Generalized Anxiety Disorder
People feel anxious in their daily lives especially when undergoing stressful period. However, whenever the anxiety becomes too difficult to control, it is an indicator of a generalized anxiety disorder and immediate medical attention is required (Rickets " Rynn, 2001). Anybody can develop the condition regardless of age, sex, or race with the symptoms resembling those of other anxiety disorders as outlined in the DSM-V like panic disorder despite some variations. The condition can also welcome other anxiety or mood disorders hence, the need for psychotherapy. It is essential for every person to be aware of the symptoms, causes, and prevention measures in order to live a healthy life.
Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder has a number of symptoms that can be used to gauge unusual levels of anxiety. Patients may develop persistent worries on certain events or scenarios that should not be inviting such a high degree of anxiety. Fear is supposed to be reasonable and proportional to what one is going through, however, whenever it is disproportionate, psychotherapy is advised (Cuijpers et al., 2014). It is also possible for the victims to be unable to handle uncertain life outcomes because of the high degree of fear and indecisiveness which results in the formulation of the wrong ideas. To cope with the challenge, patients may find themselves making too much concerned about the steps to avoid negative outcomes in their lives to reduce the fear of the unknown. Without the help of medical professionals, it is almost impossible to get scientific solutions to health and mental problems. One people realize that clinicians are always ready to help, it will be possible to significantly reduce the rate of infections.
Other symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder include restlessness and always feeling like one is at a disadvantaged position hence triggering the excessive fear that does not go away easily (Stein " Sareen, 2015). Restlessness causes a lack of concentration on important issues or events making one prone to negative results such as accidents especially when the victim is a driver. There are several physical signs that can be used to detect the anxiety disorder for early treatment. They include fatigue, sweating, trembling, and finding it difficult to fall asleep (Cuijpers et al., 2014). Victims may also become easily agitated, sweat unusually, feels nauseated and with muscle tension. These signs are triggered by excessive worries that completely consume an individual for no apparent reason. Research shows that victims can extend the worry from their life concerns to their people and become increasingly worried about their safety. It is also common to have the feeling that something bad is going to happen hence resulting to coping mechanisms such as calling relatives quite often inquiring about their safety.
Impact of Generalized Anxiety Disorder
The excessive fear has a negative impact on the performance at work and in the social life. These worries keep on changing depending on one’s age or the circumstances that life presents. In children, for example, there are a number of crucial things that bring about the mental condition. Learners become overly concerned about their performance in curricular and extra-curricular activities such as sports because they mostly fear the negative evaluation from peers and caregivers. Besides, increasingly being concerned about being punctual becomes a common problem as one seeks perfection and always adhering to the set guidelines on the best form of conduct. Children are the most affected in as far as extending the fear to other peoples’ lives. They become concerned about their parents’ safety, constantly thinking that something bad is going to happen to them. Studies have reported that children might fail to concentrate in class because they might think that the parents have been involved in accidents, the results being poor performances in class. In extreme circumstances, children end up repeating assigned tasks to minimize chances of error hence impacting negatively on their confidence. Seeking approval for accomplishments makes their social life challenging because bad evaluations affect their self-esteem.
It is essential for patients to know the right time to visit the doctor to avoid the anxiety from affecting all performance in the daily lives. Whenever the excess worries are interfering with the performance of daily activities in the work environment or other relationships, one should seek medical attention. Besides, these feelings might be trigger hopeless situations in life making victims get addicted to drugs and alcohol causing more problems. If the use of substances fails to provide long-term solutions to the problem, one might end up contemplating suicide, the worst eventuality in this case. Victims should realize that the condition can be controlled and avoid feeling helpless and hopeless in life. It is therefore good to be aware that worries should easily go away naturally without the help of substances. In case they fail, it means that the situation is worsening, therefore advisable to seek help from medical professionals for earlier treatment.
Causes and Prevention of Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Various researches have been conducted on generalized anxiety disorder to establish the causes in order to inform doctors on how to deal with the condition. Biological and environmental factors have been playing a significant role either singularly or jointly. There are differences in which threats are perceived and interpreted in the brain depending on the chemistry and functioning (Smoller, 2016). Genetics and the manner in which the development of personality happened to play an important role. Studies on the development of personality with important lessons can be found in the classical works of Erik Erickson, Sigmund Freud and other influential psychologists. People with timid temperament avoid dangerous outcomes in their lives and may, therefore, become prone to the generalized anxiety disorder. Researchers who have studied the role of genetics in spreading the disorder have reported there are families with a history of developing the condition (Stein " Sareen, 2015). Undergoing traumatic experiences in life causes changes in the body functioning hence the need seek to seek earlier medical attention. The problem mostly affects those who have been in combat witnessing traumatizing events such as people being decapitated or reduced into pieces during explosions.
Just like children, adults should be aware of the negative impacts of the generalized anxiety disorder and avoid making any form of assumption. Having problems in concentration results in the inability to effectively execute tasks because anxiety saps a lot of energy from the body. Adults are further at a high risk getting depression in case the condition is not addressed in the early stages. Extreme physical impacts of the disorder include insomnia, heart disease, migraine and chronic illnesses. In adults, the disorder trigger mental problems and other anxieties such as phobia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Panic disorder and Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Substance use and suicidal thoughts are also common and even worse compared to children.
Prevention of Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Knowing the various ways to prevent generalized anxiety disorder should be sensitized in health campaigns to ensure that the general public is fully equipped with the necessary knowledge. Although genetics might make it hard to prevent someone from developing the medical condition, knowing how to deal with the problem can reduce the impacts. Whenever early signs are detected, it is important to seek immediate medical help. It is also advisable to follow up on the family history to find out whether the anxiety disorder affects family members, hence easier to determine whether one is susceptible. Keeping track of events in life to determine what is triggering more stress another effective preventive measure that does not need professional skills. After identifying the most stressing agents, one should come up with a coping mechanism to avoid too much energy being channeled towards the exaggerated fears.
Substance use should not be a solution to prevent the negative impacts of generalized anxiety disorder. Alcohol and drugs cannot offer long-term solutions to the problem. Besides, caffeine and nicotine have been found to worsen the condition because of the withdrawal symptoms which causes one to be anxious. A treatment program under a qualified and professional medical practitioners offers support and a long-term treatment not only to the anxiety disorder but many others within the same category. Psychologists have been very important in providing solutions to the challenges that people are undergoing in the ever-evolving world with complex and sophisticated forms of human interactions. The future is, therefore, promising due to the various discoveries made on various disorders which need immediate medical attention.
References
Rickels, K., " Rynn, M. A. (2001). What is generalized anxiety disorder?. The Journal of clinical psychiatry.
Cuijpers, P., Sijbrandij, M., Koole, S. L., Andersson, G., Beekman, A. T., " Reynolds, C. F. (2014). Adding psychotherapy to antidepressant medication in depression and anxiety disorders: a meta‐analysis. World Psychiatry, 13(1), 56-67.
Smoller, J. W. (2016). The genetics of stress-related disorders: PTSD, depression, and anxiety disorders. Neuropsychopharmacology, 41(1), 297.
Stein, M. B., " Sareen, J. (2015). Generalized anxiety disorder. New England Journal of Medicine, 373(21), 2059-2068.
