Anxiety disorders

The anxiety is a biological mechanism whose function is to protect us against dangerous situations. A little anxiety is quite natural. At normal doses, it protects us. In excessive doses, it imprisoned us.

The two criteria used to distinguish the normal anxiety of anxiety disorder are personal suffering and the difficulty to operate. If your anxiety is so strong that it worries you constantly, or that it affects your ability to function normally at work, in society or in other areas, your anxiety is then regarded as a disorder.

Most of the anxiety disorders can be defined as the fear of losing control. There are effective interventions proven in the treatment of many anxiety disorders.

Anxiety disorders are a group of psychological problems most frequently encountered in females than in males and whose symptoms include excessive anxiety, a feeling of fear, anxiety, avoidance behavior and compulsiveness. Anxiety disorders include several other disorders:

• The crises of panic
• The neurosis obsessive compulsive
• Social phobia
• Generalized anxiety disorder
• The specific phobia (simple phobia )
• The post-traumatic stress syndrome (fear as a result of a traumatic event). 

 Statistics

Approximately 12 per cent of Canadians are suffering from anxiety disorders.
Women were 2 times more likely to be affected than men.
We find that the hospitalization rates are higher for the anxiety disorders among the population of 65 years and more.
Anxiety disorders are the mental health disorder the more frequent among children.

The symptoms

The usual and physiological manifestations of anxiety disorders include:

Heart Palpitations
High blood pressure
Tremors
Chest pain
Sensation to be stifled
Profuse sweating
Nausea
Dizziness
Numbness or tingling
Hot flushes or chills

 The causes

Anxiety disorders are not caused by a single factor, but rather by a number of risk factors that can contribute to their development.

• Your instinct: many fears have ensured our survival and have become instincts which are now part of our genetic baggage. Today, we can detect the roots of this instinct of survival in many forms of anxiety disorders, such as agoraphobia, social phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. You will notice that many people fear snakes, even if they have never been bitten, and that very few people have a fear of stoves, while they are burned several times.

• Temperament: We are all different and some of us are just more anxious than others. The stroke of common personality to people prone to anxiety disorders is the way they think in absolute terms. Whatever we do, we can never be totally safe. There is usually a residual hazard. This fact is incompatible with the people who believe in absolute terms, and creates anxiety disorders. Also, the individuals who have a low opinion of themselves and a low adaptive capacity are more likely to develop an anxiety disorder.

• Environment: Our attitude is greatly influenced by our family, our school, our friends and our society. We would be very different if we had been educated in other countries, by different parents.Any difficult situation - such as poverty, the fact of being separated from the family at an early stage, a family conflict, parents too critical and the absence of a network of adequate support - can lead to the chronic anxiety.

• Brain Chemistry: a chemical imbalance of the molecules of communication or of stress hormones (cortisol) in the brain may contribute to the development of an anxiety disorder.

• Genetics: genetic factors may play a role in the development of anxiety disorders. One of these risk factors could be a biological vulnerability to stress.

• Trauma: anxiety disorders may develop as a result of a traumatic event or abuse suffered during childhood.