Types of Anxiety & How to Control It

Anxiety is a normal and healthy emotion. However, when a person experiences it on a regular basis or on often intervals, it might become a disorder.

Disorders are a form of mental health diagnoses that lead to an excessive surge of emotions such as fear, worry, nervousness, and uneasiness.

It has been explained in detail by Ms. Noorjahan Khan (Psychologist at Healthcrum)

Normal Anxiety –

Symptoms in anxiety may vary from person to person, some of the most common points to experience occasionally are physical and emotional distress signals such as heavy breathing, increased rate of heartbeats, trouble sleeping or insomnia, panic attacks, etc.

Commonly, it isn’t a problem in itself. Biologically speaking, it is a bodily response as a defense reflex to protect against danger that boosts heartbeat and breathing, pumping oxygenated blood to the muscles as your body prepares to fight or escape a specific situation.

Uneasiness can be for anything, for instance, people get anxious before an exam or an interview, a few people get concerned in a social event and vice versa. The role of a healthy-anxiety is to encourage to get work done or to discourage from doing something that may be harmful.

 

When someone experiences normal anxiety –

  1. It is related to a specific situation or problem.
  2. It lasts only as long as the situation or problem.
  3. It is proportional to the situation or problem.
  4. It is a realistic response to a real-life situation.

 

Anxiety Disorder –

stress

 

While anxiety is a healthy emotion, too much severity of this emotion can be a symptom of imbalanced mental health. If stress is persistent, excessive, aggressive, or frequently triggered by a particular situation, it becomes a disorder.

Constant anxiety takes a heavy toll on health. For example, anxiety increases levels of the stress hormone cortisol, affects memory, blood pressure (which contributes over time to heart problems), stroke, kidney disease, and sexual dysfunction by triggering immune system production of extra white cells to fight perceived threats.

 

When someone experiences anxiety disorder –

  1. It is a response to a situation or problem that may be much stronger than expected.
  2. There is a lot of unrealistic patterns, such as fear of a situation that is likely never to happen.
  3. It may last for an extended period of time, sometimes even to a span of 6 months or more.
  4. It may feel impossible to control or manage at some point.
  5. People may avoid situations or things that they believe to trigger such symptoms.

 

There are many types of anxiety disorders

A few common anxiety disorders include:

Generalized anxiety disorder – It is a pattern of excessive worry about any minute issue for at least six months, often accompanied by physical symptoms, such as muscle tension, a hammering heart, headache, or dizziness.

 

Social anxiety disorder – It is a feeling of unease in social situations or when you are the centre of attention, such as public speaking.

 

Phobias – It is an intense fear of animal, insect, object, or a situation, causing substantial anxiety.

 

Panic disorder  Panic attacks are sudden, severe episodes of heart-banging fear, breathlessness, and fright that can feel like a near-death experience.

 

 

When to see a doctor?

 

You should consult with a doctor when:

  1. You feel worried about the unnecessary situation, to the point where it starts interfering with your work, relationships, or other parts of your life.

 

  1. Your fear, worry, or anxiety is difficult to control and affects your mental state.

 

  1. You start to indulge in alcohol and drugs, to overcome your depression or have other mental health concerns, along with anxiety.

 

  1. You think your anxiety is leading to a physical health problem.

 

  1. You have too many negative thoughts or suicidal behaviour. In such cases, seek immediate emergency treatment.

 

There are effective treatments for mild anxiety

Effective options include:

Lifestyle changes – Change is a lifestyle, such as reducing consumption of caffeine, light exercising, avoiding information, or news that causes anxiety symptoms.

 

Mind & body approach – Daily practice of meditation, deep breathing, mindfulness, and techniques to ease muscle tension and promote calmness in life.

 

Psychotherapy – Therapies such as cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and exposure therapy to teach people to challenge and reframe distorted or unhelpful anxious thinking, as such thoughts influence feelings and actions. Exposure therapy helps people to build up tolerance towards anxiety by gradually unmasking a person to their fears in a moderate and supervised manner.

 

Medicines – Use of short-acting drugs as prescribed by a professional when anxiety spikes. Usage in a low dose of some antidepressants helps relieve anxiety when taken as prescribed.

 

Sometimes it is hard to come out as an anxiety-driven patient. The best way to keep anxiety disorder under control without revelling identity is through teleconsultation.

 

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