Anxiety

Anxiety is the feeling of fear, worry, nervousness or apprehension.  It is normal to have these types of feelings once in a while.  These feelings can actually help you to focus, be aware, motivate you and even channel your energy with positive results.  Often times these feelings are completely justified.  For example, if you are about to take a test in school or preparing for a job interview, you may feel some anxiety.  You may be worried about a friend, family member or child who is sick. Don’t worry, those are normal feelings of anxiety.  However, severe anxiety is when you are extremely worried or confused, in which case you may feel helpless and unable to focus.  In fact, the feelings are magnified to a level where it is completely out of proportion with the actual event that may be happening.  When the anxious feeling is completely overwhelming, and you feel like you can’t function on a normal level, you may need to seek professional medical advice.  

Physical symptoms of severe anxiety may include, but are not limited to:

• Heart pounding, as if you are having a heart attack
• Sweating
• Body shakes
• Fever
• “Lump” in your throat
• Muscle tightness
• Dizziness
• Sleeping problems

Emotional symptoms may include:

• Worrying too much
• Irritability
• Restlessness
• Inability to concentrate
• Feeling of impending doom 

These symptoms of severe anxiety may also be considered a symptom of depression.  It is not uncommon for anxiety and depression to go hand in hand, and you may need to be treated for both conditions at the same time.

Types of anxiety include:

• Panic disorders, or panic attacks - a sudden feeling of extreme anxiety or an incredible amount of fear for no particular reason.  These attacks are very common and usually last a few minutes.
• Phobias – these are fears of a specific thing or place which are so severe that they disrupt the person’s daily life.  For example, fear of spiders or elevators.
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) – these are irresistible, often repetitive (compulsive) behaviors such as hand washing, counting items or avoiding certain things like touching doorknobs or walking on cracks in the sidewalk.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – is a disorder that can develop after a severely traumatic event where the person witnessed a death or was threatened, or the individual was seriously physically injured.
• Separation anxiety – very common with children, this disorder is when a child or teenager experiences extreme anxiety in relation to being left alone or abandoned by their parent or caregiver.  The symptom is usually brought on at bedtime or when the child is taken to school each day. 

Regardless of the type or whether the level of anxiety is severe to extreme, anxiety is a disorder that directly affects the quality of one’s life.  It is not a condition to be treated lightly, even though to close friends or family members of the diagnosed individual may not understand why these feelings cannot be controlled.  Help is available, and you should seek advice right away.