Anxiety; Disorder; Symptoms; Therapy

An average human emotion.

  • Everyone experiences anxiety at some point in their lives.
  • A diffuse, unpleasant, and hazy sense of dread.
  • Autonomic symptoms are frequently present.

EPIDEMIOLOGY

  • Anxiety disorders constitute the most common group of psychiatric disorders.
  • In the NMHS 2016 survey, anxiety disorders had a prevalence of 3.5%.
  • Globally account for around 10% of disabilities caused by all mental, neurological, and substance use disorders and are second only to depression.
  • Women are more likely to have an anxiety disorder than men.

According to psychoanalytic theory, anxiety is caused by a psychic conflict between unconscious sexual/aggressive desires and corresponding threats from the superego.

  • Behavioral theory – Anxiety can be understood as a conditioned response to a specific environmental stimulus that develops over time.
  • Existential theory – there is no specific identifiable stimulus for a chronically anxious feeling, and people have feelings of living in a meaningless universe.

BIOLOGICAL BASIS

Selective Emotional Dysregulation is a child’s inability to express himself verbally and communicate effectively in certain social situations.

  • When these children are at ease, they can speak freely.
  • It is less than 1% prevalent.

CLINICAL FEATURES

  • The onset usually occurs before the age of five, but it may not be noticed until the child starts school.
  • In settings where mutism is observed, the child is not refusing to speak on his own but is unable to speak as if he is mute.
  • The child exhibits appropriate verbal interactive ability at home or in the presence of people with whom he feels at ease.
  • Selective mutism is often disabling in the sense that it prevents children from making friends, and children with the disorder are frequently misunderstood as rude and shy.

Specific Fear of flying(phobia)

  • Phobia is an abnormal fear of a specific object, circumstance, or situation.
  • A specific phobia is a strong and persistent fear of a specific object or situation.
  • When exposed to the feared object, the patient experiences intense anxiety, even panic.
  • The lifetime prevalence of specific phobia is around 10%.
  • Specific phobia is the most common mental disorder in women and the second most common in men (after substance abuse).

PANIC DISORDER

  • An acute discrete episode of severe anxiety characterized by feelings of impending doom or anticipation of a catastrophic event
  • In panic disorder, these episodes can range from multiple attacks per day to only a few attacks per year.

GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER

  • Also known as floating anxiety.
  • Excessive anxiety or worry about several events or activities on most days for at least six months; the worry is difficult to control and is associated with somatic symptoms such as muscle tension, irritability, difficulty sleeping, and restlessness.

OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE/ Disorder

An obsession is defined as follows:

  • An idea, impulse, or image that repeatedly enters one’s conscious awareness.
  • It is recognized as one’s own idea, impulse, or image but is perceived as ego-alien (out of place in one’s personality).
  • It is acknowledged to be irrational and absurd (insight is present).
  • The patient tries but is unable to resist.
  • Failure to resist causes significant distress.

PSYCHOTHERAPY

Psychotherapies that primarily target the maladaptive behaviors of patients suffering from anxiety disorders are referred to as Cognitive therapy refers to psychotherapies that target erratic thinking patterns. Relaxation techniques, which aid in the production of the relaxation response, are a type of psychotherapy technique that primarily targets negative physical sensations (due to autonomic hyperactivity).

“I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”

-Mark Twain

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