When we talk about mental illnesses, it is common for there to be some confusion: it is not the same to go through a sad, low, or discouraged season than to suffer from depression; having sporadic mood swings is not the same as suffering from a bipolar disorder; Eating one day more than is convenient is not the same as having an eating disorder.
The same goes for the anxiety. Feeling nervous and anxious from time to time is normal. It can happen to us before an exam, if we have an important assignment at work or in the face of personal problems that particularly concern us. That’s not the same as having a anxiety disorder.
People affected by this problem may feel unable to lead a normal life due to the feelings of anguish and stress produced by situations that for others are completely normal and manageable. Although it is a disease that causes much suffering to those who suffer from it, usually with therapy and if necessary with the help of some medications, these people can achieve lead a normal life and regain control of your emotions.
What is anxiety and its different types
Anxiety is a mental illness that causes those who suffer from it a irrational fear of everyday situations that are objectively unthreatening. In an anxiety disorder, if it is not remedied, those fears do not disappear but normally increase over timeaffecting their ability to lead a normal life.
There are different types of anxiety. Some characteristics are common to all of them while others are specific to one in particular.
1. Panic disorder. Terror attacks that come on suddenly and can cause sweating, palpitations, and chest pain, making you think you’re about to have a heart attack.
2. Social anxiety disorder. Also called social phobia, it involves an exacerbated worry and nervousness caused by everyday social situations, for fear of being judged by others, being ridiculed or embarrassed.
3. Specific phobias. Irrational fear of specific things, such as heights, closed spaces, some animals…
4. Generalized anxiety disorder. Feelings of terror caused by non-existent or unrealistic reasons.
How can you know if you suffer from anxiety?
The difference between, say, normal and pathological anxiety is not always easy to distinguish. If it is something subjective, what is considered normal? Here are some symptoms that can help you determine if you have an anxiety disorder and may want to seek help.
1. Excessive worry
It is the main symptom of anxiety: excessive fear and worry. But what is excessive?
In this case, it is considered excessive concern if you have distressing thoughts most days of the week for more than six months. In addition, they are thoughts that interfere in some way with your usual day-to-day life and that can cause other problems, such as stress or fatigue.
The key is whether that concern is causing you suffering and trouble leading a normal life.
2. Trouble sleeping
Having trouble falling asleep or sleeping through it is sometimes a minor problem, when it happens only occasionally, for example before an important event.
But if it happens to you often that you can’t sleep because you feel nervous for a specific problem or for nothing in particular, and you spend the night tossing and turning in bed, it may be a sign that you suffer from anxiety. Also if as soon as you wake up you are already anguished, with your head a thousand miles per hour and you are unable to stop.
3. Irrational fears
If you feel a disproportionate fear of an everyday situation, like taking the elevator, or sporadic, like running into a snake, you may have a phobia, which is a type of anxiety. By disproportionate we mean a paralyzing fear, that you are unable to overcome and not up to the risk that supposes this situation, in principle much smaller.
Many phobias are not obvious, either because they appear suddenly where there was no fear before or because they are related to unusual situations that the person who suffers from them has not encountered in decades.
4. Muscle tension
Anxiety disorders are often accompanied by muscle tics such as clenching of fists or jawsso internalized that the person who suffers from it may not realize that they are doing it.
Exercise It is a good way to release that tension and keep the muscles under control. Some people with anxiety need to wear dental protectors at night, because once they fall asleep they clench their jaws again without realizing it.
5. Frequent indigestion
Although anxiety is a mental illness, it often manifests itself in physical symptoms throughout the body. One of the most common are digestive problems: malaise, nausea, gas, constipation or diarrhea are some common symptoms that may be related to anxiety.
Often both problems feed each other: digestive discomfort produces anxiety and the more anxiety, the greater digestive problems.
6. Stage fright
Most of us are nervous about speaking in public. But if in your case nervousness occupies your head several hours a day for weeks before your intervention and does it in a way that makes you suffer and prevents you from carrying out your normal life (it does not let you concentrate, it takes away your hunger and sleep…), you may suffer from a social anxiety disorder.
Fear does not take place only before the event, also after: People who suffer from it can spend days and weeks thinking about how they did it and how others judged them.
7. Insecurity
A social anxiety disorder does not manifest itself only when the affected person must speak in public: often any social interactionlike talking to a stranger at a party, becomes a source of anxiety due to insecurity.
This anxiety can turn into shakiness, nausea, facial flushing, or sweating. This can make it difficult or prevent you from maintaining normal social relationships, meeting new people, or progressing both academically and at work.
8. Panic attacks
In a panic attack the patient experiences a sudden feeling of terror accompanied by physical symptoms such as chest pain, palpitations, sweats, blurred vision…
Not everyone who has panic attacks has anxiety, but if panic attacks keep coming back, that person may have a panic disorder. Those affected often live in a state of anxiety, dreading the next panic attack and avoiding places where they have had panic attacks before.
9. Distressing Flashbacks
Remembering and reliving traumatic events is one of the symptoms of post-traumatic shock syndrome (PTSD), which until recently was considered another type of anxiety and not a pathology in itself.
For people with anxiety, often are not memories of traumatic experiencesor at least not obviously traumatic, but moments that were particularly distressing, such as being ridiculed or being very scared.
10. Exacerbated perfectionism
The obsessive attention to detail is one of the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder, but something similar can happen to people with anxiety disorders: if you spend a lot of time worried about not making mistakes, or about mistakes made in the pastor how you could do better something that is already done, maybe it is an anxiety problem.
11. Continually question yourself
Self-criticism and self-exploration are very healthy, but when they become a nagging echo inside your head that continually questions everything you doIt can be a symptom of an anxiety disorder.
People who suffer from it ask themselves questions that are difficult to answer, such as: “Do I love my partner as much as my partner loves me?” Y suffer with uncertainty not being able to give a complete answer.
Causes of anxiety
As with many other mental illnesses, it’s not clear what causes anxiety, but it appears to be a conjunction of factors ranging from the biochemistry of the brain to changes in the environment through genetic factors. Sometimes the anxiety disorder occurs in several generations of the same family.
Tips for managing anxiety
Treatment for anxiety includes going to therapy and some medicines that are prescribed by prescription and that should not be taken without medical supervision, such as antidepressants, antipsychotics and anxiolytics.
But there are some lifestyle changes that can help keep anxiety in check.
1. Reduce caffeine
Try to reduce your daily caffeine intake by drinking less coffee, tea, chocolate, soft drinks and energy drinks. Caffeine stimulates the nervous system and can accentuate symptoms of anxiety.
2. Eat well and exercise
When you exercise, your brain releases substances that help reduce feelings of stress and that they improve your general state of mind.
3. Sleep and rest
Anxiety takes its toll among other things due to exhaustion. Create a routine that helps you rest and if you have trouble sleeping consult your doctor.
4. Always consult your doctor
Before starting to take any medicine or herbal product, always consult a specialist, because some of them can have components that worsen anxiety symptoms.
This article was originally published by Rocío Pérez in November 2017 and has been revised for republication.
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