Anxiety and Stress, including Panic

Anxiety

We all know what it’s like to experience anxiety when we have to give a big presentation at work, deal with an illness in our family, worry about money issues, go on a job interview, or impress the new boss. For most of us these situations produce reactions such as sweaty palms, muscle tightness, a pounding heart, and feelings of apprehension and uneasiness. "Normal" anxiety arouses us to action; it keeps us motivated to do our best on a big project at work or keeps us on our toes to make a speech. However, severe anxiety can interfere with decision making, impair performance, and disrupt our daily lives.

For 15% of the population, anxiety reaches the point of a disorder that may require professional help. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders as a group are the most common mental health concern in America. They affect 19 million adults each year.

Examples of the most common anxiety disorders include:

• Panic Disorder: Repeated episodes of intense fear that seem to come “out of the blue”. Physical symptoms could include:
  • chest pain
  • shortness of breath,
  • heart palpitations,
  • dizziness,
  • abdominal distress and o fear of dying.
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Repeated unwanted thoughts or compulsive behaviors that seem impossible to stop and interfere with everyday life.
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Persistent symptoms that occur after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event such as rape, war or a car accident. Symptoms can include:
  • Reexperiencing the event through nightmares or memories,
  • Avoiding people, places or things that serve as reminders and numbing yourself
  • Increased arousal such as being easily startled, and problems with sleep and irritability.
• Phobias: Social Phobia involves overwhelming fear of evaluation and scrutiny by others that make it difficult or impossible to engage in social situations. Specific phobias involve intense fear or panic and an exaggeration of the possible negative outcome. Examples of specific phobias include fear of flying, fear of dogs, or snakes, and fear of needles. When specific phobias are severe even the thought or a picture of the feared item may lead to intense distress.
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Constant and persistent worry and anticipation of the worst even though there may be little reason to expect disaster. The worry is accompanied by physiological tension and symptoms such as fatigue, trembling, headache or nausea and lasts for 6 months.