Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety is a normal feeling influenced by stress. For most, its experienced right before a
test or when its your first day on the job. However, for those others with an anxiety disorder the
feeling doesnt go away. If anything, it gets worse and normal daily life is interrupted as the
disorders begins to influence your behavior. Anxiety Disorders are defined as, disorders
characterized by excessive fear and anxiety that are extreme enough to impair a persons
functioning, such as panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and specific phobia. ( )
Anxiety Disorders are very individualized, according to Beyondblue, for those who do
experience extreme anxiety usually show symptoms from more than one type of the 6 main
anxiety disorders. The National Alliance on Mental Illness has come out with a statement that
Anxiety Disorders are the most common mental health concern in the United States with about
40 million diagnosiss. With so many struggling with this disorder its important that its not
ignored, as it is usually surfaces depression disorders and substance abuse.

The first out of the five main Anxiety Disorders include Generalized Anxiety Disorders
(GAD), also known as the free-floating anxiety, which is when feelings of anxiousness last
more than 6 months and do not focus on one particular threat. They are, in fact, often
exaggerated and irrational.(Schacter, 2014, p.502) This exaggerated and irrational worry is
usually accompanied by restlessness, fatigue, concentration problems, irritability, muscle tension,
and/ or sleep disturbances. In the end, this sense of being uncontrolled attacks self-confidence
and bad decision making. The second Anxiety Disorder is Phobic Disorders. This is when you
have a specific persistent and excessive fear, which results the person to avoid certain objects,
activities, or situations. Specific phobias fall into five categories: (1) animals, (2) natural
environments, (3) situations, (4) blood, injections, and injury; and (5) other phobias. (Schacter,
2014,p. 503) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is the third Anxiety Disorder focused on.

OCD is fearful thoughts that result in habitual behaviors for relief. The most frequent
compulsions contain contamination, aggression, death, sex, disease, orderliness, and
disfigurement with actions of cleaning, checking, repeating, ordering;arranging, and contain
appearing. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the fourth main type of anxiety disorders,
which in short, is trauma induced stress. Symptoms may involve disturbing thoughts, feelings,
and/ or dreams due to a traumatic event. These traumatic events are usually due to exposure from
sexual assault, warefare or violence, car accidents, or other living threatening experiences.
Lastly, Panic Disorders, which is when anxiety feelings are overstimulated and intense physical
symptoms result. It's also defined as, a disorder characterized by sudden occurrence of multiple
psychological and physiological symptoms that contribute to a feeling of stark terror. (Schacter,
2014, p.505) Agoraphobia is a common complication with Panic Disorders, which is when your
fear is so extreme that you can be involved in public settings. Studies based out of the
University of Wisconsin have pin-pointed some sources of these anxieties. For some, its selfinduced by thoughts, but most are influenced by experiences. Genetics have also been found to
be a contributor, along with unbalanced hormones and neurotransmitters. Other cases have seen
over active parts of the brain and/or weak connections within the brain. Whatever the source,
there is an available treatment. Although symptoms of anxiety are unique to each case, there is a
similar theme between the physical and mental signs of it being persistent and overwhelming.
Anxiety Disorders are easily self-diagnosed, but other ways to receive confirmation is by
completing a psychological questionnaires, taking a blood/urine test, or having a physical exam
done. The Mayo Clinic highly recommends two types of treatment: Psychotherapy and
Medications.

I believe my friend has a type of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Every time they
experience a stress induced trigger, they resort to a bad habit theyve created to help relieve the
episode. She touches or pulls out her eyelashes. After some research of my own, I found that this

particular anxiety disorder is a type of OCD called Trichotillomania. This is when people have
uncontrollable urges to pull out the hair on their head, eyebrows, or eyelashes to cope with the
stress theyre are experiencing. Since this is a behavioral symptom, the only treatment available
by psychologist is through habit reversal training. After becoming familiar with my friends case,
I decided to take a self-diagnosing test available by the Calm Clinic. The goal of this test is to
determine if your anxiety is within normal range. The majority of the questions asked about my
fears, my behaviors, my thoughts, etc. and wanted me to rate them from Strongly Agree to
Strongly Disagree. My results ending up showing me my current anxiety level and my potential
anxiety level. Currently, theyve determined that I have a mild case of anxiety, however, I have
the potential to bring it down to a healthy level. They recommended that I educate myself with
life management skills and to stop feeling afraid and misunderstood. Overtime, they promise that
youll be pleasantly surprised with the outcome bases on those few changes.

Lately, Ive been seeing people share the fact that they have anxiety disorders over social
media. It made me curious. Im surprised that its not more openly talked about with it being a
major mental illness with Americans. I'd be more curious to figure out or learn specific stress
triggers that initial the more intense feelings of anxiety. With that knowledge, along with the
information I've gathered by doing this project, I'd be able to notice those who do struggle with
anxiety and potential help them by eliminating my behaviors that may be a potential trigger
creating their anxious feelings. I never realized how many different categories of anxiety
disorders there were and how they can begin within someone. I feel like probably all those who
do suffer from an anxiety disorder feel alone when millions suffer right beside them and if not
that then most probably don't even realize that their intense feelings of anxiety are not normal. I
hope that more awareness and confessions are shared to open up and show how serious this can
be. I also hope that treatment is welcoming to everyone in need.

References
AnxietyandtheBrain:AnIntroduction.(n.d.).RetrievedJune17,2016,from
http://www.calmclinic.com/anxiety/anxietybrain
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AnxietyDisorders.(2016,March).RetrievedJune17,2016,from
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxietydisorders/index.shtml#part_145336
AnxietyTest.(n.d.).RetrievedJune17,2016,fromhttps://www.calmclinic.com/anxietytest/
Generalizedanxietydisorder.(n.d.).RetrievedJune18,2016,from
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseasesconditions/generalizedanxiety
disorder/basics/treatment/con20024562
MentalDisordersinAmerica.(n.d.).RetrievedJune18,2016,from
http://www.thekimfoundation.org/html/about_mental_ill/statistics.html
Schacter,D.,Gilbert,D.,&Wegner,D.(2014).IntroducingPsychology(3rded.).Worth.
Treatmentsforanxiety.(n.d.).RetrievedJune17,2016,from
https://www.beyondblue.org.au/thefacts/anxiety/treatmentsforanxiety