What is anxiety? – It is a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear. It can be mild or severe. Everyone in the world feels anxious at some point in some circumstances. It is completely a normal happening. Such as in public examinations, job interviews, public speaking, etc., many become anxious. But many people face severe difficulty to control their anxiety. As a result, they face discomfort and fear.
There is a disorder regarding anxiety, which is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). When one worries or fears a lot regarding anything although the matter is not that serious, that person is most likely to have this Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
Symptoms of Anxiety are:
- Panic attacks
- Phobias like agoraphobia (fear of facing a situation where escaping is tough), claustrophobia (fear of being in a confined space)
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (anxiety and stress after a traumatic incident)
- Social Anxiety Disorder (fear of facing society people or socializing)
- Restlessness or Worry
- Trouble concentrating, sleeping
- Dizziness or fast heartbeats
What causes Anxiety?
It is not yet clear what causes anxiety, but according to research, some happenings are more likely to cause this. Those may include:
- Family inheritance
- Violence, stressful and traumatic experiences like child abuse or bullying, domestic violence, losing family members, parent quarrels, etc.
- Painful long-term health condition
- Drug addictions
- Overthinking
- Depression
And still, there are many who face anxiety for no particular reason.
Ways to overcome Anxiety:
Anxiety does not have any permanent solution according to doctors. But there are several and various ways to overcome and cope with it. Those are:
- Taking medications, although there are better ways
- Taking therapies
- Getting enough sleep
- Regular exercising
- Doing yoga
- Meditation, progressive music relaxation
- Being close to Nature
- Having a balanced and nutritional diet
- Maintaining a healthy and balanced daily routine
- Quit smoking
- Accepting every consequence
- Focusing on the bright sides
- Logical thinking and reasoning
- Being positive
If these are followed properly, anyone can overcome their anxiety.
What is panic? – Panic is the feeling of sudden and intense anxiety. It is an anxiety disorder where one regularly has sudden attacks of panic or fear. It is the most severe form of anxiety. In this stage, people start to avoid things that can cause them to be anxious. It is like living in fear of fear. People start to tremble and their hearts start to beat very fast when they panic.
Everyone experiences anxiety and panic attacks in some circumstances. It is a natural happening in dangerous and stressful situations. But this becomes a matter of tension when it becomes a disorder. People with the panic disorder face anxiety, stress, and panic attacks frequently at any time all of a sudden, and without any particular reason.
Symptoms of Panic Attacks: During a panic attack, one feels a rush in mental and physical symptoms. It occurs suddenly without any reason and can be frightening and stressful.
Symptoms include:
- Racing heartbeats
- Feeling to pass out
- Sweating
- Nausea
- Chest pain
- Trouble in breathing
- Trembling
- Hot flushes
- Shaking limbs
- Choky sensation
- Dizziness
- Dry mouth
- Fear of dying
- Headaches
- Numbness
- Tingling fingers
- A churning stomach
Most panic attacks last from 5 to 20 minutes. Some also last more than 1 hour according to reports. How frequent will be the panic attack depends on the person’s health condition. Some people face panic attacks once or twice a week while some face them several times a week.
What causes Panic Attacks?
Alike many other mental health conditions, the exact reason for panic attacks is not yet clear. So, it is hard to tell the exact reasons for panic attacks, but the possible reasons can be stated. Those are:
- Traumatic and stressful life experience
- Violence
- Having a close family member with panic disorder
- Imbalance of neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) in the brain
- Overthinking
Ways to overcome:
Panic attacks do not have any permanent solution according to doctors. But there are several and various ways to overcome and cope with it. Those are:
- Medications
- Therapies
- Regular exercising
- Breathing slowly, deeply, and gently through the nose
- Slowly inhaling and exhaling deep breaths
- Doing yoga
- Having a good and nutritious food habit
- Avoiding smoking, drugs, caffeine, alcohol, etc.
- Getting enough sleep
- Meditation, music relaxation
- Getting close to Nature
- Stop overthinking
- Accepting consequences
- Being positive
Ways to overcome Anxiety and Panic are more or less the same. If these mentioned above are followed properly, one can be able to overcome panic attacks.
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Writer
Abdullah Al Noman Khan
Content Writing Intern
YSSE