Anxiety

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety can be described as a feeling of unease, such as a worry of fear which can range from mild to severe. The feelings of anxiety can interfere with daily life. Anxiety is the main symptom of several conditions, including: panic disorder, phobias, such as agoraphobia or claustrophobia.

A person must experience the following symptom’s to be diagnosed with an anxiety related disorder

Feeling nervous, anxious or on edge
Not being able to stop or control worrying
Worrying too much about different things
Trouble relaxing
Being so restless that it is hard to sit still
Becoming easily annoyed or irritable
Feeling afraid as if something awful might happen

The five major types of anxiety disorders are:

Generalized Anxiety Disorder. …
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) …
Panic Disorder. …
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) …
Social Phobia (or Social Anxiety Disorder)

The most common disorder known as Generalized Anxiety Disorder is a long term condition that causes you to feel anxious about anything and everything. People who have GAD will feel anxious most days and can struggle to relax. They can feel restless, agitated, have difficulty concentrating or sleeping, experience physical symptoms such as chest pains, dizziness or heart palpitations.

Research

CBT is effective in the treatment of anxiety disorders and is the most practiced form of modern psychotherapy. A lot of therapists that don’t identify themselves as CBT therapists also use CBT techniques in their practice. There has been much research to test the efficacy of CBT; one particular research looked at CBT versus a placebo for anxiety disorders (Hofmann SG & Smits JA. (2008). They found support for the use of CBT in anxiety disorders. Specifically, the severity of anxiety symptoms was decreased for people who took CBT over placebo, and the effect of this decrease was most significant for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder and acute stress disorder.