Anxiety - Causes, Treatments and Relief from Anxiety

Anxiety is a pretty uncomfortable and hard to bare emotion. It is usually a warning sign, telling us to be careful and pay more attention to our surroundings or it happens when we don’t know what to expect out of a situation.

Anxiety is also a natural and normal emotion, as uncomfortable as it is. When we make a change in our life we might experience anxiety, when we’re out on a romantic date or before an exam.

You might even experience some anxiety about not being able to see your family as often as possible, or about asking your boss for a raise.

Anxiety becomes a problem the moment it starts to be too troubling. If you feel anxious all day long, sometimes for no apparent reason and it causes you suffering, you are probably dealing with an anxiety disorder.

Here are all the anxiety disorders present in the DSM V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders):

• Social anxiety disorder

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder

• Post-traumatic stress disorder

• Phobias

• Generalized anxiety disorder

• Panic disorder

Although there are so many different types of anxiety disorders, their symptoms are usually the same just grouped differently and most importantly reacted to differently.
There are tens towards a hundred symptoms for anxiety. They range from feeling jittery, tingling in the body, dizziness, feeling unreal, feeling disconnected, blurred vision, heart palpitations, shortness of breath and thinking you are losing control or “going crazy”.

All these feelings, especially when experienced in such an overwhelming number and for an extended period of time, they become very burdening.

Such feelings are difficult to cope with, and each anxiety disorder has its own compulsions (behaviors) used to calm them down.
In the case of Panic disorder, all the build-up is resolved through panic attacks.

In the case of obsessive-compulsive disorder there are mental or behavioral compulsions such as: checking the stove repeatedly, washing your hands repeatedly or counting in your head.

Treatment of anxiety disorders;
All anxiety disorders involve a mixture of the same treatment methods.
First things first, you need to get yourself to a doctor for a series of blood tests, just to make sure there isn’t something wrong medically speaking.

Once you’re clear of this, it’s important to see a psychiatrist for an official diagnosis.

You need to know exactly what condition you are suffering from.

Once this is done as well, you need to start seeing a psychotherapist regularly

. In case the psychiatrist prescribes you medication, you need to know that without solving the underlying cause you will not fully recover from an anxiety disorder.
Psychotherapy in combination with medication and alternative therapies, is what might cure your anxiety disorder. The psychotherapist might use one method or several from these most used ones: cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy and others.
There are also alternative therapies that help, like yoga and meditation, art, dance, playing an instrument, cooking, jogging etc. These are all activities and types of therapies that help you reconnect with yourself and better understand yourself.
Those with an anxiety disorder usually also deal with low self-esteem, depression and a lack of self-knowledge and self-awareness. Past traumas, past unresolved emotional conflicts, a negative self-image and a lack of trust in oneself or others all lead to anxiety disorders. With psychotherapy and alternative therapies you can turn your life around.