The Mental Health Corner Archive
Anxiety or Fear
June 15, 2009
Anxiety, Fear, and Anxiety Disorders
Andrew has a vital position in a local firm and is responsible for converting marketing contacts into sales. Recently he has encountered significant problems in his role and has contributed to the company only having a few contracts to fulfill before they will need to reduce their work force and downsize. He is finding it very difficult to make presentations to the other sales group members. Before making an appointment in the clinic he had struggled for the previous two months to talk to the sales group and to customer contacts, getting very nervous and feeling unable to talk. He is even thinking about quitting his job since he is unable to fulfill his role effectively.
Sally is finding herself constantly worrying about whether she has locked her apartment and closed her garage door. She finds herself driving down the street and then going back to check on the doors to be sure they are closed and locked. After she arrives at work, she finds herself thinking again about the doors and compelled to check on them during her lunch break, to make absolutely sure that she remembered to lock them. She is starting to think that she is losing her mind.
Anxiety can be distinguished from fear in several ways. Fear is most often directed toward something or a situation and it could possibly occur. For example, you might fear failing a test, not having enough money to pay the rent or mortgage, or being rejected and scorned by someone you strongly want to please.
With anxiety you frequently are unable to be specific when trying to identify what it is you are anxious about. Anxiety comes from within you more than from outside you. It appears to be an internal response to vague, distant, or sometimes even unrecognized danger. For example, you might feel anxiety over the possibility of something bad happening to you, or you might feel anxious about losing control in a critical situation such as presenting in a group meeting at work.
Anxiety affects you physically, behaviorally, and emotionally, all at the same time. Physiologically you may experience sweating, dry mouth, muscle tension, or a rapid heart rate. Behaviorally it can interfere with your skill in expressing yourself, interrupt your effectively dealing with everyday situations, or block your effectiveness in undergoing examination of things you know well. Emotionally it can affect you along a continuum, but in extreme form can lead to feelings of fear of going crazy or fear of dying from not being able to breathe.
To recover from anxiety disorders, intervention needs to address the biological, behavioral, emotional, and spiritual, addressing your whole being. It needs to reduce physiological reactivity, eliminate avoidance behavior and alter the “self-talk” that maintains anxiety and worry. Strategies and interventions commonly used for dealing with anxiety disorders include exercise, desensitization, relaxation, changing self-talk and altering mistaken values and beliefs, and dealing with feelings. They may also include taking psychotropic medications targeting anxiety and depression for those anxiety disorders involving underlying physiological dysfunction, with the neurotransmitter serotonin being implicated. Typically, there is a combination of the biological and psychological interacting when anxiety disorders are considered. They are seldom solely caused by a physiological imbalance or a psychological cause and require addressing multiple factors for effective lasting treatment.
Anxiety occurs along a continuum and is inevitably experienced by most individuals in contemporary life. Failure to feel some anxiety in response to challenges that involve potential failure or loss would be unusual. Anxiety disorders however involve anxiety that is more intense, lasts longer, or leads to phobias.
Common types of anxiety disorders include Agoraphobia (fear of open spaces); Panic Disorder (acute apprehension or intense fear occurring unexpectantly without apparent cause); Social Phobia (involves fear of embarrassment or humiliation in situations where others may be critical of you or where you must perform); Specific Phobia (a strong fear and/or avoidance of one particular type of object or situation); Generalized Anxiety Disorder (characterized by chronic anxiety that persists for at least 6 months and is not accompanied by panic attacks, phobias, or obsessions); and, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (extreme and disruptive need to be neat, tidy orderly, etc.); Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (disabling psychological symptoms following and tied to a traumatic event). Many people deal with more than one anxiety disorder at a time.
If you are struggling with an anxiety disorder, take responsibility and seek out professional help to address this problem and experience a more fulfilling life.
