Anxiety - A Full Guide

Anxiety is like being blindfolded on a busy street. You can't see anything but all you can hear is laughter. Suddenly, your lungs try and hold grasp of the air, but you can't find any in the sea of laughter. This is what hundreds of millions of people have to face, every day. The most common mental disorder: Anxiety. Yet, only 36% of these victims receive treatment. And that is of the 275 million people that face anxiety. We need to spread awareness, if we don't help, the rest of the world will slip into the self-destruction those with anxiety face. Our world will slip away into a coma of worry. A coma of pain.

Types of Anxiety

There are many sub - forms of anxiety that we categorize to better understand the illness. First, there is Agoraphobia. This is the fear and avoidance of going into certain places and situations due to the feeling trapped, helpless or embarrassed. Next, there is Panic Disorder. Panic Disorder is the illness in which you are go through recurring, and unexpected panic attacks. In addition, there is also one called Separation Anxiety. Separation Anxiety is the overpowering fear of losing someone or being seperated with people, a person, or a pet. Specific Phobia is a more common form of anxiety many of us face. This is a phobia of something that possess no actual harm. Furthermore, there is another very common disorder in this digital age, Social Anxiety Disorder. Social Anxiety Disorder is an irrational fear of being judged or laughed at by other people in social and public places. Finally, there is Generalized Anxiety Disorder, which is the overall stress from everyday things supplied as anxiety, in terms of intensity. There are a few more that were later categorized as 'Trauma and OCD'. For example, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Acute Stress Disorder (ASD), and Post--Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Genders

Girls face many situations boys don’t. For instance, the maternal impacts in terms of hormone changes, and the menstruation cycle hormonal changes. When talking about the maternal impacts, we can see the rise of the hormones Cortisol, CRH (Corticotropin-releasing hormone), and Norepinephrine. Cortisol is the main stress hormone introduced to enforce the fight or flight response. Moreover, in the Corticotropin-releasing hormone is another hormone that releases the adrenocorticotropic hormone from our pituitary gland. This causes the stressful and depressing mood. And lastly in Norepinephrine acts as both a stress hormone and a neurotransmitter, it works by being released into the bloodstream when the brain perceives a stressful situation. In terms of Menstruation, PMS has been shown to overpower our fight or flight response to unnatural stress response situations and apply it to unreasonable situations in large quantities. For hormones, unbalanced estrogen, progesterone and testosterone levels have been linked to anxiety. Finally during menopause, estrogen begins to decrease rapidly, this is directly linked to more anxiety. In many cases, during menopause, women develop anxiety. Studies show that females tend to show a difference by age four, compared to males that develop it at 6 years old. Showing the unpreparedness our generation may face as children are much too young to handle this overflow of stress in their lives. In addition to this, there are higher rates of Separation Anxiety, General Anxiety Disorder, Agoraphobia, Specific Phobia, Panic Disorder, Acute Stress Disorder, and PTSD.

When introducing boys and their differences we notice how paternal impacts may change and contrast with maternal impacts.For example, this causes a drop in testosterone & estradiol, which is a form of estrogen. This, as I mentioned earlier, can lead to severe anxiety. Nevertheless, there are no linked changes in cortisol or progesterone, common stress hormones found during female labour. Furthermore, males are less likely to go get treated and instead bottle up these emotions which may cause having anxiety for an extended period of time.

Depression V.S. Anxiety

Depression and Anxiety are similar in several ways. Both depression and anxiety can be found in teenagers and are both mental illnesses. Both can also cause symptoms including worrying excessively and agitation (as seen in the diagram above). On a different note, they also can differ, for example, anxiety causes teenagers to constantly feel nervous, be afraid, or feel worried. However, depression is when a person feels worthless or hopeless and feels more sad than nervous.

Treatments

Now we can introduce solutions. In this case, breathing, distraction, and talking to someone as a solution.

In terms of breathing techniques, I can representing the box breathing method. This is when you breathe in, hold it, exhale, and hold it in again, this is all for a four-count each. Then repeat this as many times necessary, usually 4-5 times. The gentle and slow measurement of breath allows carbon dioxide to build up in the blood. This causes a cardio-inhibitory response, which tends to give us a relaxed feeling. For the 4-8-9 method, you breath in through your nose for 4 seconds, hold it for 7 seconds, and exhale from your mouth for 8 seconds. This uses the same response and reduces symptoms as part of depression and anxiety.

When trying to distract yourself, we can utilize the 3-3-3, method. This means you notice 3 things you hear, 3 things you see, and move 3 part of the body - like the ankle, your fingers, and your shoulders. This keeps your mind from overthinking and helps us distract ourselves from these thoughts.

Lastly, we have talking to an adult or guardian that can help you. This will help us get help to better our anxiety and make sure we are properly getting treated. This can include organizations like the ADAA, and helplines that you can call. Or, individual therapists in your region and area.

Those are my tips for you to share with your community and spread awareness regarding.

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