Anxiety
What causes anxiety?
Anxiety is a part of normal life. Most people feel anxious when facing a threat or a new challenge. An examination, job interview, important sporting contest, or meeting prospective parents-in-law can all produce normal anxiety.
How does anxiety affect us?
Anxiety affects us in 2 ways. There is an effect on our mental health, making us feel worried, interfering with our concentration and perhaps making sleep difficult. And there is an effect on our bodies, producing a wide range of physical symptoms. These can include a rapid pulse, dizzy turns, shaking, digestive upsets, sweatiness and a tendency to breathe too quickly — hyperventilation.
Anxiety disorders
Anxiety is abnormal when the amount of anxiety experienced is inappropriate for the situation. This abnormal anxiety may show itself as one of a group of illnesses, known as the anxiety disorders. Approximately one in 10 Australians will at some time experience one of these illnesses.
Conditions classified as anxiety disorders
- Panic disorder: This produces recurrent sudden episodes of intense anxiety and fear, often with no obvious cause. Panic disorder may be compounded by agoraphobia, in which the affected person will avoid public places and crowds, for fear of having a panic attack.
- Phobias: These are illogical fears. Included in this group is social phobia — where the affected person avoids any sort of public scrutiny such as public speaking or eating in restaurants — and simple phobias such as excessive fear of snakes, spiders, heights, etc.
- Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD): This is a condition where the person has recurring ideas, thoughts and impulses. Repeated hand washing, checking that taps are turned off, doors are locked, and so on, are typical of OCD.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder: This is particularly common in war veterans, but can affect anyone who has been exposed to distressing events which are outside the normal range of human experience. Often the traumatic event is relived and recurs in dreams.
- Generalised anxiety disorder: In this condition there is an overwhelming and almost continuous feeling of anxiety. Generalised anxiety disorder will frequently cause a number of puzzling physical symptoms and many tests may be done looking for diseases of the heart, digestive system or nervous system.
How is anxiety treated?
There are several effective ways of treating anxiety disorders. Treatment with medicines for short-term problems can help.
Treatments known as behavioural and cognitive therapy are now used increasingly. These treatments help the affected person accept there is no serious physical illness present, and learn how to deal with their anxiety.
This may involve a gradual exposure to the cause of the anxiety with slowly increasing ‘doses’.
This can be particularly helpful for those with agoraphobia who, for example, won’t use public transport at busy times.
They will also learn to look at their behaviour in a logical way and find a new, more positive way of looking at things that produce anxiety. For example someone may learn to replace their fear of flying with thoughts about how much they are looking forward to their overseas holiday.
Last Reviewed: 23 November 2007
