Anxiety
Featured Article
Some degree of anxiety is perfectly normal. We all experience situations that make us fearful and apprehensious. However, there are some people who feel anxious even when there is no discernible cause. In these cases, the anxiety usually becomes overwhelming and may interfere with day to day functioning.
Reliving Trauma
Many people with PTSD repeatedly re-experience the ordeal in the form of flashback episodes, memories, nightmares, or frightening thoughts, especially when they are exposed to events or objects reminiscent of the trauma. Anniversaries of the event can also trigger symptoms. People with PTSD also experience emotional numbness and sleep disturbances, depression, anxiety, and irritability or outbursts of anger. Feelings of intense guilt are also common. Most people with PTSD try to avoid any reminders or thoughts of the ordeal. PTSD is diagnosed when symptoms last more than 1 month.
Facts About Anxiety Disorders
Most people experience feelings of anxiety before an important event such as a big exam, business presentation, or first date. Anxiety disorders, however, are illnesses that fill people’s lives with overwhelming anxiety and fear that are chronic, unremitting, and can grow progressively worse. Tormented by panic attacks, obsessive thoughts, flashbacks of traumatic events, nightmares, or countless frightening physical symptoms, some people with anxiety disorders even become housebound.
Anxiety Symptoms
Anxiety can cause a wide variety of physical and mental symptoms. Seek the advice of your health care professional if these symptoms are affecting your daily life. In the meantime, here are a few of anxiety’s most common symptoms…
Anxiety Disorders Research at the National Institute of Mental Health
More than 19 million adult Americans ages 18 to 54 have anxiety disorders. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) supports research into the causes, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of anxiety disorders and other mental illnesses. This research is conducted both in the Institute’s intramural laboratories and in biomedical research institutions across the country. Studies examine the genetic and environmental risks for major anxiety disorders, their course, both alone and when they co-occur with other illnesses such as heart disease or depression, and their treatment. Scientists seek to discover the basis of anxiety disorders in the brain and their effects on the functioning of the brain and other organs. The ultimate goal is to be able to cure, and perhaps even to prevent, anxiety disorders.
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Helping Children and Adolescents Cope with Violence and Disasters
Helping young people avoid or overcome emotional problems in the wake of violence or disaster is one of the most important challenges a parent, teacher, or mental health professional can face. The National Institute of Mental Health and other Federal agencies are working to address the issue of assisting children and adolescents who have been victims of or witnesses to violent and/or catastrophic events.
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Fighting Phobias, The Things That Go Bump in the Mind
A phobia is an intense, unrealistic fear of an object, an event, or a feeling. An estimated 18 percent of the U.S. adult population suffers from some kind of phobia, and a person can develop a phobia of anything–elevators, clocks, mushrooms, closed spaces, open spaces. Exposure to these trigger the rapid breathing, pounding heartbeat, and sweaty palms of panic.
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Social Anxiety Disorder
We all experience social situations in which we feel fear and apprehension. It’s absolutely normal to feel nervous about speaking in front of a large group, or even in front of a small group. And many of us feel shy or awkward when placed in unfamiliar social circumstances. However, for some people, these mildly nerve-wracking moments become debilitating episodes.
Treatment of Anxiety Disorders
When you undergo treatment for an anxiety disorder, you and your doctor or therapist will be working together as a team. Together, you will attempt to find the approach that is best for you. If one treatment doesn’t work, the odds are good that another one will. And new treatments are continually being developed through research. So don’t give up hope.
Anxiety Attacks
Also known as a panic attack, an anxiety attack is characterized by intense episodes in which the sufferer experiences symptoms similar to a heart attack, such as heart palpitations, chest pain or discomfort, sweating, and trembling. They may be triggered by a stressful event or they may come on for no identifiable reason whatsoever. Anxiety attacks, and the fear of their occurrence, can prevent suffers from leading a normal life.
Role of Research in Improving the Understanding and Treatment of Anxiety Disorders
Studies examine the genetic and environmental risks for major anxiety disorders, their course-both alone and when they occur along with other diseases such as depression-and their treatment. The ultimate goal is to be able to cure, and perhaps even to prevent, anxiety disorders.
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