Anxiety Disorders: Treatment, Causes and Symptoms of Anxiety

Anxiety is a feeling of deep dread, unease, or fear. People experience it on an emotional, mental, and physical level. Still, everyone’s levels of anxiety are different. Some people might only feel it in appropriate situations (e.g., their heart races when they almost crash into another car), whereas others might have crippling anxiety attacks over minimal triggers. Both psychotherapy and psychiatry can help people overcome these sorts of anxiety disorders.

There are many reasons you might feel on edge. Consider these three causes of anxiety:

1. 1. Mental health disorders: Serotonin and dopamine imbalances in the brain can cause anxiety to develop. People with these disorders might also experience higher levels of cortisol or adrenaline rushing through their veins when their fight-or-flight response activates.
2. 2. Stress: Just as stress causes high blood pressure, heart disease, and other physical health conditions, it also causes anxiety. When you experience high levels of stress for a long time, you might continue to experience anxiety even when the original stressors are no longer present.
3. 3. Trauma: Destabilizing and painful life events can cause intense fear to arise in the moment, and this leaves a lasting impact on even the strongest individuals. Your brain and body will often respond to any trigger even remotely similar to the initial trauma as if it’s happening again.

Anxiety can cause an array of sensations. Here’s an overview of the most common symptoms of anxiety disorders:

• Emotional symptoms: If you have an anxiety disorder, you might experience feelings of intense fear, nervousness, and distress. For instance, children with separation anxiety disorder might feel extreme emotional distress whenever their parents aren’t right by their side. Talk therapy can help people work through these emotions to develop a greater sense of stability.
• Mental symptoms: When you experience anxiety, it’s unsurprising you might have difficulty concentrating or trouble sleeping. Racing and intrusive thoughts about general worries or more specific phobias are both very common.
• Physical symptoms: Feelings of anxiety can present in a litany of different ways throughout the human body. Some of these physical symptoms of anxiety include chest pain, dry mouth, elevated heart rate, light-headedness, muscle tension, pounding heart palpitations, and shortness of breath.

Anxiety manifests in a wide variety of different ways. Here are five mental health problems it can cause:

1. 1. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): People with this disorder experience a low to moderate level of anxiety at all times. People with GAD might feel light-headed and nervous even at rest. In extreme cases, those with this affliction might develop agoraphobia (the inability to leave one’s home).
2. 2. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): If someone has OCD, they develop obsessive, anxiety-ridden thoughts that lead to compulsive behaviors. They believe they can assuage their irrational fears through performing certain tasks over and over. For instance, someone might need to walk through a door three times while boarding public transportation to feel safe. Concentrated exposure therapy can help people overcome these phobias.
3. 3. Panic disorder: People with severe anxiety might experience panic attacks characterized by shortness of breath, rapid heartbeats, chest pain, and an impending sense of doom. These experiences are terrifying for those who suffer from them, especially due to the fact they so closely resemble the experience of a heart attack. It’s essential to meet with a doctor to rule out any physical medical condition if you begin to experience panic disorder. That said, while panic attacks are very scary, they cause no physical harm.
4. 4. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): When someone experiences a traumatic event, they might experience anxiety every time something triggers them to remember the experience. As an example, many soldiers who return from war have a hard time adjusting to civilian life because of how much they underwent in battle.
5. 5. Social anxiety disorder: If you feel acute self-consciousness every time you’re in public, you might have social anxiety disorder. People with social phobias might find it difficult to look other people in the eye or make small talk. In some extreme cases of social anxiety, they might even experience selective mutism (the inability to talk or communicate at all).

While anxiety might feel impossible to beat at times, you can triumph over its grip on your life. Keep these tips in mind if you’re trying to overcome this mental disorder:

• Consider medication. You might need an antidepressant or antianxiety medication to handle a chemical imbalance in your brain. Talk with a qualified psychiatrist and your general practitioner about treatment options. Learn whether your symptoms are the result of a mental or physical condition. For example, you don’t want a benzodiazepine for anxiety when, in reality, you need a beta-blocker for high blood pressure.
• Practice mindfulness. A steady meditation practice can help improve your anxiety and stress management. As you meditate, focus on something specific, like your breath, while you allow anxious thoughts to come and go. As you do this more and more often, you’ll begin to realize these sensations of anxiety are transient and temporary.
• Reach out to loved ones. Turn to trusted family members and friends in your time of need. Meet with a support group of people who are going through the same struggles with anxiety. A robust support network will help you overcome these feelings of dread.
• Seek treatment. Reach out to a mental health care provider to work through your anxious thoughts and feelings. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can give you the tools necessary to put your anxiety in perspective. As you learn to live with your anxiety, its effects on you will lessen and you will become stronger in the process.
• Take care of yourself. Managing anxiety requires relying on the support of others and taking care of yourself, too. Read self-help books. Avoid caffeine and alcohol—both can cause anxiety as a side effect. Exercise often to help reduce stress. Eat a healthy diet to promote both physical and mental health. Pace yourself and give yourself grace when you feel overwhelmed.

If someone you love has an anxiety disorder, you can become their pillar of strength in times of need. Keep this advice in mind if you’re trying to support someone with anxiety:

• Ask what they need. Let the person tell you what they need instead of giving them unsolicited advice. Unless you’re a mental health professional, you should not be offering them a treatment plan. Your job is to offer them compassion, understanding, and support. For example, if they’re very upset by social situations, tell them you’ll come with them to their next stressful event for moral support.
• Give them space. Refrain from trying to solve the problem in the moment. This can be difficult. For example, if you’re the parent of an adolescent, it can be excruciating to see your child in pain. Still, when you try to alleviate a person’s anxiety immediately, it can cause them to become even more stressed out.
• Listen without judgment. Do your best to be a nonjudgmental sounding board for your loved ones. Listen to their experience without trying to fix them. There are some instances in which you might need to take more direct action. If someone is exhibiting the risk factors for suicide or developing a major substance abuse problem, you should try to put your loved one in contact with a qualified professional.

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