What is Anxiety
What is Anxiety
What exactly is anxiety? Why do we experience it so often and how is anxiety treated?
Anxiety is a normal body response to stress or perceived danger. Unlike fear which transpires in reaction to real threat, anxiety occurs in reaction to superficial events that you are very apprehensive to happen. However, when anxiety unnecessarily occurs or becomes extreme; then such condition becomes an anxiety disorder.
When you feel you are having anxiety, you don’t have to worry about that because everyone experiences anxiety at some points in their life; it is a normal response to stressful situations like giving a speech to a large audience, taking an interview or exam, or going to unfamiliar or strange places. Anxiety occurs when our body releases adrenaline or stress hormone which triggers a ‘fight or flight’ response to a particular situation. It is physically manifested by mild to moderate shaking, dry mouth, increase heart beat, pale skin, abdominal discomfort, dizziness, diarrhea, and frequent urination. Psychologically, it is manifested by insomnia, loss of concentration, worry, uneasiness, easily gets angry, irritability, and somehow a feeling of being out of your own self and out of reality. If some of these symptoms are present, then you need to overcome your anxiety and take control of your life. Such symptoms happened because somehow you lack the necessary level of confidence in dealing with such stressful situations.
Anxiety can be taken as a positive experience because it identifies the areas in your life that needs to be improved and developed. Once you increase your level of competency in those areas, your level of confidence is increased; and your feeling of anxiety, when faced with that stressful situation again, will slowly diminish. There are also other forms of anxiety that can be easily managed and overcome as people mature.
However, when your anxiety still persists with no apparent reason at all, and such anxiety disrupts your normal daily activities; then your condition has regressed to an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorder is a mental health problem which may affect your thoughts, behaviors, emotions, and sensations. It is usually caused by depression; it can also occur as a result of withdrawal of certain substances like drugs, smoking or caffeine. Sometimes it is associated with certain medical conditions like having a typhoid disorder.
There are several types of anxiety disorders, they are as follows: generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias, and panic disorder. Each of this type of anxiety disorder has different signs and symptoms; and it is best to know each one of them in order to identify their presence.
However, there is no need to worry should you feel you are suffering from anxiety disorder, as treatment options are available. Considering that anxiety disorder is unique from each individual person; treatment may take time to feel its effect because there are many factors that affects its occurrence, and your physician or psychiatrist may need more time in spending with you in order to uncover its cause and give the right medication and therapy for your specific situation.
Considering that anxiety disorder is a mental condition, the best general therapy is to find time to relax and meditate, to unwind and free yourself from worries and other worldly thoughts and problems, to reduce stress in your life and live a healthy lifestyle, to enjoy life to the fullest and be happy as much as you possibly can.
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By Al, January 2, 2011 @ 2:58 am
WELL WRITTEN! ANXIETY IS COMMON IN US ALL. BUT CONTROLLING IT IS A MUCH DIFFERENT TASK. THESE ARE SOME GREAT IDEAS TO HELP ANYONE WHO IS HAVING A HARD TIME. I THINK IT WILL WORK OUT! I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THANX TO THE WRITER!
By Veda, January 2, 2011 @ 12:59 pm
Very nice description about “What is Anxiety”. It’s really very helpful for me because i get really stressed at times. I will try to take anxiety as a positive part of my life from now. Till now I only thought its a big problem but after reading this wonderful description I will really apply it in my life. Thank you for sharing.
By opu99, January 4, 2011 @ 3:30 am
Excellent!Very informative and helpful article.Actually Everyone gets anxious from time to time. But if you be anxious so much that you can’t take pleasure in anything, your anxiety may have become an sickness. Doctors call this illness generalized anxiety anarchy. We’ll call it anxiety disorder for short. We’ve looked at treatments for adults and for children and adolescents.
By Paula, January 4, 2011 @ 5:06 am
I can’t imagine having anxiety for most of your life…must be a terrible feeling to wake up feeling anxious and worried. It’s important to get help in such cases to try and manage or eliminate the anxiety.
By walter, January 5, 2011 @ 9:29 pm
Excellent article about “What is Anxiety”.Very informative definitely.I can say that Anxiety is a general term for several disorders that cause nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worrying. These disorders affect how we feel and behave, and they can manifest real physical symptoms. Mild anxiety is vague and unsettling, while severe anxiety can be extremely debilitating, having a serious impact on daily life.
By Sharri, January 8, 2011 @ 2:06 am
Fear does not become less frightening just because it may not happen. People who suffer from anxiety really believe that certain things can or will happen and that is why they panic. It is real for them, and we would do well to remember what fear feels like, as often these suffers are braver than we ourselves are. They have to confront their worst nightmares every day – for most of us it happens a few times in our lives, if at all.
By glanzend, January 28, 2011 @ 5:25 am
From what I’ve already read in your article, I got confused of what’s the different between anxiety and trauma ?
And you know, all people do really have their own anxiety against something, so a man shouldn’t say that he/she must be brave and faced their weakness, because all people need some alarm to know that they are in discomfort situation.
By Allan, January 28, 2011 @ 2:21 pm
Well written,
I was first surprised when i read anxiety can be positive!!!,
But as I read on i was surprised again how well you connected the anxiety with confidence!!!,
Thanks a lot for this point of view towards anxiety.