Overview

Anxiety is a normal response to stressful situations. Most people experience different levels of anxiety due to psychological stress or a threat in one's life. In other words, when someone is faced with a dangerous situation, anxiety is triggered in order to prepare your body to fight or flee. Anxiety disorders are more common in people than any other mental health disorder. The difference between a normal body’s response to anxiety and one with an anxiety disorder is that it is constant. This can affect everyday activities from simply walking down the street to ordering food.

Types of anxiety disorders include:

•Generalized Anxiety Disorder

•Social Anxiety

•Panic Disorder

•Specific Phobia Disorders

With this, comes a variety of physical changes such as an increased heart rate, rapid breathing, temperature changes, tensed muscles, and sweating. Additionally, anxiety disorders are often not treated or diagnosed due to persistent anxiety in one's life begins to make anxiety feel normal.

Other symptoms include:

•Feeling of Constant Nervousness

•Restless / Trouble Sleeping-insomnia

•Trouble Concentrating or Thinking

•Dizziness

Anxiety can hit a person all of a sudden or take minutes to days to form, and anxiety has the potential to last any amount of time. The intensity can also vary from worry or concern to panic.

Causes

Although the causes of anxiety disorders are varied per individual and not fully known, some research has pointed to:

•Genetics

•Physical Conditions

•Psychological Makeup

•Environmental Stressors

Anxiety disorders can be triggered by environment stressors such as traumatic / life threatening experiences and the parting of significant relationships. Anxiety disorders can arise when a person's response to stress seems to become overwhelming. An example of this is public speaking; some people love it while others dread the thought of it and even avoid speaking in small groups.

Accurate diagnosis is important when it comes to an anxiety disorder because treatment varies. If an anxiety disorder is diagnosed, the most common type of therapy is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Research has shown that in most cases CBT is the most effective for all types of anxiety disorders. CBT is used to support the client in understanding the relationship between intrusive fearful thoughts, physical reactions to fear, avoidant behaviors, and anxiety. Some strategies may include the development of a fear hierarchy from the lowest to the highest threat (e.g., thinking about giving a speech to actually giving a public speech) while using coping skills.

Anxiety