LEVELS OF

ANXIETY
GROUP 5 

Cariño, Miguel Ildefonso IV 

Banayos, Nathalie Rose 

Dacillo, Izza Pearl

Gamayao, Ella

Garol, Mia Rose

Mansibang, Ester

 INTRODUCTION

• Anxiety is a body’s natural response to stress. It’s a

feeling of fear about what’s to come

• Anxiety Disorder differ from normal feelings of
nervousness or anxiousness and involve excessive fear or
anxiety. 

• Anxiety Disorders is most common health problems



 Anxiety Disorder
Anxiety

▪ Often comes out of
▪ A normal reaction to nowhere
stress and difficult times

▪ Disproportionate or
▪ Triggered by a specific intense fear of
stressor
 response
▪ Has a start and ending ▪ Ongoing last weeks,
point
 months, or years
▪ Relaxing often helps to ▪ Feels imposible to
feel you better 
 control or manage
TYPES OF ANXIETY

Acute
 CAUSES OF ANXIETY
▪ Researchers are not sure of the exact cause of anxiety.

▪ These include genetic and environmental factors, as well
as brain chemistry.



 LEVELS OF ANXIETY
1 MILD 3 SEVERE
2 MODERATE 4 PANIC

Psychological Responses
• Wide perceptual field
• Sharpened senses
• Increased motivation
• Effective problem solving
• irritability
MILD
Physiological Responses
• Restlessness
• Fidgeting
• GI “butterflies”
• Difficulty sleeping
• Hypersensitivity to noise
 MODERATE
Psychological Responses
• Perceptual field narrowed
immediate task
• Selective attentive
• Cannot connect thoughts
or events independently
• Increased use of
automatism
Physiological Responses
• Muscle tension
• Diaphoresis
• Pounding pulse
• Headache
• Dry mouth
• High voice pitch
• Faster rate of speech
• Frequent urination
 SEVERE
Psychological Response Physiological response
• Perceptual field reduced to one • Severe headache
detail or scattered details • Nausea vomiting and diarrhea
• Cannot complete task • Trembling
• Cannot solve problems or learn • Rigid instance
effectively • Vertigo
• Behavior geared toward anxiety • Pale
relief and usually ineffective • Tachycardia
• Doesn’t respond to redirection • Chest pain
• Feels awe dread or horror
• Cries
• Ritualistic behavior
 PANIC
Psychological Responses Physiological Responses
• Perceptual field reduced to focus on self • May bolt or ruin totally
• Cannot process any environmental immobile and mute
stimuli • Dilated pupils
• Distorted perception • Increased blood pressure
• Loss of rational thought and pulse
• Doesn’t recognized potential danger • Flight fight or freeze
• Can’t communicate verbally
• Possible delusion and hallucination
• Maybe suicidal
 NURSING
INTERVENTION
 NURSING INTERVENTION

❑ Interventions focus on assisting

the client to develop an
increased tolerance of anxiety
and an increased awareness
strengths and limitations.




• Acceptance that the experience anxiety is natural and
inevitable
• Understanding that one’s level of anxiety may fluctuate
• Understanding that shame is self-imposed response to
anxiety
• Ability to learn and apply self- help techniques to reduce
anxiety
• Ability to remain calm in anxiety-producing situations
• Development of problem-solving and coping skills
 DURING IMPLEMENTATION
• Maintain a calm, Non-judgmental approach to covey
acceptance towards the client
• During interactions, use short, simple sentences to reduce
client’s heightened responses to environmental stimuli
• Remember that clients with anxiety are often unable to
screen stimuli and may become overwhelmed in unfamiliar
surroundings
 FIRST NURSING PRIORITY:
PROVIDING SAFETY AND COMFORT

• In which a client feels accepted, is able to verbalized to

channel behavior in an acceptance manner, and is able
to verbalize feelings while meeting basic needs


• Ensure the client’s privacy and safety
• A quite and place reduces anxiety and provide privacy for
the patient
• A nurse should remain with the client to help calm him/her
down and to assess client behavior and concerns
• Use smooth and calm voice – calm demeanor can help
reduces anxiety
 USING THERAPEUTIC COMMUNICATION

• Provide brief, simple introduction

• Use appropriate nonverbal behaviors and active listening
skills
• Use clear, concise verbal techniques
• Use statements that acknowledge client’s current feelings
• Use firm approach to provide external controls for the
client
• Provide directions to the client
USING THERAPEUTIC COMMUNICATION
✔ Acknowledgement/ recognition

✔ Providing broad openings

✔ Providing general leads

✔ Silence

✔ Offering self

✔ Presenting reality

✔ Exploring

✔ Focusing

✔ Making observation

✔ Summarizing

✔ placing the event, time and sequence

✔ Clarifying

✔ Suggesting collaboration

✔ Providing information

 ASSISTANCE IN MEETING BASIC NEEDS

• Encourage the client to eat a well-balanced diet. – restlessness,

irritability, and inability to concentrate may sometimes be result of poor
nutrition or use of caffeinated beverages


• Encourage the client to engage in physical activities such as exercises – it
will provide an outlet for tension or frustration and promotion of sleep.


• Encourage the client to have or maintain good and proper hygiene such as
taking a bath
TREATMENT
 MEDICATION MANAGEMENT

Benzodiazepines – commonly prescribed

- are a type of medication drug known as tranquilizer
- CNS depressant
- Short term used Ideally no longer than 4-6weeks
- for the rapid control of anxiety attacks
Buspirone
- is a non-sedating antipsychotic drug unrelated to
benzodiazepines, barbiturates, and other sedative hypnotics
 ALTERNATIVE AND BEHAVIORAL
THERAPIES / TECHNIQUES
Visual Imagery


• Is a type of focused relaxation or meditation.
• The goal is to promote a calm state through relaxation and mindfulness.
The idea is that your body reacts to your own thoughts.
• focus your attention on pleasant scenarios, your mind and body tend to
relax.
Change of pace or scenery



Walking in the woods or along the beach, listening to

music, caring for a pet, or engaging in a hobby are few ways
to change pace or scenery in an attempt to decrease anxiety
by removing oneself from the source or cause of stress
Exercise or Massage
Exercise can be a release or outlet for pent-up tension
or anxiety. Massage is soothing and helps to relax one’s
muscles.
Transcendental meditation
• 4 components of this relaxation technique are quiet environment, a passive state of
mind, a comfortable position, and the ability to focus on a specific word or object.
Biofeedback
• Wherein the client is able to monitor various physiologic processes by auditory or visual
signals.
• Proven effective in the management of headaches, migraines and pain that is result of
stress and anxiety
Systematic desensitization


• Refers to exposure of a person to a fear-producing situation in a systematic
manners. More on phobic disorder


Hypnosis


• To enhance relaxation or imagery

Implosion therapy


• Behavioral technique wherein the client imagines or participates in real life
situations that cause increased levels of anxiety or panic sensations.
 PROVIDING CLIENT AND FAMILY EDUCATION

• Goal of care is for the client learns ways to manage stress and cope with
reactions to stress and stress-provoking situations.
• Learning all about anxiety is central to recovery.
• Education is an important way to promote control over symptoms.
• Educate about the efficacy of psychotherapy and medications
• The nurse should help the client understand that these therapies and
drugs do not “cure” the disorder but are methods to help control and
manage it.



• Client and family should educate about the medication’s dosage,

expected effects, and side effects and how to handle them.
Mild and Moderate anxiety



• Recognized the anxiety by statements

• Explore causes of anxiety
• Provide outlets of anxiety
• Engage in motor activity to reduce tension
• Encourage to tale about feeling and concerns
• Teaching in mild anxiety is effective
• Moderate anxiety nurse needs to redirect the client back to the topic if
it goes off on a tangent
Severe and Panic Anxiety
• Stay calm and stay with the client
• Give short and explicit directions
• Seclusion of necessary
• Limit interaction with others
• Reduce environmental stimuli
• Restrain if necessary, for safety precautions
• Provide anti-anxiety medications
• Help the client take deep breaths to lower the anxiety
• Nurse must keep talking in comforting manners, even though the client cannot
process what the nurse is saying
• Nurse cab reassure the person that this anxiety will pass and he/she is in a safe
environment
NURSING CARE
PLAN
 Thanks!
Do you have any questions?


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