Abstract
Anxiety disorders include the problems that have the characteristics of extreme fear, tenseness, and allied behavioral disruptions. Social anxiety disorder generates fear of social conditions where one foresees getting humiliated, judged, or abandoned. Panic disorder causes frequent unpredicted terror attacks, which occur as impulsive periods of deep fear that could entail shudders, increased heartbeat, and perspiring. Studies have established that environmental and genetic features, commonly in interaction with each other, are the main causes of anxiety disorders. The common treatment for the disorders entails psychotherapy, taking medicines, or a combination of the two.
Introduction
Anxiety disorders encompass the problems that have the aspects of extreme fear, nervousness, and associated behavioral disruptions (NIMH, 2016). Fear is the psychological reaction to actual or identified looming threat and could be part of normal life. Nevertheless, anxiety disorders entail the expectation of future threats and imply more than just ordinary fear or worry. In the case of anxiety disorders, the extreme fear does not disappear and may become worse with time. Anxiety disorders occur in different forms that include social anxiety disorder and panic disorder.
Symptoms
Social anxiety disorder generates a marked fear of social or performance conditions where one anticipates getting humiliated, judged, abandoned, or afraid of upsetting other people. The symptoms of social anxiety disorder entail feeling much anxious regarding interacting with others, finding difficulties communicating with them, and feeling queasy while other persons are around (Salerian, 2012). Other symptoms encompass being greatly troubled that one will be judged harshly by others, being distressed for days prior to an event that is about to happen, finding challenges making friends or retaining them, and blushing, perspiring, or trembling while around other people.
Panic disorder results in having frequent unanticipated terror attacks, which occurs as sudden periods of intense fear that could entail shudders, throbbing heart, increased heartbeat, perspiring, trembling, having a sense of an approaching doom, and having shortness of breath. The symptoms of panic disorder encompass abrupt and recurring instances of extreme fear, having a sense of losing control of fear, and fearing or avoiding places where panic attacks arose in the past (NIMH, 2016).
Etiology
Researchers have found that environmental and genetic aspects, frequently in interaction with each other are the major causes of anxiety disorders. Some of such environmental and genetic factors encompass nervousness or behavioral reticence during childhood, being a female in a male chauvinistic society, possessing inadequate monetary resources, suffering divorce or death of a spouse, and being exposed to stressful occurrences in both childhood and adulthood. Other factors include parental accounts of psychological disorders, increased amount of cortisol in the saliva during afternoon hours, and having close family members with anxiety disorders (NIMH, 2016).
Treatments
The widespread treatments for anxiety disorders are psychotherapy, taking medicine, or applying both (NIMH, 2016). Effective psychotherapy has to be geared toward the person’s particular anxiety or accustomed to one’s needs. Characteristic fallout of psychotherapy is short-term distress that occurs when one mulls over facing horrifying situations. For people with anxiety disorders, cognitive behavioral therapy offers the best means of thinking, acting, and responding to anxiety-eliciting and fearful circumstances. It could as well assist such persons to learn social skills, which are crucial in the treatment of social anxiety disorder.
Though medication does not heal anxiety disorders, it assists in the alleviation of symptoms (American Psychiatric Association, 2015). Medication is prescribed to people with anxiety disorders by health professionals such as primary care providers or psychiatrists. Medications are at times employed in the initial stages of treating anxiety disorders or are recommended where there is inadequate response to psychotherapy. The main drugs employed in the treatment of the disorders are antidepressants, beta blockers, and anti-anxiety medicines (NIMH, 2016).
Prognosis
Most of the people with anxiety disorders only seek treatment after suffering for many years and when the problem is in its worst situation or even out of control. At times, this results in depression or drug abuse, which rarifies both the treatment and result. Though anxiety disorders are widespread, most people may not easily recognize that they have developed them. Rather, they could accommodate the condition or take it to be a normal occurrence. Withdrawal from social situations, tackling insomnia privately, isolation, and inability to cope at the place of work are some signs of the disorders progressing out of hand (Salerian, 2012).
In most instances, anxiety disorders are effectively treatable. Education is a crucial element in the management of anxiety disorders. The prognosis for individuals suffering anxiety disorders is good when backing, counseling, and treatment are offered suitably. Treatment relies on the diagnosis though it could entail either psychological aspect or prescription of medication. The application of successful psychotherapy has a likelihood of helping in the prevention of relapse (American Psychiatric Association, 2015).
The health of a person with anxiety disorders betters if treatment persists for about one year or up to when relapse is improbable. Lifetime management of the disorders with behavioral therapies or medication is common for individuals that have severe anxiety disorders where complete reduction or considerable decrease in the symptoms are frequently witnessed.
Conclusion
Anxiety disorders arise in dissimilar forms that include social anxiety disorder and panic disorder. The symptoms of social anxiety disorder entail feeling much apprehensive regarding intermingling with others, finding trouble communicating with them, and feeling loathsome while other persons are close. The symptoms of panic disorder encompass abrupt and persistent instances of excessive fear, having a sense of losing control of terror, and fearing or avoiding places where panic attacks happened in the past. Environmental and genetic factors cause the disorders. Treatment could entail either psychological therapy or medication.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2015). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM‐5) (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing.
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). (2016). Anxiety disorders. Web.
Salerian, A. J. (2012). Galileo and DSM. CNS Spectrums, 17(4), 165-166.