We always feel a certain level of anxiety in response to common stresses. Anxiety has positive effects, by making us to put more effort and focus into those matters which have impact on our well-being. The role of anxiety only becomes damaging when it begins to become the focus of a person's everyday life. Under some circumstances, mental health workers think of anxiety to be a serious clinical problem. The trouble for most is in perceiving when anxiety crosses the threshold from normal to overwhelming. This difficulty is borne out by the fact that the non-technical use of the term anxiety belies its complexity as a whole group of disorders as categorized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Diagnosis of severity range in from mild forms (e.g. generalized anxiety disorder or GAD), to more severe ones (e.g. obsessive compulsive disorder or OCD). Mitigation of symptoms of intense anxiety illness, if not the total cure, is a goal which will require an understanding the nature, source and category of anxiety.
Common stressors, including situations such as switching jobs or ending a career, are all sources of anxiety. Nervousness, jumpy feelings, and high attention to detail are responses to these circumstances of normal intensity of anxiety. In contrast, those suffering from an anxiety condition will experience much more powerful versions of these emotions. Significantly, physical symptoms such as tiredness, headaches, shaking and sweating afflict those with anxiety disorders.
The DSM-IV lists a substantial number of conditions that are grouped under the inclusive definition "anxiety. For the purpose of conferring to sufferers some insight into their disorder, and to illustrate the complexity of the condition three anxiety-related diseases are given here. In the first, those with a condition called "panic attack" are prone to unexpected onset of panic together with profuse sweating and chest pains with apparently little trigger. In the second, the condition of OCD does not cause sudden panic attacks, but instead feel continuous, persistent fear which compels them to repeat motions in an attempt to alleviate the fear. In the third example: people who are afflicted with "social anxiety disorder" are unable to interact with other people in a normal setting, instead feeling fear and embarrassment when with these people. The likelihood of being a target for ridicule forms the basis for these fears.
Identification and categorization of an anxiety condition relies on visual inspection, interview answers to inquiries, and a litany of symptoms connected with the disorder. The mental health worker will inquire about particular symptoms, such as nightmares, insomnia, level and persistence of feelings of fear. However, diagnosis is not a trivial task as the list of seemingly subjective criteria seems to suggest. But the total effect of several symptoms can prove to the mental health worker the case of and kind of anxiety disorder, despite the fact that each symptom alone does not signify unequivocal evidence of anxiety condition.
The fundamental reasons for all these anxiety disorder is the ultimate question in the thoughts of many. As is the case for many psychiatric disorders, the answer is murky because of our limited understanding of the nature and chemistry of the brain. Three kinds of fundamental causes are frequently cited: environmental, neurochemical, and genetic. The environmental hypothesis finds anxiety to be similar diabetes: prompted by lifestyle and habits. Those who acquire Type II diabetes live a lifestyle the habits of which make them susceptible to obesity. Insulin resistance and thus diabetes are thought to be a reaction of the body to the environment. In the same way, anxiety disorders can arise from physiological responses to permanently stress-inducing situations. Relatedly, some think that anxiety disorders are rooted in brain chemistry. Stress hormones that reduce "calm" signals, under normal circumstances, are emitted by neurons. But the brain may be be slave to unending stimulation and anxiety levels can blow out of control if the emission of this chemical become misregulated. Finally, hereditary makeup is believed by some who subscribe to the theory that anxiety illnesses are in the family. Proof lies in the fact that anxiety seems to occur in family relatives. Correct diagnosis can make a difference in obtaining the right solution for illnesses of this complexity.
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