Anxious people feel stress when they have to face situations like taking a test, going for a job interview, or getting marries. When a person who is anxious and under stress than his body reacts, like their hands tremble and shake, heart, beats faster, and even feel light headed.
As a result, some people become preoccupied with fear and worry. These symptoms of anxiety continuity lead the victims to anxiety disorder.
Anxiety can be manifest in the form of panic disorder, phobia, or obsessive-compulsive disorder. If a chronic anxiety disorder is not treated timely, it may jeopardize an individual’s physical, mental, and emotional health.
It results in the risk of alcohol/ drug abuse, family problems, and a becomes a big cause of depression and in some case the chance of suicide increases.
What is Generalized Anxiety Disorder GAD?
People suffering from GAD worry uncontrollably about common occurrences and situations. It is different from normal feelings of anxiousness.
For example,
You may feel for your finances one in a month but a person with GAD may worry several times in a day about his finances.
Sometimes they are unable to explain why are they worried?
This unrealistic feeling of worry can interfere with relationships and daily activities.
What Is Phobic Disorder?
Unlike generalized anxiety disorder, a phobia is an excessive and irrational fear reaction that is usually connected to something specific. When a person encounters the source of his fear then he may feel a deep sense of dread.
People’s fear can interfere with work, school, and personal relationships. These people often realize that their fear is irrational but they are unable to do anything about it without any psychological intervention.
Difference between GAD and Phobic Disorder
There are differences between these two types of anxiety disorder.
Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Phobic Disorder Difference
Restless sleep
Feeling of irritability
Often feel exhausted and tired
Tension in muscles of back and neck
Diarrhea and Stomachaches
Palms often get sweat
Fast heartbeat
Neurological symptoms, such as a feeling of numbness in different parts of the body
Racing or pounding heart
Shortness of breath or chest congestion
Pressured speech or inability to speak
Nausea tic
Overwhelmed with a feeling of anxiety
Intense feeling to get escape from the particular situation
Causes and Risk Factors
There may be a family history of anxiety
Prolonged family illness or personal stressful incident
Excessive use of caffeine or drugs
Childhood abuse or sexual abuse
Gender plays a vital role in the prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder. According to researches, women are twice likely as men to experience GAD
Genetic and environmental factors
Family history
Distressing events
Exposure to high or confined places, any accident, or animal or insect bite
People with chronic illness
Traumatic brain injury or substance abuse
People with a phobia can pass the reality test
Gender, age, and socioeconomic status seems to be a risk factor
Women more likely to develop animal phobia while children and people with low socioeconomic status may have social phobia
Treatment Options
Treatment for phobias and generalized anxiety disorder can involve therapeutic technique, medications, change in lifestyle or a combination of all these.
What Are The Treatment Options For Generalized Anxiety Disorder?
Following techniques are used to treat GAD;
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, CBT
It is considered a first-line treatment option for anxiety and has provided long-term anxiety relief. In this technique, a person with anxiety has to have regular meetings to talk with a mental health professional. The goal of these therapy sessions is to recognize and change your thinking and behavior.
A therapist helps to learn techniques to calm you when upsetting thoughts arise.
Medication
Caution: Anxiety medication information is solely for informational purposes. We strongly recommend consulting Doctor, Psychiatrist or Psychologist. Using any medication without prescription can harm mental and physical health.
A doctor recommends two types of medication plan. One is short-term and other is long-term
In short-term medication, the doctor recommends medications to relax some of the physical symptoms of anxiety. Common anti-anxiety medicines are:
- alprazolam (Xanax)
- clonazepam (Klonopin)
- lorazepam (Ativan)
Anti-anxiety drugs have a high risk of dependence and abuse. So these drugs are not meant to be taken for longer periods of time.
Whereas anti-depressants work well for long-term treatment, such as
- buspirone (Buspar)
- citalopram (Celexa)
- escitalopram (Lexapro)
- fluoxetine (Prozac, Prozac Weekly, Sarafem)
- fluvoxamine (Luvox, Luvox CR)
- paroxetine (Paxil, Paxil CR, Pexeva)
- sertraline (Zoloft)
- venlafaxine (Effexor XR)
- desvenlafaxine (Pristiq)
- duloxetine (Cymbalta)
There are side effects of anti-depressants, such as dry mouth, nausea, diarrhea, or increased suicidal thoughts. So it is very important to stay in close contact with your prescriber and report any mood or thought changes that worry you.
Work On Lifestyle to Ease Symptoms Of GAD
By changing and adopting new lifestyle habits, one can ease his troublesome physical symptoms of anxiety.
- A proper healthy diet and proper sleep is a must for a healthy life
- Yoga and meditation calm muscles and relax the body
- Avoid intake of stimulants; such as caffeine or over the counter medicines
- Talk with your family and trusted friends about your issues
What Are The Treatment Options For Phobic Disorder?
There are two treatment options for the phobic disorder
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
- Medications
1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
This is the most used psychological intervention to treat phobias. It involves systematic desensitization. In this technique, the therapist exposes the source of the fear to the person in a controlled setting.
Now, Virtual Reality Technique is also used in this therapy. The goal of this therapy is to change negative thoughts, beliefs, and negative reactions to the phobic situation.
2. Medication
Doctors recommend medicine to calm the emotional and physical reactions of fear. For this purpose, they recommend antidepressants and anti-anxiety medicines.
Often a combination of these two techniques is the most helpful.
Recommendations
If you think that you or your loved ones suffering from a specific phobia or GAD, then seek help from mental health professionals in order to receive a proper diagnosis and support.
The patient also has symptoms, like restlessness, easy fatigue, difficulty concentrating, irritability, muscle tension and sleep disturbance (difficulty falling or staying asleep). The other pattern of abnormal anxiety is episodic anxiety which takes an abrupt onset and discrete episodes. It appears in different time or situation, or it can happen without particular triggers. It tends to be more intense than the free-floating form of anxiety. This kind of episodic anxiety is experienced in phobic disorders and panic disorder.