About Anxiety

Anxiety is a very common problem nowadays. The exact definition of anxiety differs from institution to institution, but it can be roughly described as a consistent state of heightened awareness and alertness such as one would experience during a highly stressful or life-threatening situation. The difference is that this state of anxiety continues long after the stressful episode or "stressor" has passed. This can lead to any number of physical and mental problems as the anxiety continues.

The Facts

• Anxiety in and of itself is not dangerous. Almost everyone will experience anxiety sometime in their lives. It is a common emotion which developed many thousands of years ago as a secondary complement to the "Fight or Flight" complex. Once a person managed to get out of a potentially fatal situation, that person may still have been in danger from pursuers. The human body developed anxiety as a way to keep a person alert for attack to help keep them alive. We now feel this same emotion, though its use is largely obsolete as humans no longer have a need to run from wild animals or predators like they did millenniums ago. For this reason, anxiety has been labeled as a negative and unwanted emotion in that it can make stressful situations even more problematic.

Effects

• Anxiety can take on many forms, which often differ from culture to culture. It is most often described as a panic-like sensation combining fear, apprehension and worry. Many people also experience physical sensations such as ice-water running through the lower abdomen and a squeezing tightness in the chest. This in turn makes people feel as though it were difficult to breathe, often resulting in a panic attack, making them feel their surroundings are closing in on them.

History of

• Anxiety was often confused with worry and fear, never being clearly identified or defined until WWI. The constant shelling and the horrors of trench warfare caused soldiers to experience something they called "shellshock." It was a heightened state of alertness coupled with extreme feelings of fear and worry that sometimes lasted for the remainder of the soldier's life. Those unfortunate enough to experience this while still on the front lines were branded as cowards by their superiors and compatriots, and sometimes shot. Nowadays we know it as post-traumatic stress disorder, which is a very serious anxiety disorder. After "shellshock" and other disorders like it became more common among soldiers returning from war, anxiety was better defined and more closely studied in an effort to find some way to treat those suffering from these mental illnesses.

Misconceptions

• There are many misconceptions regarding anxiety, often by those who do not suffer from it. The greatest misconception is that anxiety is harmless and something which can be ignored. Prolonged anxiety not only results in a continuing sense of mental anguish, it can take a punishing toll on the body and mind. The heightened state one experiences is very energy consuming and often causes insomnia as well. This results in a sleep-deprived state which can seriously impair a person's ability to think, reason and react. It also increases the likelihood of mental breakdown and attempted suicide. Physical anxiety can ultimately cause complete exhaustion which may require hospitalization to treat.

Significance

• Anxiety is a significant problem in that more people are suffering from it as time passes. In small doses, anxiety is common and often fleeting. The problem is that more than 30% of the United States population is suffering from an anxiety disorder of some kind, greatly affecting their quality of life as well their ability to work and earn a living.