When Anxiety Becomes Anxiety Disorder?

By Your Health Magazine

Your Health Magazine

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When Anxiety Becomes Anxiety Disorder?

Anyone and everyone has the fear of the unknown. For example, the heart races before a job interview, or the stomach discomforts whenever the concept of paying bills comes to mind, or anxiety before meeting new people. This is ordinary. It is normal for anxiety to be your body’s way of signaling, “Hey, urgent stuff is going on here”.

However, the moment comes when anxiety is no longer a helpful assistant. It’s like a car alarm that makes a noise in unthreatening phases. When this is the case, you may experience an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorder is a neurological condition and a very common type of emotional disorder. Let’s understand it in detail.

What are the levels of anxiety?

Consider fear as your radio’s equalizer dial:

Regular anxiety resembles the volume being set at a calming level. You can sense what you need to know, but the noise does not bother you. This kind of anxiety:

• Comes from genuine causes (like before a test)
  
• Disappears when the time is over
  
• The fear same level as the problem
  
• Does not hinder you from doing things that are necessary for you
  
• Anxiety disorder is the same as setting the volume to the loudest. Everything is too loud and painful. The mentioned type of anxiety:
  
• Appears without activation of the threat mechanism
  
• Hangs on even when the problems are solved
  
• Much more than the actual problem makes you feel worse
  
• Makes you unable to do your regular activities
  

For example, many people feel a little nervous about flying. They experience some anxiety, but they still get on the plane when they need to travel. However, a person with an anxiety disorder might be so afraid of flying that they can’t even bring themselves to go to the airport. This fear can sometimes stem from trauma or other underlying causes.

There are many types of anxiety disorders, such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety, etc. Each type of disorder affects people in different ways.

Anxiety disorders symptoms:

• Your heart rate increases, sending more blood to your muscles.
  
• Your breathing becomes faster and shallower, giving you more oxygen.
  
• Your muscles tense up, ready for action.
  
• You sweat to cool your body down.
  
• You may feel dizzy due to changes in your breathing rate.
  

What Causes Anxiety Disorders to Develop?

Anxiety disorders do not come from being weak or wrong. There are several ways in which they develop:

• Life experiences: Stressful events like job loss, a close person’s death, or experiencing trauma can develop anxiety disorders. Sometimes, many small stressors accumulate over time.
  
• Family history: An individual with a family history of anxiety disorders may also be more likely to develop it. Sometimes, it runs in families the same way eye color or height do.
  
• Brain differences: In some people, their brains are the sensitive type to stress and signals of danger. It is not that the brain is one’s fault. It is just how his/her brain is structured.
  
• Health problems: Some medical conditions or medications can worsen anxiety issues.
  

Is Anxiety Disorder a Chemical Imbalance?

According to experts, some real changes in the brain occur in patients with anxiety disorders. Your brain sends chemicals to travel from one part to another, allowing messages to be sent. When a person suffers from an anxiety disorder, these chemical signals become disrupted.

Think of it like a phone with a malfunctioning ringer. Both important calls (real threats) and spam calls (false alarms) ring. Your brain has trouble distinguishing between real threats and imagined ones.

What Chemicals Are Involved in Anxiety?

Several brain chemicals are related to making a person feel anxious:

• Serotonin allows one to feel calm and balanced. If you don’t have enough of this chemical, Serotonin makes you feel calm and balanced. If you have a deficiency of this chemical in your body, you may experience more anxiety.
  
• GABA acts like a brake for your brain, helping to slow down racing thoughts. People with anxiety disorders typically have lower levels of GABA in their brains.
  
• Dopamine controls how you perceive reward and motivation. Fluctuations in dopamine levels can cause you to lose interest in things you previously enjoyed.
  
• Norepinephrine is your brain’s alarm system. High levels of it can make you feel like you are constantly in danger.
  

Just as musicians in a band work together, these chemicals also work together to manage anxiety. When one chemical is out of balance, the entire system is disrupted, and the music goes uneven.

How to Deal with Anxiety?

If anxiety has taken charge of your life, accept that the problem seems bigger than you can handle on your own. It is not a sign of weakness to ask for help. Anxiety disorders are treatable conditions. Treatment options for Anxiety disorder include:

• Investigation of medical causes of anxiety
  
• Investigation of nutritional deficiencies that may be causing anxiety
  
• Long-acting, non-addictive medications that prevent anxiety symptoms
  
• Treatment of sleep disturbances
  
• Addressing external stressors
  
• Therapies for anxiety include supportive therapy, CBT, EMDR, and psychodynamic therapy.
  
• Lifestyle changes such as exercise and good sleep habits
  
• Alternative treatments such as yoga, meditation, and acupuncture
  

Immediate symptom relief includes:

• Breathing exercises
  
• Avoiding/removing oneself from anxiety-provoking situations whenever possible
  
• Medication, which can provide rapid relief from anxiety symptoms
  
• Mindfulness exercises
  

An example of Anxiety Disorder

Liza was a teacher who had loved her job for ten years. However, as time went on, everything changed drastically. She would wake up at 3 a.m., worried about whether she would be able to teach her classes. She started experiencing stomach pain every morning before going to work. She began taking more and more sick days. She even started having sudden periods of intense fear and discomfort with a rapid, irregular heartbeat and sweating in the classroom.

Liza felt deeply ashamed. She felt she should be self-reliant and handle everything on her own without anyone’s help. She was afraid of being humiliated and worried that people would think she was weak or crazy. For many months, Liza silently endured her problems.

Finally, Liza decided to seek treatment. She consulted a neuropsychiatrist, who performed a clinical assessment, behavioral evaluation, blood tests (to detect any nutritional deficiencies, hormonal imbalances, etc.), an MRI scan, EEG brain scan (because she had suffered a mild head injury in childhood). After a thorough evaluation, she was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and nutritional deficiency, such as Iron and vitamin B12 deficiency. 

Her neuropsychiatrist, Liza, used electrical scan reports to determine how her brain reacted when she received certain stimuli or when she talked about specific subjects, and then planned coping techniques to change her thought patterns and adjust the electrical patterns in her brain. The doctor explained she felt it was not wrong or defective. She explained to her how anxiety disorders are treatable conditions, and she can get better.

Based on her condition, a neuropsychiatrist developed her customized treatment plan, which includes:

• Prescribe anti-anxiety medications or antidepressants
  
• Prescribe supplements for anxiety that interact with prescription medication
  
• Therapy to manage symptoms
  
• Teach relaxation techniques, such as mindfulness
  
• Helping parents and caregivers understand the condition so they can provide better support
  

The treatment was not a one-time cure. Treatment takes time to work and sometimes requires changes in the treatment plan. Liza had to explore different solutions. She learned breathing techniques to help her when she has panic attacks. Also, she started taking medicine that fixed the lack of her brain’s chemicals. More importantly, she acknowledged that experiencing an anxiety problem was not something about her weakness but a natural part of being human.

Now, Liza has largely overcome her inner struggles. Although she sometimes feels a little down, she uses the techniques she learned during anxiety treatment to cope. She has also started a support group for teachers and students who are struggling with stress.

Nowadays, most affected individuals can access help from an online psychiatrist, making it easier and more convenient than ever to receive continuous care.