Anxiety is a complicated thing. Anxiety can easily make an otherwise very happy and healthy person become quite the opposite. Depression and physical sickness can quickly set in as a result of anxiety. Let’s take a much more detailed look at anxiety and its physical and mental signs and symptoms.

Physical symptoms of anxiety:

Have you ever looked at a person and just knew immediately that they were suffering from some sort of anxiety? Perhaps he or she looked haggard, stressed, unhappy, or mentally exhausted. If you didn’t already know it — physically, anxiety can make you very ill. Anxiety over events in your life can cause ever illness from Irritable Bowel Syndrome to heat problems to the common cold. You can become physically ill from anxiety because it actually lowers your immune system’s ability to fight off infections or bacteria. Anxiety strains the heart, and can cause rapid or irregular heartbeat. Severe, recurring and untreated anxiety can ultimately lead to heart attack and stroke.

If you look at a person with severe anxiety, you may be able to see the wrinkles in his or her forehead, the seemingly permanent grimace on the face, and black circles under the eyes. Severe anxiety can also cause him or her to be over or under their normal weight. This is because anxiety often does one of the two things: causes binge eating (which is when a person frequently overeats to deal with stress) or under eating (which is when stress completely wipes out a person’s appetite and they are unable to gain any appetite).

There are other physical symptoms of anxiety that can be found in the manifestation of other mental illnesses. For example, in people with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), severe anxiety can cause a flareup of highly obsessive behaviors. A person who is worried about something may obsessively repeat routines in order to alleviate the stress that they are under. Repetition is often a stress reducer for some with OCD. A chronically depressed person, on the other hand, may have a different reaction to anxiety. They may find it impossible to get out of bed in the morning, and therefore miss a great deal of time at work or school. You may notice that these people are physically absent from their usual activities.

Mental symptoms of anxiety:

Mental symptoms of anxiety are stressful to those who struggle with it. Those who suffer from extreme anxiety may find it nearly impossible to focus on anything except the thing that they are anxious or stressed over. It may seem that no matter what they try to focus on, their thoughts always come back to the same negative things. This can cause a highly depressed state in a person suffering from anxiety. It can also cause a person to have a mental breakdown and be unable to preform the day-to-day tasks that they usually do.

Mentally, anxiety can cause a person to become totally changed. Someone who once used to go out and be social with friends may now be a homebody, unwilling to talk much to others. Severe anxiety can cause mood swings, One minute a person an be content, and the next minute they can be completely unreasonable. Anxiety can cause a person to be unusually quite, distracted, and disorganized. The anxiety can be so overwhelming, that the person suffering from it may not want to explain it to others. In fact, it may seem almost impossible for the person suffering from it to even put it into words. Overall, anxiety is an extremely difficult thing for a person to deal with mentally and physically. If you are suffering from any of the above symptoms or have reason to believe that you are chronically stressed, it is in your best interest to seek the help of a mental health professional right away.

Anxiety Disorder is a real illness, and is the most common mental health problem in the United States. According to the American Psychiatric Association, more than 25 million Americans suffer from these disorders. Children as well as adults are afflicted. There are several types of anxiety disorders such as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and Phobias.



Anxiety creates stress for all of us, at some time, to varying degrees, but it becomes a disorder when it can no longer be seen as rational, or it is adversely affecting someone’s life. Individuals suffer extreme worry, anxiety, panic, or an overwhelming fear of losing control as well as physical symptoms. Anxiety disorders hinder people from living their daily life, let alone enjoying it to the fullest.

If you, or anyone you know, suffer from the following symptoms of anxiety disorder , it is advisable to encourage and/or seek out medical attention. Here is a list of the more common symptoms of the above anxiety disorders:



PTSD

- Overwhelming feeling of panic or fear

- Flashback/reliving of traumatic event

- Nightmares

- Insomnia



Generalized Anxiety Disorder

- Uncontrollable worrisome thoughts about everyday things, without just cause, often exaggerated, lasting for six months.

Although, treatment may be warranted earlier

- Irritability

- Trouble falling or staying asleep



Panic Disorder

- Overwhelming feeling of panic

- Avoidance of people or places

- Fear of losing control



OCD

- Obsessive thoughts, such as germ contamination

- Repetitive actions, such as washing hands or checking if

windows are locked

- Repeating phrases, numbers etc…

Phobias

- Fear that triggers intense anxiety



Many physical symptoms add to the difficulty of anxiety disorders. The following anxiety disorder symptoms spread across much of the disorders. Many people feel nauseous, or their heart races so fast that they feel like they cannot breathe. They often have headaches, feel dizzy, sweat or have chills. Shaking or trembling as well as heavy tension and achy muscles are part of the regular regimen. As well, for someone with an anxiety disorder, chronic sleep problems plague him or her. It becomes a vicious cycle.

Sleep is an essential requirement for good health, both mental and physical. Not getting enough sleep can result in poor work or school performance, impaired judgment and decreased attentiveness, which could result in injury. In addition, some medications given to treat anxiety can cause insomnia, thus the cycle continues.

Often treatment is avoided due to the stigma attached to mental illness. People try to deal with matters themselves. They hear, “Where’s your willpower?” or “All you need is a kick in the butt.”

There are many effective anxiety disorder treatments available. The National Institute of Mental Health states some of the antidepressant medications that have been effective in treatment. Psychotherapy is also recommended in the form of Behavioral Therapy and Cognitive-behavioral Therapy. It is a good idea to discuss treatment options with your doctor.

On a last note, we, as fellow human beings, need to support all people. Lift the stigma of mental illness and help others and ourselves. We need to take the time to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes before we judge. We also need to understand that mental illness can happen to anyone, at anytime.

According to the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, anxiety is the most common mental illness in America, with nearly 20% of the adult population affected. Woman are twice as likely to experience life disrupting general anxiety disorder, GAD, and specific phobias than men are, however the numbers for those suffering with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder are equal for the sexes.

It is interesting to note that approximately 1/3 of all adult sufferers of anxiety disorders had experienced some symptoms when they were children. Women also hold the dubious honor of being far more likely to experience Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and twice as likely to suffer with Panic Disorders. In these studies it is noted that childhood sexual abuse is often a precursor for PTSD, and regardless of the age of the attack, rape will trigger PTSD in 65% of the men and almost 46% of the woman who experienced it.

We all face anxiety producing events in our daily lives, beginning when we were an infant and we realized our mother had left the room. From that day on the stress in our lives continues to be experienced, overcome, and the knowledge of our successes helps us move on to the next challenge.

The child goes to school for the first day and both the parents and the child are anxious. The first sleepover, away camp, learning to drive, and going away to college are all important milestones that can cause normal anxiety in the parties involved, even though there may well be an undercurrent of excitement, also.

For adults, the list for potentially stressful situations is virtually endless. Losing a job, serious debt, awaiting medical test results, the imminent death of a loved one are just a few. All of these and more are legitimate causes for anxiety. It is only when the anxiety becomes the defining factor in a person’s life, dictating their every move in some cases, that it is time to seek professional help. If the fears are no longer based in logic, if the affected person’s daily life is seriously diminished, and if no amount of reassurance will ease their fears, it is time to obtain an evaluation from a mental health professional.

There should be no stigma associated with seeking help with for mental health concerns. It is no different than hypertension or diabetes, in that, left untreated will severely impact the suffering person’s ability to interact with their family, friends and co workers, and possibly escalate to where the affected person is unable to even leave their home.

When basic daily functioning is impacted by the anxiety disorder, and the ability to enjoy life is disrupted, a family member may need to seek advice on how to best encourage their loved one to obtain necessary help. The need for this intervention is a vital one. An anxiety disorder left untreated can easily escalate to include other mental health concerns, including depression and suicidal thoughts.

As dismal as this may all sound, help is readily available, and cost or lack of insurance does not need to be a factor. Resources for help are as close as the phone book or the computer, and many state and county mental health clinics accept sliding payments based on ability to pay.