Fears: Are They As Big As They Feel?
Do you ever think about the future and feel anxious or nervous? Do you ever have a feeling that something will go terribly wrong, even when it's only a small detail in your everyday life? You're not alone. Almost everyone has periods of time where they feel this way, but what is this feeling called? For many people, it's anxiety.
Anxiety can be characterized as an intense feeling of worry and dread, or unease about something in the future. It could be anything from the thought that something might happen to our loved ones to an exam we're about to take. An excessive worry about these things often leads to frantic behavior like checking up on someone constantly or studying for hours on end without taking any breaks. These actions are an attempt to control what can't be controlled.
Another characteristic of anxiety is how it often leads to physical symptoms like increased heart rate and high blood pressure, sweating, and excessive grinding of the teeth. It can also cause muscle tension. These reactions are part of the body's "fight or flight" response, in which the body prepares itself to confront whatever is causing the stress. Even though these reactions may feel intense and out of proportion to the situation at hand, it's important to remember that they're perfectly normal and actually serve a purpose.
Anxiety disorders affect approximately 18% of women and 9% of men in America (Ruscio et al., 2013). Most people with anxiety disorders have a combination of symptoms, with the most common being emotional, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms (NIMH, 2017). The most commonly reported emotional symptoms are nervousness and feeling "on edge" or irritable. Cognitive symptoms include difficulty concentrating and difficulty making decisions. The most common behavioral symptom is restlessness.
Anxiety disorders do not discriminate based on age, gender or socio-economic status (CDC, 2013). In fact, anxiety is the most common mental disorder in the U.S., affecting 20% of Americans over their lifetime (NIMH, 2015). Women are twice as likely to develop an anxiety disorder compared to men (NIMH, 2015). Even though anxiety disorders are very common, they are often misunderstood. Some people think that individuals with anxiety disorders tend to be overly concerned about everyday situations, but that's not necessarily the case. Anxiety disorders can be more subtle than that.
As you can probably imagine, there is a wide range of severity when it comes to anxiety disorders. Some people might experience symptoms only occasionally or during a certain event, while others might always fall into the category of "worried well". If you're worried about yourself or someone else, it's important to remember that everyone experiences anxiety differently, and there is hope for recovery from it.
This post was originally published on November 22nd, 2017 and updated on March 6th, 2018.
Reference: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/anxiety-and-anxiety-disorders/index.shtml
Reference: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/prevalence/any-anxiety-disorder-sis-rates.shtml#table1
Corboy, K., Rapee, R., & Gaston, J. (2013). The role of anxiety sensitivity in the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders: A meta-analytic review and structural equation modeling analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 33(7), 826–837. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2013.05.002
Ruscio, A., Cox, B., Schneier, F., Bruce, C.J., Schwab, J., George, E., & Schmahl, C. (2013). Annual estimates of the prevalence of mental disorders in the United States (1925–2011): The burden of illness and services utilization associated with mental disorders. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 201(1), 24–33. doi:10.1097/NMD.0b013e31827dacb5
NIMH (2017). Anxiety: Symptoms and Causes
NIMH (2015). Anxiety disorders in adults: Almost 1 in 5 people will experience an anxiety disorder at some point during their life. Source: NIMH, National Institute of Mental Health http://www.
Conclusion
Anxiety is a natural response that helps us deal with real or perceived dangers in our environment. Everyone experiences anxiety at some point, some more than others. Unfortunately, anxiety can also cause severe emotional distress. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States and affect about 18% of women and 9% of men in America (CDC, 2013). All kinds of people can be affected by an anxiety disorder, despite their age or gender. There are many different types of anxiety disorders including phobias, PTSD, OCD and panic disorder (Ruscio et al., 2013). The feared outcome may be the same from one person to the next but the cause is different for everyone.