Anxiety Disorders and Emotions

Anxiety Emotions

• Anxiety is a normal human emotion in some situations, like before an exam or a job interview.
• It is defined as a state of apprehension, uncertainty, and uneasiness in anticipation of a real or perceived threat.

Anxiety Disorders

• Anxiety disorders are a group of specific mental disorders characterized by significant and uncontrollable anxiety.
• They affect up to one in three adults at some point in their lives.
• Common symptoms between anxiety disorders include:
  • Panic feelings of doom and restlessness
  • Fear
  • Avoidance behavior
  • Muscle tension
  • Physical manifestations like tachycardia, palpitations, sweating, trembling, and abdominal pain
  • Chronic presence and manifestation as feeling on edge, easily fatigued, irritable, with difficulty concentrating and controlling worries

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

• Defined by the DSM-5 as excessive anxiety or worry about multiple different things on most days for more than six months.
• Characteristics include:
  • Restlessness
  • Fatigue
  • Ability to reduce concentration
  • Irritability
  • Muscle tension
  • Poor sleep
  • Inability to manage worry
  • Impairment in daily functioning
• Estimated to affect around 9% of adults at some point in their lives.

Specific Phobias

• Characterized by having fear or anxiety when exposed to a specific object or situation.
• Reaction is persistent, and people with true phobias will go out of their way to avoid exposure.
• Common phobias include:
  • Fear of heights
  • Fear of spiders
  • Fear of snakes
  • Fear of flying

Panic Disorder

• Form of anxiety where people experience recurrent panic attacks.
• Triggers can occur in specific scenarios, including irrational thoughts.
• Characteristics include:
  • Recurrent panic attacks
  • Worrying about additional attacks or implications
  • Change in behavior to try to avoid attacks
• Four of the following symptoms need to be present:
  • Sudden surge of fear or physical discomfort
  • Panic attacks

Agoraphobia and Social Phobia

• Agoraphobia: characterized by anxiety when in situations or places that are perceived to be unsafe.
• Social Phobia (renamed Social Anxiety Disorder): fear or anxiety in social or performance situations.
• Common symptoms include:
  • Fear of humiliation, rejection, or embarrassment
  • Exposure to social situations triggers anxiety
  • Avoidance of social situations

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

• Result of trauma, commonly sexual assault, war, or natural disasters.
• Additional symptoms include:
  • Recurrent thoughts related to the trauma
  • Distressing nightmares
  • Dissociative reactions like flashbacks
  • Hyper-vigilance

Separation Anxiety Disorder

• Excessive anxiety when separated from the home environment or a person with a strong attachment.
• Characteristics include:
  • Distress caused is excessive and doesn't correspond with the expected level of development.
  • Clinging to parents, crying to the extent of severe pain.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

• Characterized by unwanted and disturbing intrusive thoughts (obsessions) combined with repetitive behaviors (compulsions) that help relieve these obsessive thoughts and associated emotional distress.
• Examples of compulsions include:
  • Pacing
  • Turning switches on and off
  • Counting
  • Muttering words

Selective Mutism

• Characterized by the ability to speak but becomes anxious to the point of being unable to speak in certain situations.
• Commonly diagnosed in older children and can persist into adulthood.
• Often concurrent with social anxiety disorder.

Causes of Anxiety Disorders

• Combination of genetic and environmental influences.
• Genetic factors make up around 30% of the development.
• Environmental factors include:
  • Childhood adversities
  • Past trauma
  • Socio-demographic factors
• Females are more affected than males, with unknown reasons.

Treatment of Anxiety Disorders

• Combination of psychotherapy (primarily cognitive behavioral therapy) and medication.
• Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is recommended in nearly each disorder.
• Medications include:
  • Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
  • Serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)
  • Other agents like buspirone and pregabalin
  • Tricyclic antidepressants
  • Benzodiazepines (used in acute stressful states, but not recommended for long-term use)

Anxiety Emotions

• Anxiety is a normal human emotion in certain situations, characterized by apprehension, uncertainty, and uneasiness in anticipation of a real or perceived threat.

Anxiety Disorders

• A group of mental disorders characterized by significant and uncontrollable anxiety, affecting up to one in three adults at some point in their lives.
• Common symptoms include:
  • Panic feelings of doom and restlessness
  • Fear
  • Avoidance behavior
  • Muscle tension
  • Physical manifestations like tachycardia, palpitations, sweating, trembling, and abdominal pain
  • Chronic presence and manifestation as feeling on edge, easily fatigued, irritable, with difficulty concentrating and controlling worries

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

• Excessive anxiety or worry about multiple things on most days for more than six months, affecting around 9% of adults at some point in their lives.
• Characteristics include:
  • Restlessness
  • Fatigue
  • Ability to reduce concentration
  • Irritability
  • Muscle tension
  • Poor sleep
  • Inability to manage worry
  • Impairment in daily functioning

Specific Phobias

• Characterized by fear or anxiety when exposed to a specific object or situation, with common phobias including:
  • Fear of heights
  • Fear of spiders
  • Fear of snakes
  • Fear of flying

Panic Disorder

• Form of anxiety where people experience recurrent panic attacks, with triggers including irrational thoughts.
• Characteristics include:
  • Recurrent panic attacks
  • Worrying about additional attacks or implications
  • Change in behavior to try to avoid attacks
  • Four of the following symptoms need to be present:
    • Sudden surge of fear or physical discomfort
    • Panic attacks

Agoraphobia and Social Phobia

• Agoraphobia: characterized by anxiety when in situations or places perceived as unsafe.
• Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder): fear or anxiety in social or performance situations, with common symptoms including:
  • Fear of humiliation, rejection, or embarrassment
  • Exposure to social situations triggers anxiety
  • Avoidance of social situations

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

• Resulting from trauma, with additional symptoms including:
  • Recurrent thoughts related to the trauma
  • Distressing nightmares
  • Dissociative reactions like flashbacks
  • Hyper-vigilance

Separation Anxiety Disorder

• Excessive anxiety when separated from the home environment or a person with a strong attachment, with characteristics including:
  • Distress caused is excessive and doesn't correspond with the expected level of development
  • Clinging to parents, crying to the extent of severe pain

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

• Characterized by unwanted and disturbing intrusive thoughts (obsessions) combined with repetitive behaviors (compulsions) to relieve emotional distress, with examples of compulsions including:
  • Pacing
  • Turning switches on and off
  • Counting
  • Muttering words

Selective Mutism

• Characterized by the ability to speak but becoming anxious to the point of being unable to speak in certain situations, commonly diagnosed in older children and persisting into adulthood.

Causes of Anxiety Disorders

• Combination of genetic and environmental influences, with genetic factors making up around 30% of the development.
• Environmental factors include:
  • Childhood adversities
  • Past trauma
  • Socio-demographic factors
• Females are more affected than males, with unknown reasons.

Treatment of Anxiety Disorders

• Combination of psychotherapy (primarily cognitive behavioral therapy) and medication.
• Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is recommended in nearly each disorder.
• Medications include:
  • Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
  • Serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)
  • Other agents like buspirone and pregabalin
  • Tricyclic antidepressants
  • Benzodiazepines (used in acute stressful states, but not recommended for long-term use)