Understanding Anxiety: How It Affects Daily Life and Common Disorders

 Anxiety-everyone experiences it now and then. It is a normal biological response to a perceived threat. It is a normal emotion, but it can sometimes backfire interfere with our day-to-day lives, and make it hard to live. When it makes a person's life really uncomfortable and affects their daily life activities, then it's a problem, which is known as an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are mental disorders characterized by intense and uncontrollable feelings of anxiety. It is the most common mental health problem. In the past year, according to NMH, 23.4 percent of women and 14.3 percent of men experienced an anxiety disorder. It is more common in women than in men. 

Cause:

Like most other mental disorders, researchers don't know the exact cause of anxiety disorders. However, it is thought to be a combination of factors, including genetic, environmental, psychological, and developmental. 

Genetic: It is inheritable. It can be passed down in the family. If a family member has a history of mental issues, then other family members may also have problems with anxiety. 

Medical Conditions: Health issues like asthma, diabetes, and heart disease can cause anxiety disorders. Sometimes side effects of medications can cause anxiety,

Environmental stress: Everyday stressors such as work stress, relationship stress, the loss of a loved one, and many other stressful life events can cause anxiety disorders.

 

Symptoms:

Everyone experiences stress and anxiety at some point in life. So it is hard to say when a person has an anxiety disorder. There are many symptoms of anxiety disorder. The most common symptoms are:

1. Uneasiness, restlessness, feeling nervous.
2. Shortness of breathing, fast Heart racing
3. Sweating, trembling, numbness, or tingling hands or feet.
4. Nausea, dizziness
5. Having trouble with sleep, and difficulty controlling worry.

Types of anxiety disorder:

People are affected by anxiety in different ways, which can cause a variety of disorders. The types of anxiety disorders that are most common are:

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): It is future-oriented anxiety. like "what if" thinking with worries or fear of future outcomes. People with GAD worry excessively about daily events. 

Specific phobias: Specific phobias are excessive fears of an object or situation. For example fear of public speaking, fear of heights, fear of spiders, etc.

Social anxiety disorder: It is a fear of daily interactions. People with social anxiety disorder find it hard to socialize with others. Examples are avoiding and worrying about meeting new people and starting conversations.

Panic disorder: Panic disorder is an anxiety disorder where a person has sudden attacks of panic regularly accompanied by physical symptoms like nausea, sweating, shortness of breath, etc.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): People with OCD have obsessive thoughts and compulsive behavior. To relieve themselves from those obsessive thoughts, they perform certain actions. For example, double or triple-checking things, cleaning repeatedly, etc.

PTSD, adjustment disorder, agoraphobia, separation anxiety disorder, etc are also a variety of anxiety disorders. 

Everyone has anxiety. However, anxiety disorders are more than stress. It makes living difficult and interferes with regular routines. Numerous other physical and mental disorders may result from it.