Anxiety is one of the most common and unpleasant sensations people experience, the level of discomfort depends on the intensity of anxiety and the type of context in which it appears.
A person’s anxiety usually interferes with their daily life activities and can sometimes even prevent the person from doing everything they have to do during the day normally.
- In this article we will try to explain the basics of the disease.
- And if you think that what is happening is similar to what we will explain here.
- The most practical thing is to seek the help of a professional.
- Such as a specialized clinical psychologist.
- On the subject.
Anxiety disorders are the most common psychopathological disorders in the general population, given the existence of various symptoms we must make sure to differentiate their different manifestations, for this we will explain below how anxiety, fear and phobias differ.
Anxiety is an emotional reaction consisting of feelings of tension, apprehension, nervousness and anxiety that cause an activation of the autonomous nervous system; anxiety is the same feeling, but with predominance of physical symptoms, while in anxiety what predominates are psychological symptoms.
While fears are associated with an identifiable external stimulus, anxiety appears without an external source of very clear and recognizable threat. Phobias would be disproportionate fears that necessarily lead to avoidance, and are irrational.
Anxiety has the characteristic of anticipating events, which causes an uncomfortable and invasive sensation, its nature is cognitive and prospective, allowing it to appear at any time.
In addition to the cognitive character of the person, there is a learning factor that favors the onset of the disease, there is also a biological component, since hyperactivity has been observed in certain parts of the brain, changes in the neurotransmitter GABA and the nerve pathway that communicates the thalamus and amygdala in the brain.
Anxiety is not a unitary system, being formed by a triad that constitutes a response system: the subjective system, the physiological system and the motor system, symptoms can affect all systems at once, or each independently.
When we have anxiety, do we have unpleasant thoughts?Is it the physiological system? And also our facial expression, our gestures and how to behave. ?engine system.
Anxiety is basically characterized by two sensations that are, in most cases, more common in people with this disease:
In addition to these, there are a wide variety of symptoms common to depression and a variety of other symptoms that differentiate anxiety from depression. Some of the symptoms shared with depression are characterized by a high negative effect such as anxiety, low concentration, irritability, insomnia, fatigue, psychomotor agitation, crying, inferiority, guilt or under self-love.
On the other hand, the most typical symptoms of anxiety are fear, panic, nervousness, avoidance, instability, hypervigilance, perception of a threat or danger, strong activity of the sympathetic nervous system, etc.
In addition, within anxiety, it is still possible to differentiate different syndromes depending on the organization of the symptoms that occur, so we can find anxiety seizures, agoraphobia, panic attack, various specific phobias, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, etc. .
There are many treatments for all anxiety disorders, but some have been more effective than others, it all depends on the specialist you’re looking for and the methods it will use to help you overcome the disease.
For generalized anxiety disorder, the most commonly used treatment is cognitive behavioral therapy (TCC). This technique uses contingent relationships, cognitive therapy, stimulus exposure and relapse prevention. In addition, drugs also appear to be an effective treatment. Hypnosis is also a technique used by some experts.
For also very common anxiety disorders, such as specific phobias, the most commonly used treatment is exposure to the object of phobia, and for social phobia, the most appropriate treatment is, in addition to the aforementioned cognitive behavioral therapy (TCC), cognitive. restructuring (RC) and training in social skills (HRT).
To cope with anxiety you need to know it, know yourself and look for a good professional who can help control the disease, because the treatments are very varied and adapt to both the person who is suffering it and the characteristics. about what’s going on. If treated properly, there should not be high resistance to current treatments.