anxiety disorders to treat successfully." (p. 29) Obsessive - compulsive disorder (OCD): As the name signifies this disorder is a kind of obsession to perform a particular thing in a particular way repeatedly. Some of the people suffering from it feel guilty of doing it over and over again but are unable to stop themselves of doing so. They remain anxious or disturbed if they are not able to do those things and get relief only after tending to their compulsions. For example some people are obsessed of washing their hands over and over again, looking at their watches every two minutes, counting each and every thing that they see or checking things repeatedly. Healthy people can identify with this disorder as a number of people have the habit of checking the stove many times before leaving home. However if a person has a habit of checking the stove every now and then, then it can be implied that he is suffering from OCD. People of all age groups suffer from OCD but children suffering from this disorder are unable to realize that they are doing something abnormal. OCD has been explained in the following way in the website of NIMH: You may be obsessed with germs or dirt, so you wash your hands over and over. You may be filled with doubt and feel the need to check things repetedly. You may have frequent thoughts of violence, and fear that you may harm people close to you. You may spend long periods touching things or counting; you may be preoccupied with order or symmetry. (Anxiety Disorders section, para. 25) OCD can lead to substance abuse, alcoholism and depression in people who are suffering from it. Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): PTSD is the result of trauma or extremely bad experiences such as kidnapping, torture, rape, accident, death of a relative or natural disaster that one has gone through in life. People suffering from this disorder have distressing feelings in the daytime; and when they sleep they get nightmares related to their trauma. It is difficult for them to feel affectionate towards others and they get irritated and startled easily. Some may even feel violent and aggressive. Since PTSD is the result of unfortunate incidents in the life of people; support of near and dear ones is required to heal the psychological wounds. In some people symptoms of PTSD starts developing after years of the traumatic incident. People suffering from post traumatic stress disorder can get cured in a few months or a few years depending on the intensity of their problem. Both medications and psychotherapy is advisable for people suffering from this disorder. Anxiety disorders make the lives of people very painful, stressful and terrible. Many relationships as well as self-esteem get destroyed due to these mental illnesses but the good news is that anxiety disorders can be treated. Researchers are coming up with better therapies to combat these illnesses. Researches are being done to find out the effect of " pollution, physical and psychological stress, and diet" (NIMH's website's Anxiety Disorders section, para 97) in the development of anxiety disorders. Mental health care practitioners use medications (pharmacotherapy) or psychotherapy and sometimes a combination of both, depending upon the problem and choice of the person suffering from these disorders. However it should be clear that medications are only a means of keeping the disorder in control. Psychotherapies are the actual treatments of anxiety disorders. Turner (2003) rightly observed that "the anxiety disorder can return if the patient stops taking medication. This is because biological treatments control the symptoms of anxiety but do not address the cause." (p.33) Medications can be prescribed by physicians too whereas psychotherapies can only be performed by trained mental health care practitioners. Most of the patients of anxiety disorders get acutely depressed or indulge in substance abuse, drug addiction or alcoholism. To get positive results these problems should be solved first before solving the actual problem. According to Dr. Sanjay Chugh "it is not clear why more women than men suffer from anxiety disorders,Research on women's responses to stress suggests that women experience a wider range of life events that are stressful as compared to men." (Mind/psychology/phobia/anxiety. asp section, para.12) In addition to the gender factor the researchers have discovered one more thing. They believe that there is certain hereditary or genetic causes of anxiety disorders. To establish this belief "Slater and Shields (1969) investigated the role of heredity in anxiety disorders." (Turner, 2003, p.33) They tested both identical and non identical twins. Identical twins share 100 per cent of genes; therefore their psychological functioning is very similar. Whereas non identical twins share only 50 per cent of their genes. It was found that the rate of co twins suffering from anxiety disorder was more in identical twins than non identical twins. The challenge for practitioners is to be able to carefully examine people in order to identify the exact type of disorder one is suffering from. Practitioners should also encourage the patients to provide all the details about their problems including information about their earlier treatments if any. Apart from medications and psychotherapies, deep breathing exercises, physical exercises, talking to people with similar problems, indulgence in constructive hobbies, self help books and unconditional support of family members can contribute in the healing process. Word count: 2087 'References' Rees, L., Lipsedge, M., Ball, C. (Ed.). (1997). Textbook Of Psychiatry. London : Arnold. Turner, L. (2003). Advanced Psychology: Atypical Behaviour. London : Hodder & Stoughton. Chugh, S. (2001) Magus Media Pvt Ltd. Retrieved June 26, 2006 from http://www.lifepositive.com/Mind/psychology/phobia/anxiety. Foundation, Wikipedia. (2006). Retrieved June 26, 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety_disorder. National Institute of Mental Health. (2006) Retrieved June 27, 2006 from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/anxiety.cfm#anx1. Read More