Anxiety Disorders

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Panic Disorder

About 1.7% of Americans suffer from panic disorder, which begins with a panic attack and continues as a fear of future ones. Believed to be linked to high-stress situations and low body tolerance to anxiety triggers, panic attacks can feel like heart attacks, which reinforce the fear that something is gravely wrong each time they occur.

These defining characteristics make panic disorder a very physical experience. A panic attack for the first time is a scary experience. It might be stress-induced or even occur from exercise, but a jump in heartbeat, perspiration and dizziness are usually present. Even though a medical check-up might show no physical damage, the mental damage can be long-lasting and destructive. Panic attacks can vary in occurrence but the fear can remain, causing a negative impact on one's quality of life. For example, panic attack fears can stop people from working and keep them at home. They might think that they are reducing their chances of an attack but they are also avoiding exercise, dietary needs and often work.

Keeping panic disorder under control requires treatment through anti-anxiety medications or targeted therapy. The previously-mentioned SSRIs offer long-term aid against panic attacks, but many people opt for short-term anti-anxiety medications that lessen panic symptoms when taken right prior to a high-anxiety situation. However, therapy has shown to be the best method to combat panic disorder, especially when interoceptive exposure is used. The goal of this procedure is to induce panic symptoms to show sufferers that nothing bad will happen. A 1997 European study claims that interoceptive treatment carries up to a 94% success rate for treating panic disorder, making it a viable and encouraging option for those afflicted with it.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

PTSD differs from the other disorders because it is directly related to a specific traumatic incident. Survivors of PTSD can be found as far back as shell-shocked soldiers, but these days, they are primarily violent crime survivors. After the initial incident has occurred, people dealing with PTSD will commonly suffer from re-living, avoidance and an increased arousal. Re-living is the process of having nightmares or daytime visions of the event, often accompanied by panic-like symptoms that match the body's own responses during the event itself. Avoidance comes from avoiding triggers that remind them of events, whether it's certain people, sounds or objects, and they often distance themselves from friends. A deeper stage of avoidance comes from amnesia when victims will force themselves to forget memories that are too painful. Finally, an increased state of arousal keeps PTSD victims on edge by interrupting their sleep, inducing anger easily and causing poor concentration.

The important elements for treating PTSD are based on three types of therapy. The first is exposure therapy that gradually allows survivors to re-live the event in small stages while separating and reducing the physical symptoms that accompany the memories. Cognitive therapy is the second, which reduces the harmful thoughts and avoidance that  is based on external triggers. Finally, stress inoculation training uses relaxation techniques to re-program the thought process to lower the stress level to help manage anxiety better. It's a long process, but considering what has already occurred, the healing process is important to ultimately resume a healthy lifestyle.

Read on for information on social anxiety disorder...


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