Types of anxiety disorders and their treatment
Anxiety; It can be defined as a state of intense fear accompanied by distress, restlessness, worry that something bad will happen, and physical symptoms.
Types of anxiety disorders and their treatment
Anxiety; It is a natural emotional state that is felt naturally in the face of life-threatening events and enables people to take precautions to protect themselves from dangers, and is very important for human survival. Although it is disturbing, anxiety depends on the activation of the alarm system in our body. This situation is very important in protecting one's self.
Every person may feel anxious from time to time in daily life. Having urgent work that needs to be done in a limited time, getting stuck in traffic on the way to an important appointment, suddenly hearing a loud noise while sitting in a quiet environment, or experiencing relationship problems may be examples of anxiety-provoking situations that may be experienced in daily life.
Such as this. It is natural to feel anxiety in situations and it has the function of ensuring the adaptation of the person to the external environment, warning against dangers and activating. Every person's perception of events is different. For this reason, anxiety can range from very mild to panic-like. Anxiety disorders can be mentioned when anxiety goes out of control and reaches a level that is very intense and disrupts the person's functionality.
Anxiety Disorders
The main feature of anxiety disorders is that the person has difficulty in daily life. It is the feeling of being constantly angry, tense, restless and distressed for no reason and in a way that one cannot prevent. These feelings are accompanied by physical symptoms such as palpitations, sweating, tremors, increased blood pressure, rapid breathing, muscle tension, difficulty breathing, feeling of suffocation, and nausea. In addition, loss of control, the feeling that something bad will happen at any moment, and sleep disturbances are experienced. The most distinctive feature in diagnosing anxiety disorder is that the intensity of anxiety affects the person's daily life and causes difficulties in professional and interpersonal relationships. This feature distinguishes anxiety disorders from normal anxiety.
Anxiety disorders affect the person's emotions, thoughts and feelings. It affects behavior and, if left untreated, can cause significant problems in social, professional and interpersonal relationships.
Anxiety disorders mostly occur during adolescence and cause many life events to occur. Anxiety disorders are very common in society and the lifetime rate of experiencing anxiety disorders is around 25%. Anxiety disorders are more common in women than in men.
Anxiety disorders are a diagnostic group that includes many disorders, each with its own unique characteristics, and the most common feature of all of them is high anxiety. This group includes generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, specific phobias, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder and acute stress disorder.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by extreme worry, fear and anxiety about ordinary daily life events. They experience delusions that something bad will happen to them or their loved ones. The intensity and frequency of anxiety are not appropriate to the impact of the feared event. Typical features of this unrealistic and uncontrollable situation are restlessness, difficulty concentrating, sleep disturbance, fatigue and irritability.
The most important psychological process in generalized anxiety disorders is the person's feeling of lack of control over the environment. The person's mind is constantly occupied by dangers that may arise from events that he cannot control. It constantly monitors potentially dangerous stimuli and ignores non-dangerous stimuli. This mindset has become automatic in individuals with anxiety disorders.
People may be aware that the anxiety they experience is unrealistic, but they cannot prevent the anxiety they experience. Sometimes they may not accept that their concerns are excessive and unfounded. Because people constantly and intensely experience anxiety-related physical symptoms, these physical symptoms lead to anxiety about physical illnesses. This situation further intensifies anxiety and causes people to consult a doctor for heart, stomach disorders, head, neck and shoulder pain, etc.
The prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder in society is quite high. For women to men The incidence is higher in Iran.
Panic Disorder
The main feature of panic disorder is the presence of sudden, unexpected and recurring very severe panic attacks. Panic attack is the experience of intense fear and anxiety, which is accompanied by the feeling of impending danger with various physical and emotional symptoms, is not constant, but is experienced from time to time, and reaches the highest level in a few minutes.
Palpitation, sweating, tremors, increased pulse. , feeling of suffocation, chest pain, nausea, dizziness, feeling of fainting, numbness, hot flushes, derealization (alienation from the environment, feeling of not being real), depersonalization (alienation from one's own body, feeling of looking from outside), fear of losing control, fear of going crazy and Symptoms such as feeling like you are going to die occur. At least four of these symptoms occur together and appear suddenly and in unexpected places. These attacks can last from 5-10 minutes to several hours.
People with panic disorder worry that they will have panic attacks again, are constantly worried about the severity and consequences of the attacks, and show significant behavioral changes to avoid experiencing these attacks again. They may avoid places and situations where they experience panic attacks. That's why some people who have panic attacks may experience fear of going out, that is, agoraphobia.
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is the fear of going out of places where it may be difficult to escape/get help in case of danger, or where they will feel embarrassed. Avoiding places they think about is staying away. Agoraphobia is the most common anxiety disorder.
People with agoraphobia typically avoid being in crowds such as elevators, buses, airplanes, markets, shopping malls, driving, highways and high places. These people may never leave the house, or they may only go out with people they trust. Although it is usually seen together with panic attacks, agoraphobia can also be seen alone.
Some people who have recurrent panic attacks start to stay away from the places where they experienced these attacks. This condition is called panic disorder accompanied by agoraphobia.
Specific Phobia
Specific Phobia A phobia is a very intense and persistent fear of a certain object or situation and avoidance of these situations and objects. As long as the person stays away from the object or situation that creates the phobia, there is no problem. When he is exposed to the object or situation he fears, he feels severe fear and experiences anxiety that takes the form of a panic attack.
The most common phobias are heights, closed spaces, flying, seeing blood, injury, injections and cats. Animal phobias such as dogs, spiders and snakes. These fears are so intense in people that they make an irrational effort to avoid these objects and situations. For example, because they are afraid of getting injections, they may never get an injection, even if they have serious illnesses, and may even avoid going to the doctor.
Social Phobia
People with social phobia may experience problems in social environments or It is an irrational, excessive, persistent fear of being humiliated or embarrassed in situations that require performance (such as giving a seminar, giving a speech), and avoiding these situations. They worry that they will be embarrassed or humiliated, and they believe that they will constantly make mistakes and not perform well. To cope with this situation, they try to do everything perfectly and perfectly. For this reason, they restrict their behavior in social environments or avoid entering social environments.
In situations requiring presence and performance in social environments, a sudden anxiety reaction occurs, and this anxiety may be in the form of a panic attack. Generally, social phobics experience facial flushing, trembling, sweating, inability to breathe, dry mouth, nausea, rapid heartbeat, sudden urge to urinate in social environments, and a desire to run away from the environment with the belief that these anxiety and physical symptoms will be noticed by other people and they will be humiliated. . As a result, the person's work, school and social activities are negatively affected, causing problems in these areas. It occurs in situations such as talking to people with high status, talking on the phone, or being watched by other people while doing a job (eating, writing, etc.).
Social phobia usually begins in adolescence and is more common in women than in men. It is more common.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Obsession means obsession. Obsessions are persistent thoughts and impulses that the person finds meaningless, that repeat involuntarily, and that he cannot get out of his mind, and they seriously disturb the person. They try to neutralize these thoughts and impulses with other repetitive thoughts and behaviors in order to get them out of their minds, ignore them, and get rid of them. These repetitive thoughts and behaviors are called compulsions.
Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental pursuits that people develop in response to recurring obsessions. The purpose of compulsions is to relieve the feeling of discomfort and prevent frightening events. However, the connection between what is done and the event/situation they are trying to prevent or experience is unrealistic. People repeat certain behaviors even though they think they are exaggerated or irrational. For example, did I lock the door after leaving the house? They feel compelled to take unrealistic, repetitive measures, such as checking the door over and over again or counting to prevent anything bad from happening to their child. The most common compulsions are cleaning, checking and repetitive movements.
People with obsessive-compulsive disorder are often ashamed of being in this situation and try to hide it. It is common in society, the incidence rate is equal in men and women. The average age of onset is between 18-30. However, it may start earlier in men than in women. However, it can also be seen in the elderly and children.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
This disorder occurs when a person suffers from sexual assault, torture, death, traffic accidents or natural disasters. It is a long-term problem that occurs after being exposed to a traumatic event or witnessing such traumatic events. People continue to feel the feelings of fear, helplessness and terror they have experienced for a long time after such intensely stressful situations.
People with post-traumatic stress disorder avoid stimuli that remind them of intense fear and trauma, as well as persistently experiencing the traumatic event. They experience it again and again in the form of flashbacks.
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