Anxiety has been defined as a feeling of fear, dread, or apprehension that arises without a clear or appropriate real-life justification. Some authorities differentiate anxiety from true fear in that the latter is experienced in response to an actual threat or danger, such as those to one's physical safety.
Anxiety may arise in response to apparently innocuous situations or may be out of proportion to the actual degree of the external stress. Anxiety also frequently arises as a result of subjective emotional conflicts of whose nature the person himself may be unaware. Generally, intense, persistent, or chronic anxiety that is not justified in response to real-life stresses and that interferes with the individual's functioning is regarded as a manifestation of mental disorder.
Anxiety is a symptom in many mental disorders, including schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorders, posttraumatic stress disorders, and so on, but in phobias and other anxiety disorders proper, anxiety is the primary and frequently the only symptom. The symptoms of anxiety are physical, psychological, and behavioral.
Anxiety is an unpleasant state that involves a complex combination of emotions that include fear, apprehension, and worry. It is often accompanied by physical sensations such as heart palpitations, nausea, chest pain, shortness of breath, or tension headache.
Anxiety is often described as having cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral components (Seligman, Walker & Rosenhan, 2001). The cognitive component entails expectation of a diffuse and uncertain danger. Somatically the body prepares the organism to deal with threat (known as an emergency reaction): blood pressure and heart rate are increased, sweating is increased, bloodflow to the major muscle groups is increased, and immune and digestive system functions are inhibited. Externally, somatic signs of anxiety may include pale skin, sweating, trembling, and pupillary dilation.
Emotionally, anxiety causes a sense of dread or panic and physically causes nausea, and chills. Behaviorally, both voluntary and involuntary behaviors may arise directed at escaping or avoiding the source of anxiety. These behaviors are frequent and often maladaptive, being most extreme in anxiety disorders. However, anxiety is not always pathological or maladaptive: it is a common emotion along with fear, anger, sadness, and happiness, and it has a very important function in relation to survival.
Neural circuitry involving the amygdala and hippocampus is thought to underlie anxiety (Rosen & Schulkin, 1998). When confronted with unpleasant and potentially harmful stimuli such as foul odors or tastes, PET-scans show increased bloodflow in the amygdala (Zald & Pardo, 1997; Zald, Hagen & Pardo, 2002). In these studies, the participants also reported moderate anxiety. This might indicate that anxiety is a protective mechanism designed to prevent the organism from engaging in potentially harmful behaviors.
Prescription Medication
The acute symptoms of anxiety are most often controlled with anxiolytic agents such as benzodiazepines. Diazepam (Valium) was one of the first such drugs. Today there are a wide range of anti-anxiety agents that are based on benzodiazepines, although only two have been approved for panic attacks, clonazepam (Klonopin) and alprazolam (Xanax). All benzodiazepines may induce dependency, and extended use should be carefully monitored by a physician, preferably a psychiatrist. It is very important that once placed on a regimen of regular benzodiazepine use, the user should not abruptly discontinue the medication.
Some of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have been used with varying degrees of success to treat patients with chronic anxiety, the best results seen with those who exhibit symptoms of clinical depression and non-specific anxiety or general anxiety disorder concurrently. Beta blockers are also sometimes used to treat the somatic symptoms associated with anxiety, especially the shakiness of "stage fright." According to publications written on stage fright and nervousness with musicians, Beta Blocker therapy has proven helpful. The addictive nature of the benzodiazepine class became apparent in the mid 1960s when Valium (Diazepam), the first drug in the class to win FDA approval, resulted in thousands of people who quickly showed the classic symptoms of addiction when used for more than a week or two consistently.[citation needed] However, other scientific research indicates that "the vast majority of the use of benzodiazepines is appropriate".
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy often recommended for the treatment of anxiety disorders[2]. The goal of the cognitive-behavioral therapist is to decrease avoidance behaviors and help the patient develop coping skills. Each individual's therapy is unique; however, there are common components in Cognitive Behavior Therapy treatment of an Anxiety Disorder. Education about a particular Anxiety Disorder and how it is interfering in key areas of life must be addressed first. Treatment may begin by addressing "readiness" issues or "treatment interfering behaviors". This may entail:
Existential anxiety
Theologians like Paul Tillich and psychologists like Sigmund Freud have characterized anxiety as the reaction to what Tillich called, "The trauma of nonbeing." That is, the human comes to realize that there is a point at which they might cease to be (die), and their encounter with reality becomes characterized by anxiety. Religion, according to both Tillich and Freud, then becomes a carefully crafted coping mechanism in response to this anxiety since they redefine death as the end of only the corporal part of human personal existence, assuming an immortal soul. What then becomes of this soul and through what criteria is the cardinal difference of various religious faiths.
Philosophical ruminations are a part of this condition, and this is part of obsessive-compulsive disorder. They are typically about sex and religion or death.
According to Viktor Frankl, author of Man's Search for Meaning, when faced with extreme mortal dangers the very basic of all human wishes is to find a meaning of life to combat this "trauma of nonbeing" as death is near and to succumb to it (even by suicide) seems like a way out.
Test anxiety is the uneasiness, apprehension, or nervousness felt by students who have a fear of failing an exam. Students suffering from test anxiety may experience any of the following: the association of grades with personal worth, embarrassment by a teacher, taking a class that is beyond their ability, fear of alienation from parents or friends, time pressures, or feeling a loss of control.
Emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and physical components can all be present in test anxiety. Sweating, dizziness, headaches, racing heartbeats, nausea, fidgeting, and drumming on a desk are all common. An optimal level of arousal is necessary to best complete a task such as an exam; however, when the anxiety or level of arousal exceeds that optimum, it results in a decline in performance. Because test anxiety hinges on fear of negative evaluation, debate exists as to whether test anxiety is itself a unique anxiety disorder or whether it is a specific type of social phobia.
While the term test anxiety refers specifically to students, many adults share the same experience with regard to their career or profession. The fear of failing a task and being negatively evaluated for it can have a similarly negative effect on the adult.
Anxiety Wikipedia
Anxiety disorder is a blanket term covering several different forms of abnormal, pathological anxiety, fears, phobias and nervous conditions that may come on suddenly and/or gradually over a period of several years, and may impair or prevent the pursuing of normal daily routines.
Anxiety and fear are ubiquitous emotions. The terms anxiety and fear have specific scientific meanings, but common usage has made them interchangeable. For example, a phobia is a kind of anxiety that is also defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV-TR) as a "persistent or irrational fear." Fear is defined as an emotional and physiological response to a recognized external threat (eg, a runaway car or an impending crash in an airplane). Anxiety is an unpleasant emotional state, the sources of which are less readily identified. It is frequently accompanied by physiological symptoms that may lead to fatigue or even exhaustion. Because fear of recognized threats causes similar unpleasant mental and physical changes, patients use the terms fear and anxiety interchangeably. Thus, there is little need to strive to differentiate anxiety from fear. However, distinguishing among different anxiety disorders is important, since accurate diagnosis is more likely to result in effective treatment and a better prognosis.
Diagnosis
Anxiety disorders are often debilitating chronic conditions, which can be present from an early age or begin suddenly after a triggering event. They are prone to flare up at times of high stress.
A good assessment is essential for the initial diagnosis of an anxiety disorder, preferably using a standardized interview or questionnaire procedure alongside expert evaluation and the views of the persons themselves. There should be a medical examination in order to identify possible medical conditions that can cause the symptoms of anxiety. A family history of anxiety disorders is suggestive of the possibility of an anxiety disorder. Although rare, it is important to exclude a pheochromocytoma. This normally presents with paroxysms of headache, sweating and palpitations, accompanied by hypertension. In the absence of these four symptoms, it may be excluded. It is important to note that Clinical Depression generally presents alongside Anxiety Disorders, and vise-versa. Rarely does a patient present symptoms of only one or the other.
Anxiety Disorder Continued Wikipedia
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