What is this website?
This website was built to give information to people about anxiety. Whether you are suffering from anxiety yourself, know someone who is suffering from anxiety, or just doing some research for a school paper, this site is for you. Anxiety is a real thing, and there should be more general awareness about it. That is our mission, to spread information and awareness about anxiety and hopefully help those who suffer. Please feel free to look around the site and enjoy!
What is Anxiety? What is an Anxiety Disorder?
To truly understand what anxiety disorder is, you must first understand the feeling of anxiety, which is a normal and natural reaction to difficult and stressful situations. It is actually a psychological defense mechanism – as your anxiety level rises, you become more alert, helping you to defend yourself from any possible dangers. Anxiety disorder is when a person experiences extreme anxiety regularly, even in less stressful situations, which actually makes it more difficult for the person to achieve their goals and cope with typical daily problems.
Anxiety disorder is usually associated with feelings of extreme fear, often about things that do not even exist. Many times the fear will be about something completely impossible or unreasonable, but the person is not able to see things clearly. There are many different forms of anxiety disorder such as generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and many more. The most common is generalized anxiety disorder, or GAD, which leads the person to feel lots of anxiety from normal everyday issues, such as health, relationships, and finances. This extreme anxiety can make it very difficult for the person to accomplish even basic tasks, since they are constantly worried about a negative outcome.
There are many symptoms of GAD, but some of the most common are: headaches, shaking, sweating, irritation, difficulty breathing, restlessness, and even vomiting. People with a history of depression are very likely to suffer from generalized anxiety disorder. Phobic anxiety disorder is more focused on specific things. A person with phobic disorder will be afraid of very specific things, rather than a general fear of everyday occurrences. Most people suffering from phobic disorder are actually aware of the fact that there is no real danger, yet they are simply unable to control their fear.
Obsessive-compulsive anxiety disorder is an unmanageable urge to repeat thoughts or actions. Often, the thoughts are unpleasant to the patient, yet they are unable to stop thinking about, or obsessing over it. That is the obsessive side of the disorder – the compulsions are continuous recurring actions related to the obsessions. People suffering with this disorder are compelled to engage in their compulsions when faced with obsessive thoughts, even though they realize the compulsions are irrational.
Another type of anxiety disorder is known as panic disorder, in which the patient will experience a series of panic attacks unexpectedly. The symptoms can include nausea, shaking, hyperventilation, chest pain and a rapid heat beat. Panic disorder is very difficult on the patient – the feeling of not being able to control themselves and the fear of having more attacks, can lead to even more attacks. Many people suffering from panic disorder also have agoraphobia, which is a fear of being in places without help nearby.
There are many different factors than can contribute to the development of anxiety disorder. Most often, it can be traced back to childhood. People who are unable to cope with major life changes, or who have low self esteem, are much more likely to develop an anxiety disorder. Heredity is also a major contributing factor, though it usually must still be triggered by some outside influences.