Feeling anxious?

Anxiety is a universal experience. Everyone on earth has had anxiety at some point in their lives.
It is entirely normal to have some anxiety during stressful times. Anxiety turns into an anxiety
disorder when it transcends the threshold bearing capacity of an individual. In other words,
anxiety becomes a problem when it starts to impact an individual’s life.

In layman terms, anxiety is a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear that can be mild or severe.
Anxiety is nothing more than a stress response in the body. So keep in mind that symptoms of an
anxiety disorder are limited to a person’s psyche or mind; it is reflected in their body. This
means one should not misunderstand overthinking as anxiety. It is an entirely different concept.

 Feelings of numbness or tingling in your body

 Excessively worrying about things and unable to get a hold on it.
 Continually feeling on edge and nervous like something terrible is going to happen
 Do you feel that air is trapped inside your chest when you worry, making it very hard for
you to breathe?
 Do you have a sour stomach for no apparent changes in diet?
 Do you feel your heart racing?
 Often having a fear of dying and fear of worse things happening to them

When a person gets anxiety, they may feel the symptoms mentioned above. The symptoms may
be mild, i.e. they exist. Still, it doesn’t bother the person much, moderate, i.e. the symptoms are
present at a level where it isn’t pleasant and severe, i.e. the symptoms bother the person a lot.

There is a simple test to find out if you have anxiety or not, Beck Anxiety Inventory. Taking the
test gives knowledge about you, but it is not sufficient for the diagnosis. The score must be
compatible with the mental state of the client. It must also be compatible with other factors;
which can be examined only by a professional.

Panic Disorder (Panic attacks), agoraphobia, acute stress reactions and phobias are anxiety
disorders. Other anxiety disorders are generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), adjustment disorder, social anxiety disorder,
separation anxiety disorder and mixed anxiety & depression disorder.
Generally, when we say a person is suffering from anxiety; we often mean s/he is suffering from
a generalized anxiety disorder. So let’s talk about this, what is GAD? Well GAD and excessive
anxiety go hand in hand. People with GAD worry excessively, and these worries are always
there for them. They may feel something terrible is about to happen. They might also be very
concerned about every aspect of their life, be it money, health, family, work, or other issues.
People with GAD cannot control or stop worrying. They seem to assume the worst of all
situations or expect the worst for no logical reason.

Last but not least; let’s explore the treatment plans. Treatment decisions are based on how
significantly anxiety disorder affects your ability to function in your daily life. There are two
ways for the treatment of anxiety. One is a psychological treatment, and the other is drug
treatment. Psychological treatments for anxiety are time-limited. In this, the therapist tries to
work collaboratively with the sufferer.

On the other hand, with drug treatments, there is evidence you may need to continue it for life,
and stopping the use of a drug may actually cause a relapse. That’s why it is advised to do a
combination therapy. Once you’ve done the psychological therapy, try to trail off the drug,
obviously looking for any sign of relapse. Trial and error method is the way to find out which
treatment is best suited for you.

References

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4617411/

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/anxiety-and-
panic-attacks/about-anxiety/

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/generalised-anxiety-disorder/

https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/generalized-anxiety-disorder-gad#:~:text=Generalized
%20Anxiety%20Disorder%20(GAD)%20is,difficult%20to%20control%20their%20worry.