Anxiety and Its Nature

Do you:

o frequently feel extremely worried, or feel uneasiness

o Begin to feel shaky or trembling due to some worries about the past incidents or due to expectations of future events.

o often face trouble in focusing on your daily activities due to some kind of fears

o often be bothered that something very bad is going to happen to you

If your answers are “yes” to the above-mentioned questions, then you might be suffering from Anxiety.

Anxiety is generally the person’s response to a real or imaginary fear or threat. In case of anxiety, the response can be uneven to the actual threat. The symptoms might include:

• Body sweating and trembling

• A sudden increase in the pace of breathing

• fast heartbeats

• feeling dizzy

• extreme uneasiness etc

Almost all people have anxiety at some point in time in their lives but if this anxiety goes beyond control then this leads to complications and health disorders. Anxiety turns into a disorder when the person is unable to control his thoughts that are triggering nervousness. Anxiety is a signal to your body about a possible threat to us. Anxiety generally pushes a person to act or react to the situation. You will be facing a situation of “fight, flight or freeze”.

What is an Anxiety Disorder?

Anxiety will turn into a disorder and become a mental health complication if it is not handled properly. The person’s response to a genuine threat or an imaginary danger will trigger panic symptoms. A person suffering from anxiety generally starts to panic any without any appropriate reason for fear. Your mental thinking and understanding of the situation will increase or decrease the nervousness.

There are many types of anxiety disorders like:

1) Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Excessive and unnecessary tensions or worry about certain things, including worrying about being upset.

2) Panic Disorder: Feeling panicky and being nervous about getting a panic attack now.

3) Agoraphobia: Fear of certain places or situations and not being able to get help or escape from there.

4) Social anxiety disorder: Unable to blend freely with other people, often due to the fear of embarrassment and getting judged.

5) Specific phobias: Extreme fear of certain things, animals or situations.

Treatment for anxiety includes counseling or medication or self-help.

1) Counseling: The person with anxiety should consult a healthcare specialist, counselor or psychologist. There are various therapies to overcome anxiety.

2) Medication: Medication is prescribed in certain cases where the patient is undergoing panic due to this kind anxiety. Doctor will analyze the health condition of the patient and the severity of the panic, they might prescribe anti-anxiety drugs. The dosage that has been suggested by the doctor has to be strictly adhered by the patient.

3) Self Help: The patient may opt for various self-help methods to overcome anxiety. Practicing relaxation techniques, breathing techniques etc will help them to calm down. They can also practice hypnosis to program their mind to overcome the anxiety. Positive affirmations given during the hypnosis session can be repeated.

Treatment options vary according to each individual.