Anxiety

Anxiety is a condition that causes feelings of chronic nervousness and fear over the anticipation of something, real or imagined. Anxiety is identified as a mental health disorder, meaning that it came about due to certain environmental, psychological and biological factors, and it has repeated negative effects on the person who is inflicted with it.

Some of the observable physical symptoms of anxiety are insomnia, headaches, twitches and tremors, stomach and bladder problems, perspiration, a racing heart, spells of dizziness, strained breathing, tense muscles and fatigue. Anxiety can also be internal; not apparent to other people but internally damaging the person affected by it. Some of these symptoms include brain fog, restlessness, dread, broken concentration, negativity, tension, irritability and belief in ever-present danger.

Anxiety disorder is the blanket term for several kinds of disorders that fall under its umbrella, such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, certain types of phobias, Panic Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. They are all a type of anxiety disorder, but they each have their own separate distinctions. Where as the condition of anxiety is enmeshed with a person’s lifestyle, an anxiety attack is a particularly bad episode of intense fear or panic.

People who suffer from an anxiety disorder may experience these in a particularly upsetting situation, or one where they perceive their fears are coming true. Anxiety attacks are sometimes confused with panic attacks for how severe their physical symptoms can be, for example, hyperventilation, chest pains, choking sensations and overwhelming panic. Anxiety treatments usually include some kind of behavioral therapy and/or medication. If the disorder is accompanied by addiction in what is called a co-occurring disorder, then dual diagnosis addiction treatment is needed.