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Victoria Clements

Mrs. Cassel

English 1201 500

November 12, 2021

Anxiety vs People

Fight or flight is a feeling that no one would want to live with all day but it's a

perfect way to explain how people with anxiety see every situation on a normal day like

they are always on edge. When it comes to mental health struggles anxiety is one of the

leading causes. Anxiety affects one in five people throughout the world. Mental health

knows no bounds and does not just affect certain kinds of people. Anxiety is not something

that most people can control so they have to create ways of coping and managing.

Not too long ago, mental health struggles were seen as something that could be

controlled and others believed it didn't exist. Since many people believed it was made up to

gain sympathy they saw people as weak. Instead of helping one another, they turned on

people making them an outcast. Being that anxiety can build up over time it didn't help that

people would go untreated since they were not believed. Even now people are still scared to

come out and say they struggle with their mental health for fear they will be looked down

upon. This stigmatism was created almost four hundred years ago when instead of helping

people they were institutionalized.

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This visual text

supports the idea that

anxiety is a very common

mental illness around the

world. In which it states

that 40 million adults are

affected by anxiety around

the U.S. which does not

include other regions and

children. This visual text also states how generalized anxiety disorders are a main cause of

workplace disability.

The Mental Health Reform Act began in 1945, passed by Harry Truman. This act

allocated government funds toward research for causes and treatments for mental illness. By

providing more accurate help the mentally ill patients' peak began to see a decline. This

reform came after a long period where mental illness was seen as demonic possession.

When treatments were performed for "demonic possession" it was more so torture. The

treatments provided at the time were exorcisms, malnutrition, and inappropriate

medications. Mental health advocates and advanced medical technology gave mentally ill

patients a chance as treatment methods began to evolve.

Anxiety has many effects on a person such as the way they think or act. There could

be an important decision that needs to be made but it will stop you, "by leaving you

emotionally paralyzed." This happens due to hyper-analyzing every thought or action in a

social situation. It's not only the action that was affected but the social situation can become
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embarrassing. The domino effect then leads to panic attacks that are quite common, "one in

ten adults in the United States have panic attacks each year." With such a big impact,

anxiety has on people's lives the best way to fight back is with support from family, friends,

and doctors such as mental health providers. Even just talking to family members who have

an ear to lend can take some of the wait of anxiety off a person's shoulders.

Chronic anxiety is almost always a real burden that most people suffering try to

escape. There are many negative physical effects that come from chronic anxiety. Nervous

ticks are included as some involuntary movement can occur along with, “headaches, trouble

breathing or shallow breathing, increased blood pressure, body aches and pains in general

fatigue.” Anxiety is paired together with body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs).

Anxiety takes form in movements that people can't control and by affecting the working

memory making it harder for people who struggle with anxiety to retain information. When

anxiety is treated more often than not it results in improvement of underlying illnesses. With

that being said if left untreated an existing condition can worsen leading to more health

complications in the future.

Food has been linked to anxiety and how diets can have an impact on mental illness.

When eating foods that are high in sugars it was proven that it can increase anxiety. A

healthy diet can help with symptoms of anxiety. Over quarantine many people took the time

to work on themselves which was proven to be beneficial. The people that had a healthy diet

and exercise benefited from this period of no interaction with others. On the other hand, the

people that were ordering take out and eating fatty sugary foods were shown to have a

harder time struggling with anxiety and depression. It's the foods that cause the higher levels
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of anxiety that are in most cases people's comfort food. This idea was recently discovered

since researchers mainly focused on the physical effect instead of the mental effect.

In the documentary about anxiety, it goes on to say that there are five types of

anxiety O.C.D., social, generalized, panic, and P.T.S.D. which affect one in three people

before they reach adulthood. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders in a

lifespan since they start early in childhood and can be chronic in adulthood. The response to

anxiety is normally that it is normal and will go away on its own which invalidates the way

people feel. This also has a negative effect on people because if they think it will go away

over time it actually accumulates becoming more harmful. The fight or flight response is

normal always on for people that suffer from anxiety which becomes tiring. Anxiety can

come from going to school, work, or large groups. Everything in the human body is

connected so if the brain is not well it is able to be felt throughout the whole body. The

pressure the brain puts on the body leads to more stress through physical form.

Relationships are negatively impacted by anxiety disorders when it comes to

excessive worrying, heightened stress, and fear or negative experiences. Dependence and

avoidance are what make relationships difficult with anxiety disorders. Some people will

want close bonds and try too hard to please others. Others may detach and close themselves

off from friends and family. When people struggle mainly with socializing then this goes

into the social anxiety category. Like a Venn diagram, people can have social anxiety

without having some of the other common types of anxiety however in most cases multiple

forms of anxiety are linked.

In most cases anxiety begins in early adolescence, unfortunately, they often lack the

words to describe their feelings. Anxiety affects children by making them feel
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uncomfortable and distracted from what they could be learning. As stated earlier anxiety can

affect working memory especially in children as their brain is still developing. Thought

processes are also impacted by anxiety which means that children may, "not be able to

coherently think when they're anxious." This cycle leads to discomfort since most kids don't

know the word for this strange way that they feel. For example, the kids that are anxious

about school are more prone to skipping and they may also avoid doing homework since it

can be overwhelming.

This statistic is way too important not to shed light on it. The amount of teens who

suffer from anxiety is 1 in 3. Of those teens who suffer from anxiety only 1 in 3 will get

help. Substance abuse amongst

teens is very common in cases

where they do not receive help.

Prescription drugs are used

in many cases to suppress anxiety.

Doctors may prescribe many

different forms of prescription

cocktails but they have to be fitted

to each person specifically. That's where the problem lies since drugs aren't formed for a

person individually. It can take people up to six weeks before they see a difference in mood

from the first prescribed prescription. It can take years for a person to get on the right

prescriptions that work for them since everyone's brain is different. Anti- anxiety medication

is used like a mind calmer; it makes the brain work a little slower so people aren't always in

overdrive.
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Once the right prescription is found it can help for a long period of time, however,

some people's body starts to build resistance to the drugs causing the dosage to need to be

increased. There have been cases where prolonged usage of anti-anxiety medication causes

more harm to the body. With every medication comes a side effect, some being physical

harm to the body. Addiction to these medications have also been a big problem around the

world. People are addicted to feeling numb and chasing a feeling they wouldn’t feel without

the drugs. The need for more drugs becomes an addiction when the anti-anxiety medication

doesn’t do the job anymore then turns to harsh drugs.

The availability of drugs is ridiculous in the sense that anyone can get almost

anything. Since people go to the streets for drugs more often than not they are laced with

other drugs that are dangerous. This visual text represents how anxiety and depression is

related to substance

abuse in adults around

the U.S. Substance

abuse is a way that

people have been coping

with anxiety and many

other mental health

illnesses. Understanding this will help doctors come up with a solution that will involve less

drugs.

Everyone is anxious at least once in their life. But not everyone feels anxiety on the

same level for some anxiety is good. People with anxiety are better at responding to threats

than people without. The brain is better at processing a threat more efficiently since it is
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always on overdrive. Anxiety is necessarily a bad thing when contained in small doses. It

would be nearly impossible to go through life without these emotions.

Just because anxiety can be an advantage in threatening situations does not mean

that people still want to live with anxiety affecting their lives everyday. Helpfulness

becomes damaging when it takes over a person's whole life. There comes a point when a

person's anxiety has to be controlled so that it doesn’t take the person over. In other words a

normal amount of anxiety can be a person's advantage to life but an unhealthy amount can

take it over.

Anxiety affects both children and adults all around the world and has since the

beginning. It is important that people shed more light on mental health to stop the

stigmatism it has created. Understanding anxiety is the first step toward treating it so kids

that are not yet able to express that they suffer from anxiety can get the help they need. It's

time that anxiety gets more recognition and kids are taught that what they are feeling is

completely normal. Anxiety like many other disorders is here to stay but with the help of

new technology and understanding anxiety can be properly managed like never before.
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Greene, Andy. "How Anxiety Affects Us." MindPath Care Centers, 24 Mar. 2020,

https://www.mindpathcare.com/blog/how-anxiety-affects-us/.

"How Does Anxiety Affect Relationships?" The Recovery Village Drug and Alcohol

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My question:

When it comes to mental health struggles like anxiety, how does that affect people's

everyday lives, relationships, and school?