Symptoms Of Anxiety Research Paper

Holly O'Daniell
Mrs. Harris
4/1/2013

Anxiety Disorders

There is an estimated 13.1 million people living with anxiety on this planet, and rates are increasing over the years. You probably have heard about anxiety, or have experienced the feeling of being anxious, but what exactly is anxiety? Anxiety is a normal part of life that protects us from danger, but there's also the type of anxiety that takes over your life. The anxiety that can stop you from being the real you. It's the body's normal response to a stressful situation. Anxiety is the anxious feeling you get when you feel threatened or frightened. Everyone experiences anxiety from time to time and it's not a problem until it starts to interfere with your everyday
life like it does to me. Anxiety can create feelings such as fear, restlessness, worry, dread, and uneasiness.
Anxiety should not be confused with fear. Fear is concrete, an actual danger , where anxiety is the paranoia of something out there that seems menacing but may not be menacing, and may not even be there. When anxiety starts to disrupt your life, it is known as an Anxiety Disorder. The anxiety that people suffer with is not just a simple condition. It develops itself in a variety of ways. Anxiety is not just nervousness either, there are both psychological symptoms and physical symptoms. The physical symptoms of anxiety is rapid heartbeat, heart palpitations, excessive sweating, nausea and dizziness, chest pain and headaches, weakness in the limbs and muscle tension. It's important for people who have anxiety attacks to realize the symptoms once they start having them because it's possible for them to panic over
panicking. There are seven main types of anxiety disorders and each disorder has different symptoms. Generalized Anxiety Disorder is the most common and widespread type of anxiety disorder that affects tens of millions of people throughout our world. This disorder is best described as an ongoing state of mental and physical tension and nervousness. This could even be without a cause or without the ability to take a break from the anxiety and calm yourself down. Normally when the anxiety appears to occur for no reason or for a reason that shouldn't be causing that degree of anxiousness, individuals are diagnosed with G.A.D (Generalized Anxiety Disorder). The most common problems associated with G.A.D is constant restlessness, irritation, edginess, or a feeling of being without control. Some experience trouble concentrating or focusing on certain tasks. The physical effects are the feeling of fatigue, lethargy, or generally low energies. (Tired all of the time and no motivation). The symptom most experienced is tense muscles, especially in the back, neck, and shoulders.
The second type of anxiety disorder is Social Phobia. Social Phobia is an irrational fear of social situations. There are certain degrees of social phobia that is normal but when it stops a person from attending normal healthy social events, there's a problem. People who suffer from social phobia often experience two or more symptoms. They usually feel hopeless or fearful when they're near unfamiliar people or in an unfamiliar environment. They usually have an obsession over being watched, observed or even judged by others. They can experience intense issues meeting new people or speaking up when it's their turn, for example public speaking. Eighty percent of people who suffer from social phobia display avoidance behaviors, and avoid anything that has to do with social involvement. This is very similar to people with specific phobias, which is intense feelings of fear because objects, scenarios, animals etc.
A rare anxiety disorder is Agoraphobia which is the fear of going out in public, in open spaces or the fear of being in unfamiliar places. People who suffer from agoraphobia tend to never leave their home, or do anything just to avoid traveling anywhere other than their home. Many people who have agoraphobia tend to also suffer from panic disorder. That's because a lot of the causes to agoraphobia are from having panic attacks. Many people experience panic attacks in public areas and they start to avoid more and more places in order to prevent panic attacks. The chain reaction can go up until that person suffering develops fears of going outside. The symptoms that come along with agoraphobia is the feeling of severe stress or anxiety whenever you're in an environment other than the one you feel most at peace.They get the feelings of tension and stress even during regular daily activities. They tend to find that their own fears keep them prisoner. As mentioned during my explanation of agoraphobia, panic disorder is a common one. Panic Disorder is when a person experiences severe feelings of doom that cause both mental and physical symptoms that can be so intense that some people become hospitalized because they have a strong sense of worry that something is seriously wrong with their health. Panic disorders are characterized by two things which are panic attacks and the fear of getting panic attacks. The triggers for panic attacks are stress, anxiety, or sadly even nothing at all. They mainly involve mental distress but are most known for the physical symptoms including rapid heartbeat (heart palpitations or arrythmias). People with panic disorder experience tingling sensations, numbness, and depersonalization, which is a feeling that you are outside of yourself. They usually get chest pains, dizziness, trouble breathing or the feeling as though you need to take a deep breath (hyperventilating). Panic attacks can have some or all of the symptoms above but their mental symptoms are what starts affecting people's routines in life.
The people suffering experience the feeling of doom or the feeling that you are about to die. Now remember, there doesn't have to be any specific reason , they can just simply feel that way at random times of the day. People with panic disorder also suffer from severe anxiety, which can make it feel impossible to cope with on your own . The physical symptoms of panic attacks can before or after anxiety, meaning you can experience physical symptoms before first before even experiencing the fear of death. Panic disorder can be very hard to control without seeking professional help. It is very important for those who suffer to seek attention as soon as possible and to diagnose and find which disorder they are dealing
with. As human beings, there are always going to be risks that put our lives in danger. Most people are lucky enough to avoid the dangers and live a nice, safe, positive life. But in some cases, you may experience a traumatic life event, either physically or emotionally. A traumatic experience often involves a threat to someone's life or safety. Any situation that gives you a feeling of being alone or helpless can be traumatic, even if it doesn't involve physical harm. The causes of emotional and physical trauma could be if something happened suddenly or if it happened repeatedly. More causes come from traumatic events happening in early childhood and if an event happened that someone wasn't mentally prepared for, such as a sudden death in the family. Certain events in life can be traumatic for people if they feel helpless and powerless to prevent it. People suffering from post traumatic stress disorder often need to get outside help because PTSD can affect people for years after the event occurs, possibly even the rest of their life. The majority of people who suffer from PTSD are those who either experienced or witnessed a tragic event. For example, if a marine had a close friend out in the warzone and he witnessed his best friend being bombed, the images could linger on with him for the rest of his life. The symptoms of PTSD starts with reliving the trauma. People who relive the trauma not only can relive it emotionally, but physically as well as if they were back to the event. People with PTSD may have triggers that cause intense stress or fear. These triggers often relate to the event such as noises, smells, or even images. They experience anxiety over recurrence which is just another way to explain severe anxiety. The people who have PTSD also tend to experience issues with their emotional thinking and future. Those with PTSD are at a greater baseline of stress and may be short tempered or easy to upset. They could be startled easily and convinced that they were designed to die. The last disorder I am going to explain is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). People with OCD often have behaviors and fears that are not only confusing to others surrounding them, but confusing to themselves as well. Obsessions are thought based and usually a negative or fearful thought that one cannot simply shake off no matter how hard they try. Compulsions are behavior based and the people who suffer always have a "need" to perform an action or activity. Obsessive thought patterns includes the person that suffers from OCD finds themselves "obsessed" with things that they appear to be the only one worrying about. They try to shake away thoughts when they occur, usually by performing an action. They tend to find that the action doesn't work and ultimately the obsession continues. Compulsive behavior patterns usually have the person experiencing anxiety, often after an obsession. They usually turn to an action that can reduce the anxiety. The person suffering will sometimes repeat the action and even reinforce the behavior. Anxiety disorders are really difficult to cope with especially if the person suffering can't seek the help they need. Once you know what anxiety disorders are and their symptoms, you're probably wondering how their caused. As I stated about PTSD, that disorder is caused from a traumatic experience in the past. However, the other six types of anxiety disorders can be caused by underlying medical problems such as heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and certain rare tumors. Psychologist can tell when anxiety is from a medical reason if that person hasn't suffered any traumatic life experiences. Anxiety disorders can also be heredity , therefore a disorder can actually be inherited from a parent. Another way a person can get an anxiety disorder is from their environment. Environmental factors play a role in a person's life. For example, if a person lives in a neighborhood that has high rate crime, that person may be more nervous and experience anxiety more often than others who live in a safe, positive area. The amount of traumatic events in a person's life crafts the degree of how serious their anxiety disorder is. Now that I deeply described each anxiety disorder and explained the root of how they are caused, I'm going to state the different ways that people who suffer can cope and overcome the anxiety. There are numerous ways that people can learn to overcome anxiety and learning how to deal with your anxiety is the first step. This is important because fearing anxiety attacks can actually trigger an anxiety attack. If you know how to deal with your anxiety then you can calm yourself down once an attack comes on. Once you learn how to calm yourself down and actually realize it is only an anxiety attack, it is less likely to start panicking about the anxiety attack. When someone is having an anxiety attack it's usually difficult to get themselves to calm down because of the symptoms that come along with it. The anxiety and the feeling that you are going to die is hard to shake off once it's in your mind. It is important to replace the negative thoughts with positive ones because once a person does that it immediately calms them down and makes them feel better. There are many methods to help calm a person down during an anxiety attack. One of the most effective methods is deep breathing. Deep breathing mentally calms people down and is known to lower heart rates. Another method that is useful is called "Stop and Replace". My therapist taught me this method and it's a simple as taking the stressful thought you have and replacing it with a calming thought. People often can calm down by talking to someone who comforts them, normally a person that they can trust. During an anxiety attack it's also good to focus your mind on something other than panicking because thinking of the stress on your mind can make a person explode. All of these methods that I have just stated are ways to calm down therapeutically. Aside from the therapy methods, there are also other ways to cope with the anxiety attacks. There is actual medication prescribed to people to treat their anxiety disorders. Anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medications, and beta-blockers are the most common medications used for anxiety disorders. Anti-depressants were originally used to treat depression but SSRIs such as fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), escitalopram (Lexapro), paroxetine (Paxil), and citalopram (Celexa) are commonly prescribed for panic disorder, OCD, PTSD, and social phobia. There are also the anti-anxiety medicines called benzodiazepines that start working more quickly than anti-depressants. The three top benzodiazepines that are used to treat anxiety disorders is Klonopin, Ativan, and Xanax. Beta-blockers control some of the physical symptoms of anxiety, such as trembling and sweating. People can build a tolerance to benzodiazepines if they are taken over a long period of time and may need higher and higher doses to get the same effect. Some people may become dependent on them and start to believe that they need the drugs for the rest of their life in order to live normal. To avoid these problems, doctors usually prescribe the medication for short periods of time, which is especially helpful for people who have substance abuse problems or who become dependent on medication easily. If people suddenly stop taking benzodiazepines, they may get withdrawal symptoms, or their anxiety may return suddenly. Therefore, if a person wants to stop taking medication to treat their anxiety, they need to be taken off of them slowly. Personally, I suffer from more than one anxiety disorder. I suffer from panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and PTSD. These disorders make it highly difficult for me to wake up and have a normal day. I got diagnosed with panic disorder, agoraphobia, and hypoglycemia when I was 11 years old and fainted at a nearby acme because my blood sugar dropped. That event gave me fear of going into any acme, and the fact that I fainted gave me fear of it happening again. Eventually I learned to cope with it, even though it took two years to get myself to go back into a grocery store. Unfortunately, I still have hypoglycemia but I outgrew agoraphobia. To this day I'm struggling with panic disorder, GAD, and PTSD. I've had generalized anxiety disorder for as long as I can remember. I'm constantly worrying about things I shouldn't be and obsessing over negative anxiety causing thoughts (Disaster thinking). When I have an anxiety attack, I use to work myself up so much that I would have to be hospitalized so they could get my heart rate down and make sure everything was going well with me mentally and physically. I was hospitalized over 15 times in the beginning of school year just because of my anxiety disorders. I just recently started dealing with PTSD back in august 2012. My father was very sick from cirrhosis of the liver and I spent a lot of time with him during his last days. The images of seeing the strongest guy I ever knew being so weak in a hospital bed tore me apart. Every day that month was non-stop panic. I saw many things occur that no one should ever have to see, especially at a young age. It even gets worse because this happened right before my senior year. My psychologist knew right away I had PTSD shortly after my father had passed away. I have lost 9 close relatives including my brother, sister, and stepdad all in 2006-2007. Losing my dad was different because it wasn't sudden, we knew it was going to happen but I could never get myself to be ready to let go. I still hung onto hope, when everyone else didn't. I strongly believed that a miracle was going to happen. A month after my dad's death, I was at the car wash with my boyfriend. We were cleaning the car from inside out. I was feeling as good as I possibly could that day until one little thing sent my mind right back into the past. My boyfriend had a cleaning foam that you spray on stains on the car seats. As soon as I saw the foam, it automatically sent me back to the morning my dad passed. It was around six a.m. and I had stayed the night in the hospis to be by his side. The nurses came in and sat his bed up, even though he wasn't conscious and immediately all this foam started coming from his mouth. I was honestly terrified because I did not know what was going on. The nurse told me that it was from his body shutting down and that he had 2 hours to a day left so I needed to call other family members in to say their goodbyes. Ever since the images I saw I get set off easily because they forever will be stuck in my mind. At the car wash, I instantly had the flash back and my anxiety attack came on. I was trembling, shaking, crying, hyperventilating, and just had a mental break down as if it was happening all over again. At first I was scared to tell my boyfriend what got me so upset, but after I explained to him I felt a lot better because he, himself was there with me the morning my father passed away. After the mental breakdown and not being able to handle the anxiety and depression, I was put into Horsham Clinic for a month and then once I was stable I started my school year back at Roosevelt. In conclusion, I am still struggling with PTSD, GAD, and Panic disorder. Just now, I am capable of calming myself down and realizing that everything is going to be okay. The anxiety disorders mainly interfered with my school life and allowing me to stay motivated to get the important things done in my life. Although, I recently just started to feel normal again and started getting my life back on track, thank God. It was extremely hard to learn to deal with my anxiety, but with the help of others and my psychologist and doctor, I managed to do so. I have been on three different types of medication since September 2012. I am currently on Citalpram (anti-depressant), Hydroxine (anti-anxiety) and Klonidine (medicine to help with my insomnia). I do not plan to depend on these medications for much longer. I disagree that I'm going to need them for awhile because I think I can teach myself to be anxiety free and happy without drugs. Eventually I would love to be able to lower myself off of them until I am stable on my own. I want to be a more strong, independent young lady like my parents have raised me to be.