Anxiety can get out of control and start interfering with your life. There are multiple anxiety disorders and multiple treatments for it. You can find relief if you are willing to commit.
What is Anxiety
Anxiety anticipates a perceived threat in the form of worry and stress. It’s an emotion characterized by apprehension, worried thoughts, and physiological changes like increased heart rate. It can be normal, but it also can develop into something excessive that interferes with your life.
When you have an anxiety disorder, you may experience recurring intrusive thoughts or concerns that interfere with your life and last for more than six months.
Anxiety Disorders
There are various types of anxiety disorders in adults; the following are some of the more common ones:
- Agoraphobia involves fear and avoidance of places or situations that might cause you to panic and make you feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed.
- Generalized anxiety disorder involves persistent and excessive anxiety and worry that interferes with your life. It is not limited to one or two objects, activities, or events but seem to be generalized to everyday things and minor matters. You may also have fears or worries about things that are unlikely to happen.
- Panic disorder involves repeated episodes of panic attacks and fear and avoidance of situations in which they’ve occurred.
- Social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, involves high levels of fear and anxiety in social situations that lead to avoidance that disrupts your life.
- Specific phobias are characterized by intense anxiety or fear of a specific object, situation or activity that leads to great efforts to avoid it. Phobias provoke panic attacks in some people.
You also can have an anxiety disorder caused by another medical condition or substance use.
Common Signs and Symptoms of Anxiety
Common signs and symptoms include:
- Feeling nervous, restless or tense
- A sense of impending danger, threat, panic or doom
- Increased heart rate
- Breathing rapidly (hyperventilation)
- Sweating or trembling
- Feeling weak, fatigued, or tired
- Trouble concentrating or focusing on anything other than the present worry.
- Sleep issues
- Experiencing gastrointestinal (GI) problems
- Having difficulty controlling worry or excessive feelings of worry
- Avoidance of things that trigger anxiety
- Irritability
- Unexplained aches and pains
Your experience of anxiety may be different from someone else’s. You may have butterflies in your stomach, a racing heart, or feel out of control. You may have a general feeling of fear or worry or fear something specific.
Causes of Anxiety
Anxiety is believed to stem from the regions of the brain that control fear and the storage and retrieval of emotional and fear-related memories. It is believed that there is a combination of factors that play a role in the development of anxiety. These factors include:
- Stress
- Genetics, including a family history of anxiety disorders
- Trauma
- Adverse childhood experiences
- Facing discrimination and/or other adverse circumstances
- Major life events, such as death of a loved one, job loss, moving, etc.
- Environmental concerns, such as child abuse
- Substance use & stimulants.
- Situations such as surgery or occupational hazard
- Personality.
Underlying health issues may also be a cause of anxiety. Some of those medical conditions include:
- Diabetes and heart disease
- Thyroid problems, such as hyperthyroidism
- Respiratory disorders
- Drug misuse or withdrawal, particularly depressants and stimulants
- Chronic pain or irritable bowel syndrome
- Rare tumors that produce certain fight-or-flight hormones
- Certain medications.
Complications of Anxiety
An anxiety disorder can have more costs than just having excessive worries. You may also experience it leading to or worsening other mental and physical conditions, such as:
- Depression or other mental health disorders.
- Substance misuse
- Trouble sleeping (insomnia)
- Digestive or bowel problems
- Headaches and chronic pain
- Social isolation
- Problems functioning at school or work.
- Poor quality of life
- Suicide
Healing and Treatment for Anxiety
If there is an underlying cause of your anxiety, you may need to treat that first or at the same time as your anxiety. In cases of mild anxiety, you may be able to manage it at home through educating yourself and lifestyle changes. Self-help books and programs can also be effective for some mild and moderate cases. In more severe cases or situations where your anxiety is more persistent, you may need professional help from a mental health professional and possibly your doctor.
Types of Treatment for Anxiety
Medications
Benzodiazepines are often used for short-term symptom relief but are preferably avoided due to the high risk of dependence. Other anti-anxiety or antidepressant medications can improve mood and reduce stress by altering your brain chemistry.
Some categories of commonly used medications include:
- Selective serotonin uptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
- Selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs).
- Antipsychotics.
- Benzodiazepines.
- Anxiolytics.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy involves working with a therapist to understand and find solutions for your anxiety.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) brings awareness to thought patterns and helps you to alter those patterns. Your thought patterns are developed over the years and become second nature to you. They influence your emotions and behaviour. Your perceptions are based on your thoughts, emotions, and previous experiences and can greatly influence you. Your thought patterns can trigger anxiety symptoms and cause you additional stress.
CBT brings awareness to the effects of your thought patterns on you and works to change them in more factual, flexible, and healthy ways.
Exposure Therapy
Exposure therapy can be very effective for some anxiety disorders. It involves progressively exposing you to what you fear and avoiding in a safe environment so your fear reduces and avoidance decreases.
Lifestyle Changes
Through lifestyle changes, you can relieve some of the stress and anxiety you may deal with every day. Some of those lifestyle changes include:
- Getting adequate sleep
- Mindfulness and meditation
- Getting enough physical activity
- Eating a healthy diet
- Avoiding stimulants like alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, etc.
Supplements, Herbalism, and Other Complementary Care
Vitamin D
Vitamin D3 can improve mood and energy. Additionally, deficiency in vitamin D can hinder mental well-being and contribute to anxiety.
Magnesium
Magnesium can help manage anxiety and insomnia by regulating serotonin and improving brain function.
Ashwagandha
Ashwagandha is a natural substance that has sedative effects and helps the body adapt to stress by decreasing cortisol (the stress hormone) levels.
Vitamin B Complex
B vitamins have various roles in your body, including managing stress levels. Your chance of developing anxiety and depression can be reduced by consuming an adequate amount of the B vitamins.
Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy uses scents to bring health benefits and can used through inhalation or topical applications. It can boost your mood, help you relax, and reduce your heart rate and blood pressure. Some scents that can help anxiety include lavender, bergamot, clary sage, grapefruit, and ylang ylang.
Chamomile Tea
Chamomile has a flavonoid called apigenin that engages the same gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors as anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax. Additionally, chamomile tea can significantly reduce anxiety symptoms but may not prevent it from coming back.
Conclusion
Anxiety can disturb your quality of life. However, there are multiple types of treatments that can lower symptom levels. Specific psychotherapy treatments are considered the most effective treatment for anxiety.
