Got Anxiety?

It is estimated by Olivia Remes and her research team that every 4 out of 100 people suffer from a disorder called anxiety. This topic interested me because I was recently diagnosed with anxiety. Anxiety is having a feeling of dread, apprehension, or fear. However, it is more than temporary worry. There are many different types of anxiety, but I will only be explaining the three major groups, which are generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and social anxiety disorder.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized anxiety disorder is the overall feeling of worry or fear. GAD is the most common form of anxiety, with symptoms including restlessness, being easily fatigued, have difficulty concentrating, irritability, muscle tension, difficulty controlling worried feelings, and troubles sleeping.

Panic Disorder

Panic disorder is having frequent panic attacks, or sudden periods of intense fear. Symptoms of panic attacks would include a pounding heart, sweating, trembling/shaking, choking, having a hard time breathing, having a feeling of impending doom, palpitations, or an accelerated heart rate.

Social Anxiety disorder

Social anxiety disorder is the fear of social events or performance situations, where you feel embarrassed, judged, or rejected around other people. Symptoms include being nervous, blushing, sweating, or trembling around other people. More symptoms would include feeling nauseous when other people are around, having a hard time making or keeping friends, and worrying for days before a social event.

Women and young adults (people under 35 years old) are more likely than men to suffer from anxiety. “This gender gap might be a result of differences in brain chemistry and hormonal fluctuations, or how men and women tend to cope with stress differently,” says Olivia Remes, lead author and a doctoral candidate at the University of Cambridge in England.

There are many ways to treat these anxiety disorders. These treatments would include psychotherapy (also known as “talk therapy”), cognitive behavioral therapy (“CBT”; helps create a new way of thinking, reacting, and behaving), support groups, and medication. However, the stigma, fear, and shame that come included with the disorder is what causes most people to avoid getting the help they need.

 

How can we as a community make it easier for anxiety patients to get the help they need?

How do men and women cope with stress differently?

Are there other, easier ways to cope with stress so it doesn’t lead to an anxiety disorder?

 

 

2 thoughts on “Got Anxiety?

  1. Men and women do act differently when it comes to stress. Women usually show physical symptoms, where as men hide their emotions. Stress levels have also increased over the past 10 years. Higher stress levels cause a higher demand for better coping strategies. Women tend to be more verbal and express their stress. On the other hand, men have the same amount of, if not more, stress which should be expressed, but instead they feel like they have to hide it. http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2010/gender-stress.aspx

  2. As a community we can all come together and oversee that patients can get help and then aid them with there needs. We all just need to be supportive as a whole instead of not doing a thing about it. Examples of women coping with stress and anxiety are “I usually need to cry and get it all out”, says Ezman, a mother of three. However, for men they don’t really show it because of pride but they usually pile it up.

    Anxiety is something that people don’t usually talk about, but they should understand and be informed that anxiety is actually a serious type of disorder. 4 out of 100 people suffer from some form of anxiety disorder and it shouldn’t be overlooked.

    http://www.webmd.com/women/features/stress-women-men-cope#1

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