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Anxiety Explained

It does not matter why you get anxiety, it only matters how you handle it. Anxiety is a common experience for all people at one point or another. It is when it gets out of control and affects you whole life is when it is addressed as a problem.

Did you know that there are approximately 40 million Americans who have various types of anxiety disorders? In fact, they are the most common of all mental illnesses today. Anxiety disorders manifest themselves in many ways for example, that the person feeling it could have sensations of free-floating anxiousness without knowing the reasons that have triggered it. It may also appear like an intense and sudden attack of numbing or painful anxiety. Also, it may manifest itself as a social inhibition or irrational compulsions or rituals; it all depends on the person. The bottom line is that the root of anxiety is fear.

Regardless of the variety of anxiety disorders, they still have one thing in common- persistence of symptoms and excessive and overwhelming worry and fear. The occurrence of attacks and the degree of its effects can possibly immobilize, disrupt once social interaction and cause enough distress that the patient may find it hard to cope and function normally in social situations. The basic characteristics of anxiety disorder are an overwhelming sense of fear and worry, for no apparent reason; a self-inflicted withdrawal from society and an inability to perform basic daily tasks normally.

Anxiety disorders are often accompanied by panic attacks. These are usually characterized by shortness of breath, chest discomfort, insomnia, heart palpitations, sweating, diarrhea, muscle tension, extreme trembling or shaking, nausea and/or dizziness, fear of going crazy, hot and cold flashes or sensations of looming death or doom. To boot, this usually occurs when you least expect it and at a time you really don't want it happening. This is the reason for the isolation many people suffering from anxiety feel.

The most common psychological and emotional symptoms of anxiety disorder, include dread or apprehension, behavioral problems which are usually observed among adolescents and children, confusion, irritability, avoidance, insecurity, extreme self-consciousness and intense desire to escape hard or painful situations. With these varieties of symptoms, people having anxiety disorders often believe that they have illnesses other than psychological disorders. If not, they are misdiagnosed of other psychological and mental diseases that are far worse than what they actually have.

There is no single cause for all the types of anxiety disorders. In fact, the root causes may be too vague that some tend to be common and indistinct. Among them are environmental factors that may have rooted during the developmental stages, personality traits and differences which often border on the negative factors, imbalances in the brain chemistry, factors on heredity, and traumatic experiences. While anxiety disorders could be considered chronic, patients could still find help through early diagnosis and use of helpful preventive measures and treatments. There are several ways treat anxiety disorders. Some of the most common are SSRI drugs, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and the use of natural and herbal treatments.