What is Anxiety?
First of all, anxiety is an emotion, such as joy, anger, sadness. Anxiety; It is also named with terms such as distress, distress, anxiety, suffocation. With its classical definition; It is a state of anxiety that is disproportionate and disturbing in response to a situation that threatens or is perceived to threaten life, health or well-being. This state of anxiety is accompanied by the "expectation that something bad will happen."
A certain level of anxiety is necessary especially for some situations. For example, it is difficult for someone who is not worried about the future
to work and get a job, a student who is not worried about passing his/her class cannot be expected to study to the required degree for an exam, or a student who is not worried about being hit by a car and therefore
must avoid traffic while crossing the street. The probability of a vehicle hitting someone who is not paying attention is not very low. On the other hand, if anxiety is inappropriate or disproportionate to the current situation, it becomes harmful rather than beneficial.
“Fight or flight” response:
A When faced with threat or danger, the common reaction of all living things is to prepare themselves for an action: confronting this danger or escaping from it. This is called the “fight or flight” response. This reaction
is actually a protective reaction for the living being, activating physical reactions such as increasing the frequency of breathing, heart rate, and the level of tension in the muscles.
Animals in nature or in our homes experience this reaction. We can also observe it easily. In this respect, this reaction
is a reaction that has evolutionary importance and is related to "survival". Therefore, it takes action in anticipation of any danger, whether physical,
psychological or imaginary. When a real
danger is encountered suddenly and a quick and effective action is required (for example, being attacked by someone while walking
on the road), the “fight or flight” response is appropriate and useful.
However, There are times when this reaction can be activated unduly or disproportionately.
In the world we live in, there are many dangers or problems that are long-term in nature (for example, job security). financial stress resulting from its absence). In such cases, it is not possible to solve the problem quickly or avoid or eliminate the danger with a sudden action. Therefore, in such situations, it is not appropriate to use the “fight or flight” response to deal with the problem. In these
cases, this reaction is not only useless, on the contrary, it can cause damaging
tension on the body and spiritual structure.
In addition, this reaction occurs without any real danger, just "a danger". It may occur even with the perception that it exists
. Of course, this is dysfunctional and causes negative consequences. On the other hand, the physical
symptoms of this reaction (increased breathing frequency, heart rate and muscle tension) are also accompanied by the psychological symptom
of stress. Here, "anxiety" is a disproportionate psychological symptom shown against a danger that does not actually exist or that, although it exists, is not actually as important as the person perceives it to be.
Anxiety, if it is experienced rarely and/or at a mild level, is It may not cause much of a problem. However, if it is experienced frequently (as in generalized anxiety disorder) or not very frequently but very severely (as in a panic attack), it will significantly affect the person's quality of life.
Depression (Depression) What is it?
It is actually a normal mood in which a person feels unhappy and sad. It is usually accompanied by physical symptoms such as pessimistic, pessimistic thoughts and weakness. This emotional state may occur after a sad, distressing event that a person has been through, or it may occur without such an event.
Depression is a situation that almost everyone will experience at least a few times in their life. On the other hand, if it is severe enough and lasts a long time, it ceases to be a normal mood and becomes a "disease".
What is Obsession?
What is an obsession?
These are thoughts that enter his mind and cannot be removed from his mind despite his efforts. Like getting dirty, getting infected, not being sure whether to do an action or not. These
thoughts create a feeling of anxiety and usually force the person to perform a behavior (compulsion).
Obsessive thoughts can only be If this behavior (such as washing hands, checking the stove) is performed, they will move away from the mind
and only then will the anxiety disappear.
If they are rare and do not affect the person's life, they are not very important, but they affect the individual's mind
If they occupy people for long periods of time, they negatively affect mental life and in this case they need to be treated.
What is a phobia?
A phobia is a specific situation, object or activity that does not actually pose a danger or carries very little risk.
It can be defined as disproportionate fear and anxiety. We are all afraid of something to a certain
degree. For example, height, closed space (elevator, tunnel, etc.), being in a crowd, some animals (dog, cat, spider, etc.), darkness, getting an injection, seeing blood, etc. These situations,
objects or activities that are feared are very diverse, hundreds of phobias have been defined.
If the degree of fear and anxiety that arises against the feared object or situation is not very severe
, these If they are not something that the individual encounters frequently in his/her daily life, treatment may not be required. However, if the opposite situations occur, these phobic situations should be treated primarily through psychotherapy. These are false beliefs that cannot be changed, even though there is clear
and indisputable evidence that this is the case. Grandiosity (“I am actually the secret leader of this country”), religious (“I am a special person chosen by God”), being seen as evil (“I am being followed, people are doing things behind my back, I am wanted to be killed”), making insinuations ( There are types that can have different themes, such as "I can tell from their faces, they are making fun of me"), jealousy ("my spouse is cheating on me"). They are seen in a group of mental illnesses (such as schizophrenia, paranoid disorder, mood disorder with psychotic
features) whose general name is
"psychotic disorder".
What is a panic attack? How does it occur and progress?
Panic attack is a sudden, intense anxiety, physical symptoms (palpitations, shortness of breath/hunger, chest pain, sweating, tremors, dizziness, fainting). /feeling faint, numbness in hands,
chills/hot flushes, snow feeling of twisting in the stomach) and the mental symptoms that develop after these symptoms ("I will/I am having a heart attack", my heart will stop", "I will not be able to breathe", "I will fall down and faint", "I will lose my mind/I will go crazy", " Panic attack begins suddenly when one or more of these physical symptoms are felt and reaches its most severe level within 5-10 minutes
. The main factor that causes the attack to increase in severity is the misinterpretation of the first
symptom (for example, palpitations) as a harbinger of a bad event (heart attack, cardiac arrest, fainting). This interpretation “naturally” creates anxiety, which is both very distressing and causes other physical symptoms to occur. For example, a "fight or flight" response occurs in an individual who begins to feel anxiety due to palpitations. The heartbeat accelerates, the rate of breathing increases (hyperventilation), which creates some chemical changes in the blood (ph
change, alkalosis), causing numbness in the hands and feet, thus causing a new physical
situation. /> symptom is added, resulting in a new misinterpretation and a new increase in anxiety.
A person experiencing such an attack usually first sees a cardiologist, neurologist, or internist.
The individual If the patient is found physically healthy in the evaluations made by the physicians, he/she is referred to a psychiatrist
. However, consulting a psychiatrist usually occurs after many recurrent attacks and emergency room visits. Unfortunately, prolonging the process in this way causes the psychological problem to become established and treatment becomes difficult. For this reason, it is important for individuals who have attacks and no physical problem is detected to start seeking psychiatric help without delay.
Panic attack is not a disease on its own. If an individual has had only one panic attack in his/her life, this does not mean that he/she has any psychiatric disease. However, if the number of attacks increases, it is necessary to make a diagnosis and start treatment (medication and/or psychotherapy).
On the other hand, panic attacks can be experienced in the course of many psychiatric diseases, for example, such as depressive disorder, social phobia, specific phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, health anxiety, exam phobia. In these cases
panic attack occurs when the situation or object of concern is encountered. For example, a person with social phobia may go up to the podium to make a presentation, a person with dog phobia may suddenly come face to face with a dog on the road, a student with exam phobia may have a panic attack when the exam starts. If there is such a
mental illness or recurrent panic attacks that occur without a triggering situation, this situation is called "panic disorder". When do mental symptoms become called a mental disorder?
In terms of diagnostic psychiatry, mental symptoms gaining disorder characteristics basically depends on the following
– Number and duration of symptoms
– Symptoms affect the individual's quality of life and functionality (occupational, social, family and in academic fields) Whether or not it is impaired
The number of symptoms must be sufficient and the symptoms must have existed for a certain period of time. How much of these should
be different for each mental disorder. For example, in order for an individual to be diagnosed with depressive
disorder, 5 out of 9 possible depression symptoms must be present and these must have been present for at least 2 weeks.
For a diagnosis of mental disorder, the symptoms must be present in the individual. It should impair the quality of life, reduce professional (or academic) efficiency, make it difficult to fulfill family responsibilities, or restrict social life. What are the causes of mental disorders?
Mental disorders depend on many factors. A mental disorder due to a single cause has not yet been defined. The general idea is that new
stressors added to the background of a number of predisposing factors create mental disorders. Both predisposing factors and added stress
factors can be biological, psychological or social in nature. Some of these are:
– Genetic features: Many mental disorders have familial transmission. The inheritance rate and risk of transmission
vary between disorders.
– Prenatal and postnatal
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