Facts about anxiety disorders
Your daily life may be causing you anxiety, or maybe a specific event causes you to feel anxious. Not everyone has the same type of anxiety disorder, Panic and anxiety are often considered the same thing unless you are the one suffering.
If you are suffering from shortness of breath, chest pains, dizziness and have a ongoing fear of death and levels of distress that are higher than your friends or associates then there is a good chance you are having a anxiety attack. The best known anxiety disorder is post traumatic stress disorder, it used to be solely associated with soldiers who have returned home from war, that is changing over time.
If you are washing your hands constantly even though you know they are clean, or doing some other repetitive behavior that you are unable to stop then you may well be suffering from a obsessive compulsive disorder.
If you have anxiety coupled with either a social phobia or a specific phobia it can feel like the world is coming to an end. Social phobias usually display as a fear of embarrassment, humiliation and anyone looking at you. Specific phobias are as they say a phobia of a specific item, person or action.
A vast number of people suffer with generalized anxiety disorder, constant worrying about their daily routine and events that are happening to them. These events will often seem of no consequence to others but they will cause huge anxiety to the sufferer. This anxiety can display as fatigue, tension and even constant headaches and nausea.
Anxiety disorders have traditionally been treated with a mixture of drugs and psychotherapy. People often have years of treatment and some people never recover enough to enjoy a full life.
Antidepressants and benzodiazepines are two of the most commonly prescribed drugs for anyone who suffers from anxiety. Your Dr will try one then the other, make sure you let him know about any other medications you may be on before you start any medication.
While there are some very effective ways of treating anxiety with psychotherapy, including behavioral therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy, there are also a wide variety of new medications coming onto the market. Talk to your Dr about therapy first as it may have less side effects than any medications.
In addition to the behavioral therapy techniques, cognitive behavioral therapy will teach patients how to understand and change their thinking so that they can act differently to the situations that cause anxiety to them.
Tags: anxiety, Depression, family, health, Mental Health
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