What Is Anxiety?
Anxiety encompasses feelings of worry, nervousness, or dread. Although unpleasant, occasional bouts of anxiety are natural and sometimes even productive: By signaling that something isn’t quite right, anxiety can help people both avoid danger and make important and meaningful changes.
But persistent, pervasive anxiety that disrupts one’s daily life, whether at school, work, or with friends, can be the mark of an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders manifest in different ways and are often diagnostically distinct. Generalized anxiety disorder is a chronic state of severe worry and tension, often without provocation. Panic disorder refers to sudden and repeated panic attacks—episodes of intense fear and discomfort that peak within a few minutes. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is marked by intrusive thoughts or compulsions to carry out specific behaviors, such as handwashing. Post-traumatic stress disorder may develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event.
Anxiety is often accompanied by depression, and the two share an underlying genetic architecture
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Beyond genetics, childhood experiences such as early trauma or parental overprotection can play a role in forming an anxious disposition. In people with anxiety disorders, the brain circuitry that controls the threat response seems to go awry: The amygdala, a structure that detects danger, can become overactive, triggering a threat where none really exists.
Anxiety is often treated successfully using therapy, medication or both. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one of the most effective options, in which patients learn to identify problematic thought patterns and change how they respond. Mindfulness meditation is another effective technique for some.
Individuals suffering from anxiety may feel restless, on edge, and irritable. They may have difficulty concentrating or controlling their emotions. Physical symptoms can also include fatigue, trembling, trouble sleeping, stomachaches, headaches, and muscle tension.
Anxiety often involves worrying to an intense, excessive degree. Those worries can apply to any aspect of life, from social situations and family dynamics to physical health and professional concerns.
A person’s angst or dread can be drastically out of proportion to the actual challenges he or she is facing. People may also irrationally believe that the worst-case scenario is inevitable.
Anxiety disorders can often be addressed successfully with psychotherapy and/or medication.
People may engage in talk therapy tailored to their specific anxieties. Cognitive behavioral therapy is one of the most effective options for anxiety disorders. The practice teaches patients to challenge distorted thought patterns to change how they respond. Social anxiety can be mitigated by exposure therapy, in which patients are safely and gradually exposed to their fears so they no longer avoid them.
Medication can help patients control their anxiety, but they cannot cure the underlying condition. Clinicians may prescribe fast-acting benzodiazepines for limited periods of time. Beta-blockers offer another short-term solution, as they can curb troubling symptoms such as racing heartbeat or trembling hands for a specific event. Antidepressants, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)or less frequently tricyclics, are used as a longer-term treatment and can take a few weeks or months to work.
As with all medications, patients should consult a doctor to understand the side effects of a particular drug and to safely transition on and off of the medication.
Lifestyle changes can help people who experience feelings of anxiety but who don’t meet the clinical threshold for a diagnosis. Habits such as exercising, sleeping well, and limiting the amount of caffeine and alcohol consumed are all be helpful.
Increasingly, researchers argue that mindfulness meditation is a successful technique as well. Taking deep breaths, observing one’s thoughts without judgment, and acknowledging the limits of one’s control can reduce feelings of tension.
Identifying the circumstances that trigger one’s anxiety, and then pushing back against anxious or irrational thoughts, can help to feel better prepared for the future
(Content Courtesy: Psychologytoday)
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Am I Depressed? 6 Signs You Should Know About
- You’ve been feeling low or irritable for most of the day, every day for two weeks or more. You might have found yourself worrying about past or future events for long periods of time, or simply feeling sad, cross or tearful. Sometimes it’s hard to recognize a gradual change – have others noticed that you don’t seem your usual self?
- You’ve lost interest in activities that you used to enjoy. Perhaps you have been seeing less of your friends or family recently, have stopped going to the gym, or cooking balanced meals. This is really about recognizing changes in what’s normal for you – no one is saying you have to exercise five times a week or eat your greens, but changes in your routine can offer concrete indications that your mood is changing.
- You are struggling to concentrate. You might notice that you struggle to focus when reading or watching television, for example, or to follow the thread of a spoken conversation. This could be affecting your performance at work, or limiting your ability to perform routine tasks such as food shopping. Again, we are looking for a change in what’s normal for you, so if concentration has always been something you find tricky there is little cause for concern.
- Your energy levels are depleted. Feeling exhausted is one of the most debilitating effects of depression. Summoning the energy to do anything – even getting out of bed – can be a huge effort, and you might find yourself feeling frustrated at not being able to do things that used to be seemingly effortless.
- Your sleeping and/or eating patterns have changed. Often, it is said that a reduced appetite is a sign of depression. In fact, eating more than usual can be just as indicative of low mood as eating less. The same goes for sleeping: both sleeping more and sleeping less are warning signs that you might have depression. Early morning waking – that is, waking several hours before you would normally expect to, and struggling to get back to sleep – is another common sign
- You’ve been preoccupied with feelings of guilt or worthlessness. This might be a case of feeling like you’re in the wrong or that you’ve let people down, or that you are a burden on those who are close to you. Often, these ideas are disproportionate to the event that has triggered them. A good way to test whether these ideas might be out of proportion is to ask a trusted friend or family member whether they would feel the same way in your shoes.
In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.
– Robert Frost
Autism
Autism is a developmental disorder that affects information processing in multiple ways. People with autism have difficulties with social and communication skills. They have restricted interests and engage in repetitive behaviors. They also tend to experience sensitivity or discomfort from sensory stimulation such as certain sights or sounds.
Because autism’s symptoms vary greatly, the condition is said to exist on a spectrum, referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder. Asperger’s syndrome refers to “high functioning” autism but is no longer a formal diagnostic term.
Autism usually manifests by age two. The condition is diagnosed four times more frequently in males than in females, according to the CDC, although women are often overlooked and misdiagnosed. The frequency of diagnosis has surged over the past 20 years; it is not clear whether the incidence is truly increasing, whether experts are more alert to it, or whether the diagnosis has shifted to include lesser degrees of impairment.
There is no cure for autism, nor is one universally sought: Many people argue that autism should not be framed as a medical condition in need of amelioration. For those on the lower-functioning end of the autism spectrum, targeted practices and therapies can help alleviate symptoms. Symptoms may also ease over the years.
The condition manifests before age three and can be particularly confusing because some affected children appear to develop normally until the onset of the disorder. While the severity of symptoms varies greatly, there are invariably impairments to social and communication skills. (Some children with autism do not talk at all and remain mute throughout life), Children with autism also show restricted interests and repetitive behaviors.
Parents may notice that their infant avoids eye contact or doesn’t respond, and it may be difficult for them to form emotional bonds and parental attachment. Children with autism have unusual responses to sensory experiences and may be highly sensitive to certain sounds, textures, tastes, or smells. They may have deficits in motor coordination and poor muscle tone.
Autistic children exhibit many kinds of repetitive behaviors early in life, such as hand flapping, body rocking, and making sounds. They may arrange or stack objects over and over again. Some children inflict injury to themselves by repeated actions such as hand biting and headbanging. They show an early preference for unvarying routines of everyday life.
No one fully understands what causes autism. The number of children diagnosed with the disorder has increased significantly since the turn of the millennium, but experts are not sure whether that reflects an improvement in diagnostic awareness or a true increase in prevalence.
Research shows that genetics is a factor because people who have a sibling with autism are more likely to have autism themselves. Autism is also more likely in individuals who have an older parent. Very low birth weight is also a risk factor, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, and ASD occurs more frequently in people with some genetic conditions, such as Fragile X syndrome or tuberous sclerosis.
There are many approaches to managing or treating autism that have demonstrable results. Early intervention with highly structured behavioral, cognitive, and communication therapies can sometimes dramatically help children with autism learn skills, but some children with autism are unable to live independently as adults. School-based educational programs designed for children with autism can be effective in improving intellectual functioning.
Programs that make use of applied behavior analysis (ABA) have become widely accepted as the standard of treatment. In most effective programs, parents are encouraged to be highly involved in their children’s care.
While no medication can correct the impairments common to autism, psychoactive drugs including antidepressants, antipsychotics, and anticonvulsants are often prescribed to help control specific symptoms. Anticonvulsant medication may reduce the number of seizures but not eliminate them entirely.
There are also many alternative treatments promoted to parents of children with autism, such as facilitated communication and auditory integration training, to name a few; many have been shown to be ineffective. It is important for parents of children with autism to look into prospective treatments as thoroughly as possible.
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Taking into account the biological and neurological differences between male and female brains and minds, British psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen proposed the theory that autism represents an extreme version of a typically “male” brain. Men are overall more efficient at systemizing while women are more capable of empathizing.
Although there are exceptions, both men and women on the autism spectrum display a strong inclination towards systemizing. They are excellent at visual-spatial manipulation and rule-bound thinking but not as capable of empathy and mind-reading. For this reason, Baron-Cohen has labeled autism “mind-blindness.”
Baron-Cohen’s work may help explain why approximately four times as many males as females are diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Those statistics may not be reliable, however, as females with autism are often misdiagnosed as having other conditions.
Everyone on the autism spectrum has a unique experience, but clinicians generally categorize people with autism into three levels depending on the severity of their social deficits and restrictive behaviors. Individuals on the mild end of the spectrum have slight difficulties navigating social interactions and completing certain tasks, while those in the middle of the spectrum have substantial interpersonal challenges and struggle deeply with change.
People with a more severe form of autism may have intellectual disability, be unable to speak, or experience extreme discomfort from certain lights, sounds, smells, and textures. They are also at risk of wandering away from their caregivers. Severe autism can lead to aggressive or violent repetitive behaviors such as banging one’s head against a wall or striking others. An especially dangerous situation may result in hospitalization; research shows that 11 percent of children with autism have been hospitalized before adulthood. A variety of medical conditions often co-occur with autism, such as epilepsy, anxiety, gastrointestinal issues, or difficulty sleeping.
(Content Courtesy: Psychologytoday)
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