Anxiety 101: What Is Anxiety and How Is It Treated?

Anxiety has become a common occurrence in the lives of people all over the world. Feelings of unease to overwhelming nervousness have become commonplace and many report feelings of anxiety as often as several times a week. This frequent incidence is often considered normal. It may not be the most comfortable situation to be in, but with the normal stressors of life, anxiety is a reaction to these stressors.

Anxiety can be defined in numerous ways. This is because it comes in many different forms and can range anywhere from a minor feeling of nervousness to a relatively permanent state of agony or fear characterized by uncontrollable attacks of panic. There are endless in-between definitions and are relative to the person and what they’re experiencing.

Anxiety Can Be a Good Thing…

Some anxiety is normal and even helpful. For example, an important exam coming up in a few days generally produces enough anxiety to compel you to take some course of action.   As a result, you might study extra hard, and get a good night sleep the night before the test causing your anxiety level to decrease.  Another example would be the affects of anxiety or stress regarding danger.  If you see a child about to fall off a high surface, your rate heart will increase dramatically with adrenaline, your chest will tighten and your instincts will kick in causing you to feel propelled to protect the child from injury. In these ways, anxiety becomes a very important tool to push you to take action when it is called for.

…But It’s Usually Not

Other types of anxiety however are not helpful and are destructive to yourself as well as to those around you.  Anxiety can actually get in the way of your ability to prepare for a task due to your inability to calm down and concentrate on the given task.  In this case it will also decrease your ability to process, retain information, and rest causing a dramatic decrease in overall performance.  Anxiety can also inhibit your ability to connect with others around you in a healthy life-giving way.    Because all forms of anxiety are in a way bothersome, it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between healthy, helpful anxiety and unhealthy, detrimental anxiety.

After reading article, we hope to shed an informative light on several kinds of anxiety and their symptoms so that you have e better understanding of what type of anxiety you may be experiencing and if it requires an intervention.

Identifying Your Anxiety

One of the first things people want to do when they are feeling anxious is to rid themselves of the feelings altogether. Because the feelings are uncomfortable and sometimes unbearable, this isn’t a surprising or even unhealthy way to approach it. However, when you don’t understand your anxiety and what it is connected to we are often unsuccessful actually getting rid of it and can only cover it over for a time.  While it’s important to decrease the amount of anxiety that you’re feeling, it is also just as important to determine why you are feeling the anxious to begin with.

Anxiety is an emotion, much like happiness, sadness, and anger. In this case it is one that directly attaches to your body and can cause moderate to severe physical symptoms.  So, if this is the case, maybe your anxiety isn’t one in which simply needs to be stopped but actually carries an immense amount of meaning that needs to be sorted out before it can resolve itself. Sometimes this can be done by yourself or with the help of a friend, but there are of course, cases of persistent or extreme anxiety that do require treatment.  Remember, we all deal with anxiety within our body differently.  Some people who grew up in high anxiety environments can endure levels of anxiety that might kill an elephant while others are much more sensitive to lesser amounts.  Comparing your anxiety to another person’s anxiety is not useful and typically leads to a devaluing of what you are going through and can lead to more severe problems down the road.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to better pinpoint the level of severity of your anxiety:

• Do you spend more of your day feeling anxious than calm and controlled?  When was the last time you felt peaceful or content?
• Do you have a fear of usually nonthreatening people, places, or things (i.e. insects, heights, dentists)?
  If so, does even thinking about these things cause you to feel physical effects (chest tightening, sweating, etc.)?
• Does your anxiety prevent you from enjoying and taking part in life in ways that you would like?
• Can you predict specific activities or events that will trigger high enough anxiety to cause distress? (i.e. Social events, air travel, dating, going to work…)
• Does your anxiety get in the way of building strong, secure relationships with people around you?

If you answered yes to a few of these questions, then you may have some additional concerns for the specific kind of anxiety that you are experiencing. Below are a handful of conditions in which anxiety is one of the principal traits.

Types of Anxiety

Panic Disorder:

Panic disorder is characterized by frequent panic attacks; instances of extreme panic, loss of control, and unrealistic fears including the fear of dying. These unexpected and uncontrollable instances typically last several minutes or until the causing stimulus is removed. The anticipation of having more attacks is also a high panic inducing thought in panic disorder.

Specific Phobia

A specific phobia is clearly a phobia of a specific person, place or thing. Some common specific phobias are heights, animals, and tight spaces.  Reactions from being subjected to the stimuli can range anywhere from sweating to uncontrollable screaming and crying.

Social Phobia

Social phobia is the anxiety that surrounds a public appearance or performance in which embarrassment is the assumed outcome. Some examples would be public speaking, or in most severe cases, even being amongst people in any social situation.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Commonly known as OCD, this anxiety disorder is the repetitive execution of common tasks that are time consuming or disrupt daily life. If the task is not completed it causes a feeling of intense anxiety and can trigger panic attacks until it can be completed. An example is the constant washing of one’s hands, locking the door a certain number of times, or uncontrollable bouts of cleaning which also can manifest itself as a specific phobia (fear of dirt).

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Also known as PTSD, this anxiety disorder is associated with experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event that is marked by fear, terror, and/or defenselessness. There are often recurring recollections, dreams, and memories of the event that cause feelings of anxiousness and can bring back the same feelings of fear and terror experienced at the time of the trauma. There also may be an avoidance of people, places, and things associated with the event as well as a lowered startle and surprise threshold.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized Anxiety Disorder is marked by excessive feelings of worry and anxiety that happens more often on more days than not for a period of six months or more. For the sufferer, these feelings are perceived as uncontrollable. In addition to general feelings of anxiety, those with Generalized Anxiety Disorder may also experience restlessness, fatigue, muscle aches and soreness, irritability, and concentration problems.

Treating and Overcoming Anxiety

As uncontrollable and endless as anxiety can feel, there are treatment methods available. If anxiety is interrupting your daily routine, preventing you from doing things that you typically love, or if you’ve restructured your plans and activities due to anxiety, you may need to seek treatment from a professional. You aren’t limited to only one treatment method. There are several interventions available to assist you in overcoming your anxiety in such a way that is effective and manageable for you.

The treatments suggested to you will be highly based on the type of anxiety you are experiencing. All of the anxiety disorders that were mentioned have designated treatment options. Many people experience a full recovery from their symptoms with the right treatment.

Where do I go From Here?

It is typically important to identify some things about your specific anxiety. Ask yourself:

• What instigates my anxiety?
• What am I feeling and/or thinking when the anxiety occurs?
• How troubling and unbearable is my anxiety?
• How am I coping with my anxiety?

Taking a look at the source and nature of your anxiety can give some hints on what the underlying issue is, as well as how to begin treating it. There are also a few changes that you can make to attempt to control your anxiety and alleviate some of your symptoms:

• Practice daily physical activity. Try to get up and move around for at least 30 minutes every day, even if it’s just a brisk walk around the neighborhood.
• Eat fruits, vegetables, and healthy foods. If you treat your body well, it will in turn, produce the chemicals you need to feel content.
• Set a bedtime and adhere to it. Consistently get an appropriate amount of sleep (6-8 hours).
• Challenge your internal negative voice. Focus on the positive parts of your life.
• Reach out and seek emotional support from friends and family.
• Set realistic goals that don’t focus on perfection. Accept imperfection.
• Track how you feel about stress and attempt to eliminate or reduce negative feelings.
• Identify projects or tasks that may be overwhelming and seek ways in which to make them easier to manage. For example: ask for help, or say “no” to more work if you have enough on your plate.
• If you are experiencing any health problems, consult your physician.
• If you continue to be concerned with your anxiety, or you feel it is not manageable, consult a mental health professional.
• Reduce or eliminate alcohol intake.
• Reduce or eliminate caffeine intake.
• Avoid taking responsibility for events that are out of your control.
• Avoid “negative emotional reasoning” (ex: Because I feel bad, my life is terrible!)

Reaching out to Someone Experiencing Anxiety

Often equally as difficult as having anxiety, is seeing someone that you care about experiencing anxiety. No matter if you are a licensed professional or not, you can provide some assistance. When speaking with your loved-one, be sure to share feelings, and encourage them to open up. Use “feeling word”. (I’m worried and wondering why you’ve been so sad over the last few weeks.) This often provokes them to open up. It is always an option to speak to a Mental Health Professional yourself if you are worried about a friend or loved-one.

Ways to Intervene with an Anxious Friend or Loved One

• Practice empathy and understanding.
• Avoid passing judgment
• Do not minimize the severity of anxiety problems.
• Challenge feelings of hopelessness; focus on the positive in their lives.
• Be aware that your suggestions may not be well received. Do not get angry.
• Suggest that they seek some kind of mental health consultation for the treatment of anxiety.
• Consult with a mental health professional if they refuse to get any sort of appropriate treatment.

Seeing that you have made it this far down the page it seems pretty clear that you or someone you love is dealing with a degree of anxiety that warrants concern.  Feel free to give us a call and we can discuss the next steps towards breaking free of anxiety.  Either give our main line a call or take a look at our Therapist Directory page for specific information about our therapists.

Photos
“Pensive Steve,” courtesy of Connie Ma, Flickr CreativeCommons (CC BY-SA 2.0); “IMG_5949,”  courtesy of Patrick Denker, Flickr CreativeCommons (CC BY 2.0)