What is Anxiety?

Contributor(s)
Karen Lawson, MD
Reviewer(s)
Sue Towey, RN, CNS, MS, LP
person walking in a living room

Anxiety may be a normal reaction to stress, and it can serve as a prompt to deal with difficult situations. However, when anxiety becomes excessive, it may fall under the classification of an anxiety disorder.

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America estimates that almost one out of five people suffer from an anxiety disorder, making it the most common mental disorder in the United States.

Person experiencing anxiety.

What is anxiety disorder?

Anxiety disorder is characterized by emotional, physical, and behavioral symptoms that create an unpleasant feeling that is typically described as uneasiness, fear, or worry.  These symptoms may be severe enough to constitute an anxiety attack (also known as panic attack).  Anxiety attacks may  occur unexpectedly and create great fear that they will reoccur. Thus, people suffering from anxiety disorders often withdraw and seek to avoid people or certain places.

While generalized anxiety disorder is the most common, there are other anxiety disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, phobias, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Symptoms of anxiety

 

anxious woman crying in front of a blue background

Physical

Emotional

✔ Fatigue

✔ Fear

✔ Headaches

✔ Racing thoughts

✔ Muscle tension

✔ Irritability

✔ Muscle aches

✔ A feeling of impending doom

✔ Difficulty swallowing

✔ Trembling or twitching

✔ Sweating

✔ Hot flashes

What causes anxiety disorders?

Many conditions or events in peoples' lives can contribute to anxiety disorders and it is often a combination of factors. In some cases there are genetic tendencies towards anxiety or an underlying brain disease. In other cases, environmental stress is a factor. People who have experienced trauma may sometimes suffer from anxiety as a result.

Help for coping with anxiety

man sitting on a bench in a peaceful forest

Practice mindful relaxation

With a little practice, you can learn how to shift into a relaxation mode.

Mindful relaxation is an effective way to combat stress and work with fear and anxiety. When done successfully, the relaxation response increases alpha brain wave activity and lowers blood pressure, pulse, respiration rate, metabolic rate, oxygen consumption, anxiety, and produces a greater sense of wellbeing.

Over time, you will develop an ability to shift into a more relaxed state in the midst of stressful situations.

Try these steps to help you achieve mindful relaxation:

  1. Commit to an uninterrupted length of time each day to do your practice. You might begin with five minutes and increase from there. Twenty minutes of relaxation once or twice a day is optimal.

  2. Choose a quiet place. Turn off the television, radio, computer, and telephone.

  3. Find a comfortable body position. You can sit or recline in a chair, or settle comfortably on the floor. Make sure you feel supported.

  4. Focus on the repetition of a word, sound, prayer, or your breath flowing in and out.

  5. Create a positive state of mind. While you may not always be able to block out worries or negative thoughts, you don't need to attach to them. Let them float by like clouds in the sky.
stressed woman sitting on the steps of a building with her chin in her hand

Identify stressful thoughts

Learn how to identify stressful mental habits so you can let go of them.

The first step in letting go of mental habits or patterns of thinking that may be causing you stress is identifying them.

Try this:

  1. Pay attention to patterns or habits of thinking that feel problematic or time-consuming in your day (such as generalizing, comparing, placing conditions, projecting, self-diminishing, or defending).

  2. Write these down in a notebook (or your journal if you have one).

  3. Make a note when you think that way. Record the time, circumstances, and place, as well as what triggered the thought.

For the next 3 days, observe and record your habits of thinking as described above.  Then, reflecting on your observations, complete this sentence: 

“If I choose to let go of my _______(e.g. judgments, expectations, desires…), I would be clearer and more present to my current experience.”  Be as specific as possible.

DISCLAIMER: The information in this website page is not to be used in place of medical treatment by a health or mental health provider.

An estimated 1 in 10 U.S. adults report depression. (2012). Centers for Disease Control. Retrieved April 3, 2014 from http://www.cdc.gov/features/dsdepression/.

Any anxiety disorder among adults. National Institute of Mental Health. Retrieved April 3, 2014 from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/statistics/1anyanx_adult.shtml.

Depression. (2011). National Institute of Mental Health. Retrieved April 3, 2014 from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression/index.shtml#pub1. 

Depression fact sheet. (2012). World Health Organization. Retrieved April 3, 2014 from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs369/en/.

Facts & statistics. (2014). Anxiety and Depression Association of America. Retrieved April 2, 2014 from http://www.adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics.

Major depressive disorder among adults. National Institute of Mental Health. Retrieved April 3, 2014 from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/statistics/1mdd_adult.shtml.

Websites

Institute of Functional Medicine http://www.functionalmedicine.org/ 

National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine - Naturopathyhttp://nccam.nih.gov/health/naturopathy/ 

Holistic On-line - Depression http://www.holisticonline.com/remedies/Depression/dep_home.htm 

Depression handouts for patients from the University of Wisconsin http://www.fammed.wisc.edu/integrative/modules/depression

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