First, we need to differentiate between the anxious feeling we all get now and then due to workload, school work, or before making a decision. But anxiety is not as bad as you might think. Anxiety is a part of our natural response to the surroundings. It can also be beneficial in a few situations. As it activates fight or flight mode in humans which alerts us to face danger and helps to prepare us for the problem ahead.
An Occasional feeling of anxiety is normal. Anxiety disorders on the other hand are different. For someone with an anxiety disorder, the anxious feeling doesn’t just go away and can worsen with time. People generally do not consider such disorders as a matter of much attention and simply blame the one who is suffering for having anxiety.
The symptoms of anxiety can make one avoid work, school and other important errands. At times, these disorders involve repeated episodes of sudden feeling of anxiety or fear that can reach height within minutes (panic attack).
Some example of such anxiety disorders include:
- Panic disorder— It triggers unexpected and recurring panic attacks even when there is no real danger. One might feel like they are losing control over themselves. One would also experience physical symptoms like rapid heartbeat.
- Social Anxiety disorder— One would irrationally feel self-conscious, embarrassed, or fearful during day-to-day social interactions. People with this disorder have trouble interacting with others. They fear of getting judged by others or scrutinized by their peers. This is most commonly seen in teens and even kids nowadays.
- Obsessive–compulsive disorder— Overthinking or having unreasonable thoughts and fears or obsession that leads to compulsive behaviour.These obsessions can interfere with daily activities and may cause significant distress in one. Treatment can help, but there is no cure.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder— Having experienced something terrifying in the past can lead to PTSD. It causes one to have flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety. It may also lead to having uncontrollable thoughts about the event.
These are some major anxiety disorders that many people suffer through. One would ask that why is such a disorder a great deal of concern as it doesn’t affect the person’s physical self. Well, let’s take an example to answer that:
Someone is suffering from Social Anxiety disorder. He/she is not comfortable with the shape of his/her body. That person will try to find a way to meet his/her desired body shape in order to do that the person will either start a healthy diet or may skip on eating completely to achieve results faster…which ultimately affects the person’s physical self.
Another example is when someone has completely given up hope and thinks that they aren’t meant to be even alive. This would lead the person to have suicidal thoughts.
And both of these situations are very common yet people around us tend to ignore them thinking the person is a narcissist about themselves.
Especially, during these times when people are forced to be locked inside their homes with themselves and their thoughts without any social support can lead to many of these disorders.
If you find someone close to you with the symptoms of these disorders gently advise them to attend a therapy session and encourage them to do so, try to be supportive instead of trying to tell them to just get over it. If one just brushes off the other one to not brag about his/her mental issues it can make the other person keep to themselves which can ultimately affect the person’s overall self both mentally and physically.
In conclusion, our society must be made aware of these mental health conditions and remember you are a part of the society, so you must too change and be observant of such symptoms in people around you. Help them overcome these tough times. It can be life-changing for someone to just have a friend around to share what they are going through.
… Always remember to be positive cause someone out there is worrying about you even if they don’t show it.
