Everybody can relate to what having and anxiety feels like. Our heart pounds before a big interview or a licensure exam. We get butterflies in our stomach during a presentation in front of a very big audience. We worry and fret over health or family problems or feel jittery at the prospect of asking the boss for a raise. The big if is, IF worries and fears are hindering you from living your life the way you’d like to, you may be suffering from an anxiety disorder. The good news is, anxiety treatments abound as well as self-help strategies that can help you reduce your anxiety symptoms and take back control of your life.
Learning more about anxiety disorders
It is not abnormal to worry and feel tense or afraid when under pressure or facing a stressful predicament. It is a normal occurrence because anxiety is the body’s natural response to impending danger, an automatic alarm that gets activated when we feel threatened.
Although it may be unpleasant, anxiety isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, anxiety can help us stay alert and focused, spur us to action, and motivate us to solve problems. But when anxiety is constant or overwhelming, when it interferes with your relationships and activities—that’s when you’ve crossed the line from normal anxiety into the territory of anxiety disorders.
Who has anxiety disorder?
If you see yourself having several of the following signs and symptoms, and they just won’t fade away, you may be experiencing anxiety disorder. As yourself these questions.
Are you constantly tense, worried, or on edge?
Do you feel like danger and catastrophe are around every corner?
Do you avoid everyday situations or activities because they make you anxious?
Does your anxiety interfere with your work, school, or family responsibilities?
Do you believe that something bad will happen if certain things aren’t done a certain way?
Are you plagued by fears that you know are irrational, but can’t shake?
Do you experience sudden, unexpected attacks of heart-pounding panic?
Here are the signs and symptoms of anxiety disorders
Knowing the fact that an anxiety disorders are a group of related conditions rather than a single entity, they can look very different from person to person. One individual may suffer from intense anxiety attacks that strike without warning, while another gets panicky at the thought of mingling at a party. Still another may live in a constant state of tension, worrying about anything and everything.
Nonetheless, all anxiety disorders share one major manifestation: severe or persistent fear or worry in situations where most people wouldn’t feel afraid.