Anxiety Disorders

Is This You?

You step up to the podium to give that speech you’ve prepared. You get butterflies in your stomach, your palms sweat, heart races and you may even feel like running away. But you look down at your prepared remarks, look out at the crowd and start your speech. Before long you’re really into the speech and the butterflies and pounding heart are if not completely gone away certainly are at a reduced level. After the speech you are back to normal and the anxiety you were feeling is gone.

Everybody in the world knows what it’s like to feel anxious every once in awhile. You get butterflies in your stomach before a first date. You start to sweat before a big job interview. Your heart pounds when you almost get into a car accident. Those are all perfectly normal anxieties – but what if you experienced anxiety chronically? What if you felt tense and anxious all the time, usually with no real reason? That’s what someone with anxiety disorders experiences every day.

Symptoms

Someone with an anxiety disorder will usually exhibit the same symptoms, no matter what specific type they have. They’ll get a headache, start sweating, and experience muscle spasms. They’ll also experience heart palpitations which make them dizzy, light-headed or out of breath. They may experience panic, fear, apprehension or nightmares.

Anxiety disorders are considered chronic conditions. A person can begin experiencing symptoms suddenly after an event triggers them, or it can be present from an early age, and the disorders may flare up in times of high stress. Many patients diagnosed with an anxiety disorder are also diagnosed with clinical depression, and vice versa. The symptoms of anxiety disorders will often occur for no apparent reason and are often unrelated to any actual experiences. These symptoms will often have devastating effects on relationships with family, friends and on the job.

Causes Of Anxiety Disorders

Numerous clinical studies have suggested that there is a correlation between anxiety disorders and malfunctions in the region of the brain known as the parabrachial nucleus. The parabrachial nucleus coordinates signals from the amygdala, the part of the brain involved in regulating emotional reactions such as fear. There are a lot of biochemical factors that come into play as well. Low levels of a neurotransmitter called GABA, which is responsible for reducing over activity in your central nervous system, can contribute to anxiety.

There is evidence that heredity can play a role in the onset of anxiety disorders. Even chronic exposure to things like paint or varnish as well as personality traits and life experiences can cause anxiety disorders.

Types Of Anxiety Disorders

There are many types of anxiety disorders. General anxiety disorder occurs when a person suffers from long-term anxiety that is not focused on anything in particular. Panic disorder sufferers experience brief attacks of intense terror and apprehension when there is no specific cause for the fear. Agoraphobia is the fear of being in a place or situation where getting away is difficult or embarrassing. Most other phobias are classed as anxiety disorders as well. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and separation anxiety are all anxiety disorders.

It’s Not Easy But There Is Hope

People with anxiety disorders suffer symptoms nearly every day. However, with treatment by a licensed therapist or psychiatrist, the proper medication, support of friends and family and self help techniques it is possible for them to live more normal lives and start overcoming the fears that are holding them back.

Tagged as: (OCD), (PTSD), agoraphobia, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders, causes of anxiety disorders, general anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic, Panic Disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, separation anxiety