Anxiety Disorders

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is our bodies natural reaction to potential threat.  It readies us to protect ourselves through fight or flight.  If these options do not feel possible we may freeze. 

In small doses, anxiety is helpful as it allows us to notice a potential threat.  It is our body’s way of letting us know that something is wrong.    In some circumstances anxiety will help us to be able to manage.  For example:

Anxiety can become a problem when it is triggered too easily, often in situations where there is no threat.  It can also be a problem if a person is in a constant state of low-level anxiety, as our body will struggle to switch off and recuperate.

What are the different types of anxiety disorders?

Anxiety disorder is a larger term that includes different conditions, the most common being Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Panic Disorder, Phobias and Health Anxiety.

Health Anxiety

Health Anxiety is when an individual worries about their health so much it starts to impact on their daily life when there is no medical reason for it to.  It can include being overly aware of potential health symptoms, worrying about dying and not being able to stop thoughts that focus on illness.  A person may seek excessive reassurance from others, including family and doctors. 

How does anxiety become a problem?

There are many factors which can impact on feelings of anxiety and make them feel out of control.  These can include:

• Life history – growing up in an environment where there was a lot of expressed anxiety may mean an individual becomes more sensitive to this.  This could include having a parent with high levels of anxiety, or growing up in an unsafe, unpredictable house.
• Biology – some people have a more emotionally sensitive and introvert character.  This can mean that they are naturally more likely to find social situations difficult and pick up on how others respond to them. 
• Traumatic experiences – if a person experiences traumatic events – where they feared for their safety in some way – this can lead to a heightened sensitivity afterwards.  They may find themselves getting anxious in seemingly unrelated situations that trigger some aspect of the trauma.  They may also be more anxious generally.
• Ongoing levels of stress as an adult – for example, a stressful job or difficult relationship. Stressors may mean someone always has a heightened level of anxiety, but this becomes normal, meaning they are unaware of the impact it is having on them.  It may come out in other ways, such as bad dreams, trouble switching off or feeling tired a lot. 
• Background factors such as physical health problems, sleep or family issues, work stress or money worries. These may affect a person’s ability to manage anxiety when it occurs, making it feel much worse than if these factors were not there.

For individuals who suffer from an anxiety disorder, a mixture of these factors are likely to lead to the development of negative beliefs which trigger anxiety reactions more quickly.  For example, thinking ‘I can’t do anything right’; ‘I am weak’; ‘other people are dangerous’ or ‘the world is unsafe’.

What are avoidance and safety behaviours?

If an individual is suffering from an anxiety disorder, they may develop certain behaviours which have the intention of stopping their fears.  They are helpful in the short term, as they keep the person feeling a little safer, however in the long term they stop the person from facing their anxiety and can make it worse. 

What does anxiety do to the body?

Anxiety feels and looks different for everyone, but general anxiety reactions involve:

• Something threatening triggers the hippocampus and amygdala parts of the brain, accessing connections with past threats.  This sends messages to the body that it needs to prepare for fight of flight.
• The body responds by releasing adrenaline and getting energy to the key areas needed to either run away or fight.  These include the heart, lungs and muscles.
• Extra energy is created through shortened breath to increase oxygen, increase in adrenaline and glucose and taking energy away from areas that do not need it – the hands, feet, bladder and stomach.  This is why a person may get odd sensations in these areas. 
• The pre-frontal cortex, which is the planning/ logical part of the brain, is used less – however our thoughts that focus on the danger become quicker to help evaluate this. 
• Senses become more acute – including getting ‘tunnel vision’ and struggling to concentrate on other things.
• Often, a person is unable to fight or flight and are more likely to use the freeze response.  This then leaves excess energy in the body, which will come out in ways such as being fidgety, feeling dizzy, pacing a lot or snapping at others.

Have questions about anxiety?

Resources:

• Further information from the Anxiety UK website
• Details from MIND about self care and anxiety
• A self help guide from the NHS