Anxiety Disorder – the Symptoms and Treatment

Anxiety is quite a common feeling from all of us. This feeling akin to fear but not quite often surfaces whenever we are confronted with something – often a situation or a scenario – we are neither familiar nor comfortable with. We then would feelings a bit anxious as to what could happen. If this feelings of anxiety recurs far too much and without much prompting, then it could well be that you are afflicted with the anxiety disorder condition. It was once a very mystifying condition and ailment as physician do have a hard time pinpointing its origins. As such anxiety treatment involved a whole lot of experimenting from the medical fraternity before any headway was made.

That was then, however, and with time, more and more understanding have been made into this condition afflicting quite a number of people, young and old alike. A good majority of patients so afflicted are women, but there are men too in the fold. What they should know however is that it is quite a common affliction (although there are still no second guessing of it exact origins) and anxiety treatment is available widely now.

Often times, anxiety disorders is manifested by panic attacks in the severe type. These occur on a far more frequent manner that they do in people who are not afflicted with the condition. For a patient suffering from anxiety disorders, there are really either no or vague causes which would trigger such attacks to take place. It can come out of a sudden, and all they know is that their feelings of fear and anxiousness can be far too overwhelming; a sense of being utterly helpless and lost. This is where anxiety disorders – if not treated – can be dangerous as it could lead to the patient suffering from a full blown depression. For those suffering from panic attacks help must be given as so as possible also from another reason; that of not allowing the “trigger” to entrench itself for future attacks.

Now, panic attacks normally last between 20 minutes to about an hour for the more serious cases. However, severe panic attacks can nonetheless lead to dizzying bouts of anxiousness, a fear of a recurrence of the attacks. Anxiety disorder patients who do not seek anxiety treatment often form the impression that what they are feeling are very silly and that no one would understand the deeply abstract and emotionally draining anxiousness that they are feeling, simply because there are not outwards symptoms. In the case of panic attacks, you could easily see the signs as they are quite clearly manifested and includes symptoms such as sweating profusely, trembling and shaking – sometimes in a very violent way – and most apparent, shortness of breath.

Panic attacks are akin to someone who is suffering from a heart attack, albeit in a more frequent manner. Anxiety attacks meanwhile attacks the inner self, going for the self confidence and usually would not manifest any outward symptoms. There are nonetheless some signs which close friends and families should look out for with the most common being that the patient so afflicted would be prone to withdrawing themselves from public participations and being far too inward in their personalities. There is a need to talk to patients and this is but the very start for anxiety treatment before anything else can be done. There is simply no other way that we can know an anxiety disorder patient is suffering unless we are with them 24 hour a days and being able to spot the subtle symptoms.

What must be impressed on anxiety disorder patients is the fact that the medical sector has made good breakthroughs in tackling the affliction. Now, not only are there a good number of specialists for the condition, but anxiety disorder medication is also widely available. The latter normally go hand in hand with the psychological aspect of anxiety treatment – that of counseling sessions to find out the why and the how – with the medication forming the first barrier of treatment. Anxiety disorder medication including pills like Ativan, Xanax and Klonopin acts as a failsafe to allow the patient to make their own move to arrest an impending attack of anxiety bouts. These are relaxants and coupled with other techniques including deep breathing exercises  – something which counselors should impart – would allow the patients to realize that whatever it is that they are feeling, helplessness is definitely not one of them.