What is Anxiety, How Does It Occur and How Is It Treated?

Anxiety or worry is a normal response to stressful situations. However, in some cases, anxiety can become excessive or chronic, leaving people unable to cope with daily situations.

The state of anxiety felt constantly and in every situation is called Generalized Anxiety Disorder. However, there are many anxiety-related disorders. One of these is panic disorder – anxiety brought on by certain triggers. Another is obsessive-compulsive disorder, a type of anxiety that causes persistent, intrusive thoughts or behaviors about engaging in certain behaviors, such as constantly washing your hands. Post-traumatic stress disorder can develop after serious physical harm occurs or after exposure to a terrifying event.

Anxiety often occurs together with depression, and these two are thought to be twin faces of each other. Like depression, anxiety occurs twice as often in adult women as in men. Usually, anxiety first appears in childhood. Evidence suggests that both genes and the environment may contribute to disease. Some people may experience a genetic predisposition to anxiety; However, it is not inevitable that the condition will develop. Early traumatic experiences can also activate the body's normal fear processing system.

Anxiety appears with exaggerated worry and expectations of negative outcomes in unknown situations, and these anxieties are often accompanied by physical symptoms. Behavioral treatments, with or without medication to control symptoms, have proven to be highly effective against anxiety, especially in children.

How does it occur?

The amygdala is located at the base of your brain. It is a cluster of small, almond-shaped nuclei. The function of the amygdala is to evaluate the emotional significance of things happening around you, and specifically whether or not something in your environment is a threat to you. When deciding whether or not to do so, your body decides to make one of the fight or flight responses. So it helps you respond to a perceived threat. Person with anxiety disorder In this situation, the brain circuits that control the threat response go awry.

The fight-or-flight response is a healthy part of our biology designed to ensure our survival and safety by preparing to safely escape dangerous situations. However, if you continue to engage in the fight-or-flight response for a long time when there is no danger, anxiety disorders occur.

How to Treat Anxiety

Anxiety disorders often occur when It can be successfully resolved with a combination of therapy and medication.

For therapy, patients undergo psychotherapy or cognitive behavioral therapy, where they learn to change how they respond to anxiety-provoking situations. Such treatments often involve slowly and controlledly exposing patients to situations they fear and changing the distorted thought patterns underlying the situation.

 

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