Tag: Traumatic Stress Disorder

Anxiety And Nervouse Breakdown Tie In Together

How do anxiety and nervous breakdown tie in? The term anxiety is an umbrella term which encompasses panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, phobias, and generalized anxiety disorder. The term nervous breakdown is no longer used by the medical profession. It is now referred to as situational depression or anxiety disorder.

While clinical depression and anxiety disorders can be triggered by something that happens in your life, their causes can often be linked to something biological, genetic, neurological, or that occured in your childhood. In contrast, a nervous breakdown could describe the sudden onset of a mental illness, or it may just be your way to process something that happened in your life. The term nervous breakdown conjures up terrible, scary images. But while it is upsetting, it’s important to keep in mind that this anxiety disorder is just your body’s way of saying “Hey, you’re ignoring some feelings here that need to be dealt with.” Panicing in the face of anxiety and nervous breakdown only makes matters worse.

One key to getting through a nervous breakdown (or preventing one) is to stop fighting it off. If you’re starting to feel that everything is just getting to be too much, just try to identify some areas in your life where you can reduce some of your stress and causes of anxiety. The typical reaction when you feel like your are losing control is to get it back again. But getting it back by ignoring what you are feeling is not the way to go about it. In the case of a nervous breakdown, taking back power means actively seeking out rest and peace. If you try to just push through and force yourself to continue beyond what you can mentally or physically take, you actually give your anxiety more power. If you can allow yourself a little patience and space to actually feel what you need to feel, you offset the reasons your mind and body brought you to the point of a nervous breakdown in the first place.

Seek help. Many people look at getting help as a sign that they have lost the battle with their anxiety and nervous breakdown. It is actually the opposite. The fact that you are seeking help means that you are taking a step to being able to take care of yourself and others if necessary. Look at it this way: if you were physically hurt one day and bleeding profusely, you would run stratight to the emergency room. It’s the same with whatever anxiety you’re going through. Professional help and therapy does not have to be a lifelong commitment. Once you have worked out the cause for your pain and suffering and have the tools to prevent it from happening again, you no longer need the help of professionals. But if you avoid seeking them out in the first place, the anxiety and nervous breakdown may have already caused permanent damage.

This information does not substitute medical advice given by a health professional.

What is Anxiety Stress Disorder?

Stress is considered to be something normal in everyday life. But when people get cant handle it, the person can resort to overeating, smoking, drinking or using drugs.

People who are in this type of situation have an anxiety stress disorder. Some of these symptoms will be twitching, sweating, difficulty swallowing, headaches and stomach pains. Others things that some people have complained of are dizziness, fatigue, diarrhea, sleeping problems, difficulty in concentrating, irregular heart rate and sexual problems.

There are many types of anxiety disorders.

1. If the person doesn’t respond well to a certain situation, one may have a panic disorder. This usually happens when the individual sees no way out in or is aware that no one can help at the given time.

2. Some people who worry too much are called pessimists. There may be nothing wrong with this but if the person experiences unwanted thoughts often, the patient may be diagnosed with an obsessive compulsive disorder.

3. People who have been through a traumatic experience such as a terrible accident or war are often diagnosed to have post traumatic stress disorder.

4. It is normal to be concerned of certain things but when this gets out of hand where the scenarios are far fetched, the person can be characterized to have a generalized anxiety disorder.

5. When the person is traumatized by being separated from a loved one, the individual may have a separation anxiety disorder.

6. There are also many types of phobias. Some people are afraid of spiders while there are other s who don’t feel comfortable in enclosed spaces. Doctors often refer to this as a specific phobia with a scientific name usually attached to it.

The person can sense if one has any of these disorders. There are some quizzes available which can ask things that worry the individual, what constantly comes to mind and if there is something that makes the patient sad or depressed.

A better way to confirm this will be to see a doctor. The patient will be asked certain questions and once confirmed, can recommend proper treatment to the patient since there is no single solution to the problem.

Some people think that confronting that fear will make it go away. Unfortunately, there is a lot of work to be done before this can be subdued.

Presently, there are over 19 million adults in the United States who have one of these disorders. This can get worse if left untreated which is the reason that the person must be immediately diagnosed.

An anxiety disorder can also happen when one is being treated. These are often referred to as withdrawal symptoms which commonly happens to those who drink too much or take drugs. This type of anxiety will gradually go away when the chemicals have left the patients system and gets sober.

There are many places where the person can get help for these anxiety disorders. Some companies have healthcare who can refer a psychologist to work on the problem. If it is minor, the individual can approach a social worker for help.

Therapy and medication are given in certain cases. If these don’t work, the person might have to confined first to the hospital or a mental institution until the problem has been solved.

Anxiety stress disorders can be treated. The severity will determine the length of time before the patient can fully recover.

The Symptoms Caused by Anxiety Stress

Psychiatrists and those in the medical field believe that anxiety is a manifestation of three things. These are mood, thinking and behavior. These may not have that much effect at first but this can get worse if left untreated.

This can happen to anyone regardless of gender, age or culture. These can make a person experience a nervous breakdown, become mentally ill or in some cases suicidal.

There are over 27 million people or 15% of the entire population of the United States that experience stress at different times of the day. The best indication that these symptoms are really getting to the person is when this affects the output at work and the relationship with other people.

Doctors have not yet fully determined what causes anyone to experience stress. The only thing that these specialists are sure of are the symptoms since these are quite visible.

One example of anxiety stress is when someone experiences a panic attack. The usual symptoms associated with this are both physical and psychological. The person may have palpitations, sweat a lot, have difficulty breathing, nausea, chills and hot flashes.

The attack may happen for 15 minutes and could last longer. The person should know that this may happen once a year which is a good sign that the patient may not have mental disorder.

People who have post traumatic stress disorder have different symptoms not normally seen by those who are overworked. This is because the individual may have witnessed or experienced something violent which will make the patient not sleep well, have nightmares, sweat or absent mindedly visualize a different world where one is presently in.

Someone who feels trapped or has a phobia will not be able to speak or act well, think properly or just go mad. There are many things that can trigger this to happen such as being entrapped in a closed space, looking down from a tall building or just seeing a certain creature which one really despises.

Having good relations or being able to interact well with others is a good thing to establish a network. Unfortunately, not everyone can do that especially if the individual has a social phobia.

The symptoms of anyone who has this will rather stay home and not go out or even talk in front of a large audience. The parents or friends will notice this if the person always back out or gives an excuse so that someone else will do it instead.

The symptoms of anyone who experiences anxiety stress is very broad. This is because there are many classifications and this will take time for the doctor to single it out before this is discovered and worked out.

People who have one of these problems shouldn’t worry since those in the medical field have many treatments available. Some doctors may try to let the individual confront that fear to make it go away. If the situation is more towards a certain task, a pill can be prescribed to make the patient calm after a few minutes.

The use of drugs is short term. This is the reason that exercise, proper diet and rest are highly recommended in patients. Since the anxiety in each patient is different, doctors advise that the person undergo a physical and mental evaluation first before any type of treatment be administered.

Understanding Anxiety and Anxiety Attacks

Anxiety is a normal, healthy feeling that is experienced by everyone. It is the body’s way of reacting to stimulus that pushes us to either “fight” or “flight” over a situation. However, when anxiety attacks are chronic, severe, and irrational, and begin to affect the health of a person (physically, psychologically and emotionally), it already becomes a problem that must be addressed immediately. There is a thick line between healthy and unhealthy anxiety attacks. Unfortunately, the demarcation line is almost ignored that normal anxiety crosses into the territory of anxiety disorders.

Types of Anxiety Disorder

There are six different types of anxiety disorder, each has its own characteristics: generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a chronic worry or fear over almost everything without even knowing why. They feel anxious from day to day activities and are troubled that bad things will happen. People with GAD show symptoms such as stomach upset, fatigue, restlessness, and insomnia.

Panic disorder is repeated, unexpected panic attacks, and fears that panic episodes will likely to happen. People with panic disorder are likely to have agoraphobia, or fear of being in places where help or escape will be difficult in case of another panic attack. People with agoraphobia are also afraid of being trapped in confined places such as an airplane or crowded areas such as a shopping mall.

Phobia is excessive, irrational, and exaggerated fear over simple things that generally present little or no danger. Common phobias are heights, snakes, spiders, dark, and flying. People with phobias tend to avoid the things they are afraid of in order to escape anxiety attacks. However, avoidance only strengthens the phobia.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder that happens after a life-threatening or a traumatic event. People with PTSD show symptoms such as hyper-vigilance, avoiding situations or places that remind them about the event, nightmares and flashbacks about the things that happened, startling easily, and isolation.

Social anxiety disorder or social phobia is fear of being seen negatively by others or fear of getting humiliated in public by other people. Social anxiety is often mistaken as an ordinary extreme shyness. People with this kind of disorder usually isolate themselves from others or event and places where crowd usually gathers. Stage fright is the most common type of social anxiety.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD is a condition where a person has unwanted behavior or thoughts which appear to be impossible to control. People with OCD can have certain obsession such as worries that they might hurt someone or that they have forgotten to turn the lights off. They can also have uncontrollable compulsion. The most common is washing of hands repeatedly.

Do you experience anxiety attacks?

Are you always worried, tense, and on the edge?

Do you feel like you are in danger whenever you are in confined places?

Are you afraid of mingling with strangers, meeting new friends or even meeting relatives?

Do you feel that something bad or catastrophic will happen if certain things are not done according to plan?

Do you experience worry, fear and anxiousness that affect your relationship, work, healthy, and other responsibilities?

Do you feel irrational fear but couldn’t shake it?

Does your anxiety force you to avoid everyday situations and activities?