Anxiety and Anxiety Disorder

Anxiety and Anxiety Disorder

What is anxiety?

It is important to begin by marking the difference that exists between anxiety as an involuntary but completely normal response of the body and anxiety disorder.

Adaptive or non-pathological anxiety is an emotion necessary for human survival, which acts as an alarm response to various stimuli, whether internal or external: real dangers or situations of insecurity.

Anxiety disorder, for its part, appears when these feelings of uncertainty are intense and constant over time, and when they occur without a reasonable cause, becoming an uncontrolled emotion, losing their usefulness and functionality, and turning into an obstacle to the normal course of daily activities. In other words, into a disorder that means the person's ability to function normally is completely affected, presenting excessive and exaggerated reactions to situations and stimuli that are not really life-threatening.

Anxiety disorder is one of the most common ailments today. Several factors contribute to this: the pressure of modern life with its obsession with economic, professional and family success, the sheer immediacy imposed on social relationships, and the cult of vanity create an ideal setting for emotions such as uncertainty and the fear of failure and/or of the new to appear. Anxiety, on many occasions, appears as a reaction to these pressures and becomes increasingly present in everyday reality, accepted as a constant emotion in daily life, often without our being aware of the wear and damage it causes to body and mind.

Anxiety disorders present in different ways

• Agoraphobia
• Specific phobia.
• Social phobia or anxiety and stage fright.
• Avoidant personality disorder.
• Generalised Anxiety Disorder. (GAD)
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. (PTSD)
• Panic disorder.
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. (OCD)

They all share features and symptoms, and they also have their own specific characteristics that identify them.

In many cases, in anxiety disorder, the causes and triggers cannot be clearly determined; in fact, studies are not entirely conclusive about the reasons that produce this type of condition. Nevertheless, in some patients it is indeed possible to identify certain circumstances and elements that facilitate its appearance.

First of all we find genetic predisposing factors that condition this disorder, that is, there is a predisposition to suffer from anxiety.

On the other hand, there are circumstantial factors such as, for example, in the case of post-traumatic stress, caused by extreme or traumatic experiences that provoke intense emotions of anxiety.

Closely linked to this type of situation we find the so-called "significant life" circumstances which, without reaching the level of trauma, produce sudden changes in people's lives, also generating a high degree of stress and producing an anxiety reaction, such as, for example: changes of job, romantic break-ups or pregnancies.

Anxiety can also derive from certain medical illnesses.

In general, anxiety begins to be a problem when its intensity exceeds the person's capacity to adapt to their environment.

Finally, we can mention that the consumption and abuse of most drugs can produce anxiety.

There is a close link between drug use and anxiety disorders, a fact that can complicate the diagnosis and treatment of both disorders.

Symptoms of Anxiety

Pathological anxiety presents symptoms at both the emotional and physical level, and it is essential to be attentive to them in order to detect them at an early stage and address their diagnosis and treatment with a specialist who can help handle the situation in the best possible way.

Psychological symptoms

Exhaustion, tension, fears, irritability, poor concentration, insomnia or constant worry.

Physical symptoms

Muscle tension, tachycardia, headaches, diarrhoea, indigestion, fainting, breathing problems or excessive sweating.

Anxiety and drug addiction

Anxiety disorders and drug abuse disorders are among the most frequent psychiatric disorders and, in many cases, are directly related to each other.

This phenomenon of interrelation is called dual pathology and occurs in those cases where the person is affected by an addiction and a psychiatric disorder at the same time. Dual pathology presents a medical, psychological and social severity that must be addressed in a multidisciplinary way.

A clear example of dual pathology is that of the drinker who consumes alcohol to eliminate the momentary feeling of anxiety and who, by drinking, in the long run generates an anxious state, which ultimately turns the relationship into a vicious circle that keeps feeding and growing the two disorders.

Just as there is a high rate of patients in treatment for alcoholism who present anxiety problems, there are some personality disorders that also present high degrees of anxiety, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and avoidant personality disorder. In both conditions it is also very common to find problems with drug abuse.

In general, it is necessary to distinguish the general effects that each drug causes, also bearing in mind that each user responds in a particular way to each substance.

Anxiety from Alcohol consumption

Alcohol is a depressant of the central nervous system. The relationship between alcohol consumption and anxiety is most evident during periods of withdrawal. When the dose of the substance the brain is used to is reduced, a clinical picture appears that, among other things, produces anxiety.

Anxiety from Cannabis use

This substance contains psychoactive elements that act on the receptors of the central nervous system. At first, cannabis use causes relaxation but, because it has a depressant effect on the CNS, its chronic use is associated with depressive and anxious states.

Cocaine and the anxiety its use causes

Cocaine is a CNS stimulant that produces a feeling of well-being and euphoria, facilitates verbal communication and reduces the perception of tiredness and sleepiness. But its continued use can cause multiple disorders, including the appearance of anxiety.

Designer drugs, anxiety guaranteed

In this category we find drugs such as ecstasy, LSD, MDA and amphetamines, to name only the most popular. These are laboratory drugs which, due to their complex composition, can cause significant damage to the physical and psychological health of those who consume them, and repeated use is not necessary for this to happen.

With repeated use they can cause social anxiety, panic attacks and generalised anxiety disorders, as well as episodes of distortion of reality, psychosis and dangerous behaviours.

In short, it is necessary to mention that all drug abuse disorders induce a state of stress and anxiety. And in many cases, people who at first consume in order to feel the characteristic effects of drugs, after a period of constant use, begin to take them to calm the symptoms of anxiety or depression caused by stopping their use.

Managing and controlling anxiety

As we explained at the beginning of this article, anxiety in itself is not an illness; on the contrary, it is a natural and necessary reaction for our survival as a species. This is why what interests us is learning to manage it in order to keep it within the parameters of what is considered healthy.

For this there are some guidelines that will help us keep it under control.

Keep a record of the symptoms

The first step is to understand the nature of anxiety and gradually confront its causes. We can, for example, create an anxiety log that helps us understand how it affects us.

Over a period of at least two weeks, you can note down all the information that seems important about the anxiety symptoms you experience. Times of appearance, place of appearance, what you were doing and/or thinking when you felt anxiety. In this way, it becomes easier to give a structure and features to the phenomenon of anxiety and its relationship with our daily life.

Being more aware of what causes us anxiety allows us to confront it in a more rational way and to overcome it.

We can do the same exercise with stress, and thus find formulas that help us take the pressure off at times when we feel overwhelmed. Distinguishing when we are over-demanding of ourselves is vital in order to manage anxiety and face the situations that wear us down in a healthier way.

Activities that promote relaxation: relaxation is essential; for this we can do any activity that provides us with well-being, such as listening to music, watching films, going for a walk, doing yoga or some physical activity. Learning to relax is a skill that must be worked on and practised in order to improve, like any other.

Breathing techniques that allow us to feel better are also very useful. In situations of stress, the first thing that is affected is our breathing, which in turn alters the whole functioning of our body and causes physical symptoms that can contribute to further increasing our anxious state and our fears.

It is necessary to learn techniques that help us develop controlled breathing. For this, the first step is to realise that we are breathing badly, since anxiety normally makes our breathing shallow and fast. There are various techniques and exercises that will help us calm, improve and deepen the way we breathe.

With these simple tools, anxiety can, little by little, be improved and controlled.

But remember, if at any point you think anxiety is harmfully affecting your life and you feel you are not able to control it on your own, the best thing to do is to see a specialist. At Reconectar we are specialists in treatments to improve anxiety; it is possible to live without anxiety.