What is Anxiety? What are the Types of Anxiety?

According to the NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health), occasional anxiety is a normal part of life. You might feel anxious when faced with a problem at work, before taking a test, or making an important decision. But anxiety disorders involve more than temporary worry or fear. For a person with an anxiety disorder, the anxiety does not go away and can get worse over time. The feelings can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, school work, and relationships. There are several different types of anxiety disorders. Examples include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and social anxiety disorder.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

People with generalized anxiety disorder display excessive anxiety or worry for months and face several anxiety-related symptoms.

Generalized anxiety disorder symptoms include:

• Restlessness or feeling wound-up or on edge
• Being easily fatigued
• Difficulty concentrating or having their minds go blank
• Irritability
• Muscle tension
• Difficulty controlling the worry
• Sleep problems (difficulty falling or staying asleep or restless, unsatisfying sleep)

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder:

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms include:

• Restlessness or feeling wound-up or on edge
• Hyper vigilance, like a soldier constantly looking for a sniper.
• Difficulty concentrating or having their minds go blank
• Irritability, anger and extremely aggressive reactions to seemingly minor things.
• Muscle tension
• Difficulty controlling the worry
• Feeling guilty, isolated and misunderstood
• Sleep problems (difficulty falling or staying asleep or restless, unsatisfying sleep)
• Haunting images and flashbacks

Panic Disorder

People with panic disorder have recurrent unexpected panic attacks, which are sudden periods of intense fear that may include palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate; sweating; trembling or shaking; sensations of shortness of breath, smothering, or choking; and feeling of impending doom.

Panic disorder symptoms include:

• Sudden and repeated attacks of intense fear
• Feelings of being out of control during a panic attack
• Intense worries about when the next attack will happen
• Fear or avoidance of places where panic attacks have occurred in the past

Social Phobia symptoms include:

• Feeling highly anxious about being with other people and having a hard time talking to them
• Feeling very self-conscious in front of other people and worried about feeling humiliated, embarrassed, or rejected, or fearful of offending others
• Being very afraid that other people will judge them
• Worrying for days or weeks before an event where other people will be
• Staying away from places where there are other people
• Having a hard time making friends and keeping friends
• Blushing, sweating, or trembling around other people
• Feeling nauseous or sick to your stomach when other people are around

Evaluation for an anxiety disorder often begins with a visit to a primary care provider. Some physical health conditions, such as an overactive thyroid or low blood sugar, as well as taking certain medications, can imitate or worsen an anxiety disorder. A thorough mental health evaluation is also helpful, because anxiety disorders often co-exist with other related conditions, such as depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Risk Factors

Researchers are finding that genetic and environmental factors, frequently in interaction with one another, are risk factors for anxiety disorders. Specific factors include:

• Shyness, or behavioral inhibition, in childhood
• Having few economic resources
• Being divorced or widowed
• Exposure to stressful life events in childhood and adulthood
• Anxiety disorders in close biological relatives
• Parental history of mental disorders
• Elevated afternoon cortisol levels in the saliva (specifically for social anxiety disorder)

Anxiety Relief in Folsom and Sacramento

Anxiety disorders are generally treated with psychotherapy, medication, or both. It is important to know that specific anxiety disorders respond best to specific treatment methods. As this topic is expanded we will elaborate on specific anxiety relief for each major issue.

Psychotherapy

Anxiety relief with Psychotherapy or “talk therapy” can be very effective. For maximum benefit, psychotherapy must be directed at the person’s specific anxieties and tailored to his or her needs. A typical “side effect” of psychotherapy is temporary discomfort involved with thinking about confronting feared situations. This is a significant issue with anxiety relief and may trigger many therapy interfering behaviors. Things like avoiding the problem actually make anxiety relief more complex and often increase anxiety. In order to be truly effective in anxiety relief psychotherapy must be consistent, ideally at the same time and day of the week each week or every other week and homework should be done outside of sessions to work thru anxious responses.

Anxiety Relief with Self-Help or Support Groups

Some people with anxiety disorders might benefit from joining a self-help or support group and sharing their problems and achievements with others. Anxiety relief thru Internet chat rooms might also be useful, but any advice received over the Internet should be used with caution, as Internet acquaintances have usually never seen each other and false identities are common. Talking with a trusted friend or member of the clergy can also provide support, but it is not necessarily a sufficient alternative to care from an expert clinician.

Medication

Medication does not cure anxiety disorders but often relieves symptoms. Medication can only be prescribed by a medical doctor (such as a psychiatrist or a primary care provider), but a few states allow psychologists to prescribe psychiatric medications.

Medications are sometimes used as the initial anxiety relief disorder, or are used only if there is insufficient response to a course of psychotherapy. In research studies, it is common for patients treated with a combination of psychotherapy and medication to have better outcomes than those treated with only one or the other.

The most common classes of medications used to combat anxiety disorders are antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs, and beta-blockers (visit Mental Health Medications). Be aware that some medications are effective only if they are taken regularly and that symptoms may recur if the medication is stopped.