TIPS ON ANXIETY DISORDERS

Definition

Anxiety disorders form a category of mental health diagnoses that cause nervousness, fear, apprehension and worry.

Types of Anxiety

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

This is a chronic disorder involving excessive, long-lasting anxiety and worries about nonspecific life events, objects, and situations. GAD is the most common anxiety disorder, and people with the disorder are not always able to identify the cause of their anxiety.

Panic Disorder

Brief or sudden attacks of intense terror and apprehension characterize panic disorder. These attacks can lead to shaking, confusion, dizziness, nausea, and breathing difficulties.

Specific Phobia

This is an irrational fear and avoidance of a particular object or situation. Phobias are not like other anxiety disorders, as they relate to a specific cause.

Agoraphobia

This is a fear and avoidance of places, events, or situations from which it may be difficult to escape or in which help would not be available if a person becomes trapped.

Selective Mutism

This is a form of anxiety that some children experience, in which they are not able to speak in certain places or contexts, such as school, even though they may have excellent verbal communication skills around familiar people. It may be an extreme form of social phobia

Social Anxiety Disorder or Social Phobia

This is a fear of negative judgment from others in social situations or of public embarrassment. Social anxiety disorder includes a range of feelings, such as stage fright, a fear of intimacy, and anxiety around humiliation and rejection.

This disorder can cause people to avoid public situations and human contact to the point that everyday living is rendered extremely difficult.

Separation Anxiety Disorder

High levels of anxiety after separation from a person or place that provides feelings of security or safety characterize separation anxiety disorder. Separation might sometimes result in panic symptoms.

Treatment

Treatments will consist of a combination of psychotherapy, behavioral therapy, and medication.

Alcohol dependence, depression, or other conditions can sometimes have such a strong effect on mental well-being that treating an anxiety disorder must wait until any underlying conditions are brought under control.

Self-Treatment

1. Stress Management: Learning to manage stress can help limit potential triggers. Organize any upcoming pressures and deadlines, compile lists to make daunting tasks more manageable, and commit to taking time off from study or work.

2. Relaxation Techniques: Simple activities can help soothe the mental and physical signs of anxiety. These techniques include meditation, deep breathing exercises, long baths, resting in the dark, and yoga.

3. Exercises to replace negative thoughts with positive ones:?Make a list of the negative thoughts that might be cycling as a result of anxiety, and write down another list next to it containing positive, believable thoughts to replace them. Creating a mental image of successfully facing and conquering a specific fear can also provide benefits if anxiety symptoms relate to a specific cause, such as in a phobia.

4. Support Network: Talk with familiar people who are supportive, such as a family member or friend. Support group services may also be available in the local area and online

5. Exercise:?Physical exertion can improve self-image and release chemicals in the brain that trigger positive feelings.

Counselling

A standard way of treating anxiety is psychological counseling. This can include cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), psychotherapy, or a combination of therapies.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

This type of psychotherapy aims to recognize and change harmful thought patterns that form the foundation of anxious and troublesome feelings. In the process, practitioners of CBT hope to limit distorted thinking and change the way people react to objects or situations that trigger anxiety. For example, a psychotherapist providing CBT for panic disorder will try to reinforce the fact that panic attacks are not really heart attacks. Exposure to fears and triggers can be a part of CBT. This encourages people to confront their fears and helps reduce sensitivity to their usual triggers of anxiety.

Medication

Benzodiazepines

Antidepressants

Tricyclics

Prevention

1. Reduce intake of chocolate, caffeine, tea and cola

2. Contact the doctor before using herbal remedies which might trigger anxiety

3. Maintain a healthy diet

4. Keep a regular sleep pattern

5. Avoid alcohol cannabis and other recreational drugs