Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders commonly occur
along with other mental or physical illnesses, including alcohol or substance
abuse, which may mask anxiety symptoms or make them worse. In some cases, these
other illnesses need to be treated before a person will respond to treatment
for the anxiety disorder.
Effective therapies for anxiety
disorders are available,
The following are
common anxiety disorders
- panic
disorder,
- obsessive-compulsive
disorder (OCD),
- post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD),
- social
phobia (or social anxiety disorder),
- specific
phobias, and
- Generalized
anxiety disorder (GAD).
Each anxiety disorder has
different symptoms, but all the symptoms cluster around excessive, irrational
fear and dread.
Those who feel following
thoughts they may consider as the disorders
Panic Disorder
“For me, a panic attack is
almost a violent experience. I feel disconnected from reality. I feel like I’m
losing control in a very extreme way. My heart pounds really hard, I feel like
I can’t get my breath, and there’s an overwhelming feeling that things are
crashing in on me.”
Panic disorder is a real illness
that can be successfully treated. It is characterized by sudden attacks of
terror, usually accompanied by a pounding heart, sweatiness, weakness, faintness,
or dizziness. During these attacks, people with panic disorder may flush or
feel chilled; their hands may tingle or feel numb; and they may experience
nausea, chest pain, or smothering sensations. Panic attacks usually produce a
sense of unreality, a fear of impending doom, or a fear of losing control.
A fear of one’s own unexplained
physical symptoms is also a symptom of panic disorder. People having panic
attacks sometimes believe they are having heart attacks, losing their minds, or
on the verge of death. They can’t predict when or where an attack will occur,
and between episodes many worry intensely and dread the next attack.
Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder
“I couldn’t do anything without
rituals. They invaded every aspect of my life. Counting really bogged me down.
I would wash my hair three times as opposed to once because three was a good
luck number and one wasn’t. It took me longer to read because I’d count the
lines in a paragraph. When I set my alarm at night, I had to set it to a number
that wouldn’t add up to a ’bad’ number.”
People with obsessive-compulsive
disorder (OCD) have persistent, upsetting thoughts (obsessions) and use rituals
(compulsions) to control the anxiety these thoughts produce. Most of the time,
the rituals end up controlling them.
Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder
“I was raped when I was 25 years
old. For a long time, I spoke about the rape as though it was something that
happened to someone else. I was very aware that it had happened to me, but
there was just no feeling.”
“Then I started having
flashbacks. They kind of came over me like a splash of water. I would be
terrified. Suddenly I was reliving the rape. Every instant was startling. I
wasn’t aware of anything around me, I was in a bubble, just kind of floating.
And it was scary. Having a flashback can wring you out.”
“The rape happened the week
before Thanksgiving, and I can’t believe the anxiety and fear I feel every year
around the anniversary date. It’s as though I’ve seen a werewolf. I can’t
relax, can’t sleep, don’t want to be with anyone. I wonder whether I’ll ever be
free of this terrible problem.”
Post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) develops after a terrifying ordeal that involved physical harm or the
threat of physical harm. The person who develops PTSD may have been the one who
was harmed, the harm may have happened to a loved one, or the person may have
witnessed a harmful event that happened to loved ones or strangers.
Social Phobia
(Social Anxiety Disorder)
“In any social situation, I felt
fear. I would be anxious before I even left the house, and it would escalate as
I got closer to a college class, a party, or whatever. I would feel sick in my
stomach-it almost felt like I had the flu. My heart would pound, my palms would
get sweaty, and I would get this feeling of being removed from myself and from
everybody else.”
“When I would walk into a room
full of people, I’d turn red and it would feel like everybody’s eyes were on
me. I was embarrassed to stand off in a corner by myself, but I couldn’t think
of anything to say to anybody. It was humiliating. I felt so clumsy, I couldn’t
wait to get out.”
Social phobia, also called
social anxiety disorder, is diagnosed when people become overwhelmingly anxious
and excessively self-conscious in everyday social situations. People with
social phobia have an intense, persistent, and chronic fear of being watched
and judged by others and of doing things that will embarrass them. They can
worry for days or weeks before a dreaded situation. This fear may become so
severe that it interferes with work, school, and other ordinary activities, and
can make it hard to make and keep friends.
Specific
Phobias
“I’m scared to death of flying,
and I never do it anymore. I used to start dreading a plane trip a month before
I was due to leave. It was an awful feeling when that airplane door closed and
I felt trapped. My heart would pound, and I would sweat bullets. When the
airplane would start to ascend, it just reinforced the feeling that I couldn’t
get out. When I think about flying, I picture myself losing control, freaking
out, and climbing the walls, but of course I never did that. I’m not afraid of
crashing or hitting turbulence. It’s just that feeling of being trapped.
Whenever I’ve thought about changing jobs, I’ve had to think, ‘Would I be under
pressure to fly?’ These days I only go places where I can drive or take a
train. My friends always point out that I couldn’t get off a train travelling
at high speeds either, so why don’t trains bother me? I just tell them it isn’t
a rational fear.”
A specific phobia is an intense,
irrational fear of something that poses little or no actual danger. Some of the
more common specific phobias are cantered around closed-in places, heights,
escalators, tunnels, highway driving, water, flying, dogs, and injuries
involving blood. Such phobias aren’t just extreme fear; they are irrational
fear of a particular thing. You may be able to ski the world’s tallest
mountains with ease but be unable to go above the 5th floor of an office
building. While adults with phobias realize that these fears are irrational,
they often find that facing, or even thinking about facing, the feared object
or situation brings on a panic attack or severe anxiety.
Specific phobias respond very
well to carefully targeted psychotherapy.
Generalized
Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
“I always thought I was just a
worrier. I’d feel keyed up and unable to relax. At times it would come and go,
and at times it would be constant. It could go on for days. I’d worry about
what I was going to fix for a dinner party, or what would be a great present
for somebody. I just couldn’t let something go.”
When my problems were at their
worst, I’d miss work and feel just terrible about it. Then I worried that I’d
lose my job. My life was miserable until I got treatment.
“I’d have terrible sleeping
problems. There were times I’d wake up wired in the middle of the night. I had
trouble concentrating, even reading the newspaper or a novel. Sometimes I’d
feel a little light-headed. My heart would race or pound. And that would make
me worry more. I was always imagining things were worse than they really were.
When I got a stomach-ache, I’d think it was an ulcer.”
People with generalized anxiety
disorder (GAD) go through the day filled with exaggerated worry and tension, even
though there is little or nothing to provoke it. They anticipate disaster and
are overly concerned about health issues, money, family problems, or
difficulties at work. Sometimes just the thought of getting through the day
produces anxiety.
Treatment of
Anxiety Disorders
In general, anxiety disorders
are treated with medication, specific types of psychotherapy, or both, Homeopathy
medicines works well in anxiety disorders along with other regular therapies
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy
Cognitive-behavioural therapy
(CBT) is very useful in treating anxiety disorders. The cognitive part helps
people change the thinking patterns that support their fears, and the behavioural
part helps people change the way they react to anxiety-provoking situations.
For example, CBT can help people
with panic disorder learn that their panic attacks are not really heart attacks
and help people with social phobia learn how to overcome the belief that others
are always watching and judging them. When people are ready to confront their
fears, they are shown how to use exposure techniques to desensitize themselves
to situations that trigger their anxieties.
Whom to contact
for Anxiey Treatment
Vivekananda
Clinic doctors Treats many cases of Anxiety, with successful results. Many
patients get relief after taking treatment from Vivekanantha Homeopathy Clinic,
Velachery, Chennai 42. To get appointment please call 9786901830, +91 94430
54168 or mail to consult.ur.dr@gmail.com,
For more
details & Consultation Feel free to contact us.
Vivekanantha Clinic Consultation Champers at
Chennai:- 9786901830
Panruti:- 9443054168
Pondicherry:- 9865212055 (Camp)
For appointment
please Call us or Mail Us
For appointment: SMS your Name -Age –
Mobile Number - Problem in Single word - date and day - Place of appointment
(Eg: Rajini – 30 - 99xxxxxxx0 – Anxiety – 21st Oct, Sunday - Chennai ), You
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