Anxiety is characterised by a feeling of nervousness, involving fear or anxiety. It is a normal reaction to stress and is a protective mechanism for the body.
When it becomes excessive and out of control, it is diagnosed as an illness.
Key features of illness
- It is the most common presentation of mental illness in people globally.
- Up to 30% individuals across their entire life span.
- 19% of the total population suffers from Anxiety Disorders (44.9 million)
- Women are more likely than men to experience anxiety disorders (26% Females and 22% Males)
- Hereditary plays an important role
- Can affect functional outcomes severely.
Anxiety disorders are usually benign and can be treated effectively.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder involves persistent and excessive worries that interferes with daily activities.
The main features of GAD are:
- Excessive and disproportionate worries regarding trivial issues.
- Unable to control the worrisome thoughts
- Significant effect on routine activities, leading to reduction in productivity
- Multiple physical symptoms such as restlessness, feeling edgy, being easily fatigued, exhausted all the time, difficulty in eating and sleeping.
Panic Disorder
The core symptom of panic disorder is recurrent panic attacks.
During an attack several of these symptoms occur in combination:
Palpitations, pounding heart or rapid heart rate
Feeling of shortness of breath or smothering sensations
Feeling of choking
Nausea or abdominal pains
Sweating
Chest pain
Numbness or tingling
Fear of losing control
Trembling or shaking
Feeling dizzy, light-headed or faint
Chills or hot flashes
Fear of dying
Because symptoms are so severe, many people who experience a panic attack may believe they are having a heart attack or other life-threatening illness and may go to a hospital ER.
Panic attacks follow certain specific features:
- Usually linked with stressful event: can occur independent of that also
- Starts slowly, peaks in intensity within a few minutes and lasts for 15-30 minutes
- Self-resolving, although sometimes patients may need the help of pharmacological agents to terminate them.
Phobias, Specific Phobia
A specific phobia is excessive and persistent fear of a specific object, situation or activity that is generally not harmful. Patients know their fear is excessive, but they can’t overcome it.
These fears cause such distress that some people go to extreme lengths to avoid what they fear. Examples are fear of flying or fear of spiders.
Separation Anxiety Disorder
A person with separation anxiety disorder is excessively fearful or anxious about separation from those with whom he or she is attached.
The feeling is beyond what is appropriate for the person’s age, persists (at least four weeks in children and six months in adults) and causes problems functioning.
Social Anxiety Disorder
Previously called social phobia
A person with social anxiety disorder has significant anxiety and discomfort about being embarrassed, humiliated, rejected or looked down on in social interactions.
People with this disorder will try to avoid the situation or endure it with great anxiety.
Common examples are extreme fear of public speaking, meeting new people or eating/drinking in public.
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is the fear of being in situations where escape may be difficult or help might not be available in the event of panic symptoms. The fear is out of proportion to the actual situation.
- Using public transportation
- Being in open spaces
- Being in enclosed places
- Standing in line or being in a crowd
- Being outside the home alone.
The individual actively avoids the situation, requires a companion or endures with intense fear or anxiety. Untreated agoraphobia can become so serious that a person may be unable to leave the house.
Diagnosis is the First Step to Recovery
Diagnosis is based on clinical signs and symptoms. Blood panel is usually done to detect conditions like Hypothyroidism which can cause depression.
Severity of depression is mapped using structured scales e.g. Hamilton Depression Rating scale.
How Is Anxiety Disorders Treated?
Anxiety Disorders is among the most treatable of mental disorders.
Between 80 percent and 90 percent of people with anxiety eventually respond well to treatment. Most, if not all, patients gain significant relief from their symptoms with treatment.
Medications
Imbalances in certain key neurotransmitters such as Serotonin, Nor-Epinephrine and Dopamine are responsible for causing anxiety. Antidepressant medications are the key to treatment. These medication increase the brain concentration of these neurotransmitters and help in restoring normal brain function. Benefits are seen after 15-21 days of starting medications.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy and Counselling play a vital role in treating patients with depression, especially those with exogenous depression.
Please refer to our dedicated “Psychotherapy services” page for more information.
Neurostimulation Services
Newer modalities of treatment for depression include neurostimulation techniques, which can bring about speedy recovery in patients of depression.
Neurostimulation methods are usually used in patients with severe depression or those who have not responded well to medications.
For more information, refer to the Neurostimulation Techniques section of our website.
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Ahmedabad, 380015
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