Mental Health Anxiety Disorders
All of us have experienced some form anxiety in our lives; those sweating palms before the start of an examination; the pounding heart on going to the stage, are features of Anxiety. Anxiety to an extent is useful in that it focuses our attention on the job at hand but too much of it and we just mess up everything. Find out what are the factors causing Anxiety and what you can do to handle it more effectively.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) supports scientific investigation into the causes, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of anxiety disorders and other mental illnesses. The NIMH mission is to reduce the burden of mental illness through research on mind, brain, and behavior. NIMH is a component of the National Institutes of Health, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
It is easy to mistake the presenting symptoms of certain anxiety disorders with pathological narcissism. Both types of patients are worried about social approbation and seek it actively. Both present a haughty or impervious facade to the world. Both are dysfunctional and weighed down by a history of personal failure on the job and in the family. But the narcissist is ego-syntonic: he is proud and happy of who he is. The anxious patient is distressed and is looking for help and a way out of his or her predicament. Hence the differential diagnosis.
Complications:
Individuals with this disorder have more pain and physical illness and decreased physical, social, and role functioning. Symptoms of autonomic hyperarousal (e.g., accelerated heart rate, shortness of breath, dizziness) are less prominent in this disorder than in other Anxiety Disorders, such as Panic Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Depressive symptoms are also common.
Diagnosis and Treatment
Various forms of psychotherapy , including cognitive-behavioral therapy and family therapy, as well as certain medications, particularly selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), are used to treat anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. Research on the safety and efficacy of these treatments is ongoing.
Therapeutic strategies can be effective in reducing symptoms in each of the anxiety disorders. The techniques used include cognitive restructuring, to help people turn their anxious thoughts, interpretations and predictions into thoughts which are more rational and less anxious. People with anxiety disorders may also benefit from controlled exposure to feared objects or situations.
