Anxiety is some of the individual's reactions to fearful or threatening situations. This can be both a physical and psychological reaction. People may experience anxiety when speaking in public, making an accident, or making a plan. We should not see anxiety as a completely bad thing because in some cases it appears as a factor that protects us. For example; We act more cautiously when embarking on a dangerous task, and on the contrary, people who do not have anxiety generally do not have a set goal or expectations for the future.
Similarly, people who worry excessively experience a similar abnormal situation. Because such people worry excessively; It becomes difficult for them to achieve success, they have difficulties in achieving the set goals, and even worse, excessive anxiety can turn into panic attacks and may be accompanied by failure, too much stress, depression and sometimes suicides. In short, too much anxiety can produce such results, while not having any anxiety can produce different results.
The most common type of anxiety is generalized anxiety disorder.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder: (GAD). )
It is a state of constant and excessive worry and anxiety. This situation becomes uncontrollable. Extreme anxiety may even cause the individual to change his/her daily life. Moreover, he lives his life beyond his control and may cancel his activities and be exposed to negative situations. What might these events be? He may experience changes in his school life (For example, he may drop out of school, be absent, fail in exams, etc.), may enter a negative process in his business life (He will be fired for neglecting his job, bad words will be said for not doing the job incompletely, if he has a critical job, he will become a doctor, engineer... etc.), marriage or relationship may deteriorate (anxiety manifests itself more effectively in relationships. For example, one may become unable to do common things with his/her spouse or lover (going out, eating, sexual life, etc.), may destroy social life. (This is where generalized anxiety disorder is most effective. Constant anxiety ends social life.) and similar negative effects.
How Do People With Generalized Anxiety Disorder? D It is diagnosed and in whom it is seen more frequently:
People with generalized anxiety disorder generally think the worst of everything. For example, if an individual preparing for the university exam has this disorder; “I won't be able to win anyway, I'll be inadequate, I'll be an embarrassment to everyone, I won't be able to take care of my family.” Thoughts like these come and these increase the anxiety level to the highest level. Anxiety begins to escalate as the exam approaches, and this is followed by problems with not being able to study, not being able to go to school or classes, and problems with focusing. The result is a self-fulfilling prophecy and he/she fails the exam.
Although the probability of generalized anxiety disorder being seen continuously throughout life is seen as 5-6 percent, most people live with it for very long months to years. In general, the likelihood of experiencing an anxiety disorder increases with age, and this rate increases to 40 percent, especially in the elderly. But unfortunately, recently, this rate has also been reflected in the young and child population and has begun to occur more frequently in them. Care must be taken for this disorder, which can cause permanent harm, especially in children during adolescence.
DSM 5 Diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder:
Diagnosis of the patients Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental It was diagnosed according to the following GAD diagnostic criteria of Disorders (DSM-5):
Relating to certain events or activities (such as ability to perform well at work or school) on most days of at least a six-month period, There is excessive anxiety and delusion (anxious expectation).
The person has difficulty in controlling his delusions.
This anxiety and worry is accompanied by three (or more) of the following six symptoms (at least some symptoms have been present on most days in the last six months):
Unable to relax (restlessness) or being tense or constantly on edge,
Fatigue easily,
Difficulty focusing or mental blankness,
Getting angry easily,
Muscle tension,
Sleep disorder (difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep) Difficulty sleeping or having unrestful, unsatisfying sleep).
The anxiety, worry, or somatic symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
This disorder is not attributable to the physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse) or another health condition (e.g., hyperthyroidism).
This disorder cannot be better explained by another mental disorder
If you are considered at risk according to the DSM diagnostic criteria, you should immediately seek help from a specialist. . Otherwise, your life may reach dimensions you never want.
How Generalized Anxiety Disorder Occurs
As is the case with almost all diseases, here it is. Stress also plays an important role. It usually occurs during childhood and adolescence, and it is very difficult to notice because it is so slow and insidious. It appears very sharply, especially during stressful periods, and in some periods it disappears completely. But this does not mean that extinction is over. If we consider our country regarding this issue; Increasing family pressures during childhood, the perception of what relatives say and what they say to the child, frequently showing their peers as good examples and making it clear to the child that they have high expectations at every opportunity trigger this situation. Except those; Genetic predisposition, personality traits and lifestyles, environmental factors… are other factors.
Observations;
As far as I have observed and experienced, especially in individuals who are preparing for university; Generalized anxiety disorder is increasing rapidly in individuals and some problems arise along with it. Some of those; fatigue (this is present in almost all of them and seriously affects their lives, especially their studies), tension, muscle aches, dizziness, nausea and consequent vomiting in response to this situation (a common physiological reaction), procrastination (liabilities), Problems such as cramps and inability to focus.
Most of the time, different doctors and departments are visited due to these complaints. There is no disease caused by these applications. Once this is the case, psychological support begins to be received. But it should not be forgotten that this situation needs to be accelerated.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder Treatment;
First of all, this should be known; This disease can be treated and individuals can continue their lives in a quality way where they left off. The first thing to do is to consult an expert and then some examinations are carried out under the supervision of experts. As I just said above, tests are performed in various branches and psychotherapy can be received after understanding that the disease is a psychological-psychiatric disease. If some anxiety disorders are very advanced, therapy with medication may be more effective, and some people want to use more medication because they think they will get better faster. But it should be known that psychological diseases may recur, and resorting to medication each time they recur may not be a very effective fight. Being treated with the recently developed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can minimize the possibility of recurrence because the person learns and develops strategies to fight it.
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