How are anxiety, panic, and phobias linked?
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is a natural, and healthy state that all humans experince from time to time. It has eveolutionary benefits in that it hightens our state of alertness, allowing us to anticipate upcoming dangers and also motivating us to deal with our environment.
What is Panic?
Whenever anxiety becomes more severe or frequent than a person can tolerate, or occurs unexpectedly, people can experience panic. Whereas anxiety is a healthy state, panic is less so, often causing people to leave worrying situations unnecessarily.
What are phobias?
Phobias are established fears of things or situations that are not necessarily frightening or threatening to most people. People who have developed phobias will often try very hard to avoid certain situations, sometimes seriously affecting their ability to carry out daily activities.
Anxiety Symptoms
Physical
- Heavy breathing
- Trembling or shaking
- Sweating, sweaty palms
- Muscle tension
- Increased heartbeat
- Dizziness or feeling faint
- Problems sleeping
- Stomach/abdominal pain
Psychological
- Fear
- Constantly feeling worried
- Irritability
- Difficulty concentrating
- Apprehension
- Restlessness
- Watching for signs of danger
Panic Symptoms
In addition to these sensations, people experiencing panic will often report an overwhelming sense of loss of control, pounding heartbeat, and often a feeling/thought that they are about to die.
Phobic Symptoms
Phobic symptoms will be those of anxiety, but will only occur in the presence of specific stiluli - for example, being able to see a spider. At other times, the symptoms will generally not be present. A key symptom of phobias is avoidance of the feared situation, often taking extreme lengths to do so. Phobics will often report complete lack of control of these feelings, despite acknowledging that they realise there is little or no actual danger posed.
Treatments & Interventions
There are three common avenues that people choose to treat their anxieties, panic, and phobias.
Some people do not want to talk to family, friends, or professionals about their symptoms and opt for
self-help through books, audio and DVD resources. This can be successful, and generally takes the form of
cognitive therapy, relaxation techniques, and calming strategies.
Professional assistance in the form of psychotherapy is very effective against anxiety disorders. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is an effective psychotherapy used as part of successful treatment plans for illnesses including anxiety. CBT usually consists of a fixed number of therapy sessions either individually or in groups, focussed on specific goals leading to improvements in thought patterns, feelings, and behaviour. Click here for more information about Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.- In severe cases, medication can be prescribed. Typically, these would be beta blockers, antidepressants, or tranquilisers, but they can have numerous side-effects, and also become addictive so time-limited use is often recommended.
** If you are worried that you may be experiencing severe anxiety, panic, or phobias you should always seek support from your GP **