Anxiety disorders have become a public health problem, especially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to , anxiety and depression increased by 25% worldwide during the first months of the health crisis.
In Spain, only during the year 2020, 5,044,566 cases of anxiety were registered.
In fact, medical experts in the United States recommend measuring the level of anxiety in adults under the age of 65 on a routine basis and creating better access to mental health care.
As he explains to this portal the psychologist Macarena del Cojoof the :
“During the pandemic we have felt a lot of fear because there was a real danger of death. This caused our body to go into a state of alarm that generated an emotional response (anxiety) to that threat.”
And this, oddly enough, this reaction “helps us ‘get safe’ by taking the necessary precautions.”
But now there are a greater number of people who have activated this state of alarm. And they have also done so in the face of diffuse and non-proportionate stimuli.
That is why we can say that we find many people who “have presented anxiety symptoms anticipating a possible future threat.”
The are “reactions that the person does not control, that are recurring and that come to cause great discomfort, which interferes negatively in the different areas of their life.”
What are the symptoms of anxiety
As the specialist points out, anxiety can manifest itself in many ways, which is why there are different types of symptoms.
However, we can highlight that it causes “and some of them, such as tachycardia, palpitations or tightness in the chest, can make us believe that we are facing a physical illness or before the symptoms prior to a heart attack”.
The symptoms of anxiety, as corroborated by Dr. Del Cojo, are the same in childhood and adulthood.
- somatic or physical: Dizziness or feeling unsteady, excessive sweating, tachycardia, palpitations, choking sensation, tremors, muscle stiffness or weakness, insomnia, nausea, digestive discomfort, tingling and tension headache.
- Cognitive or psychological: Obsessive ideas, negative or catastrophic thoughts, memory problems, difficulties concentrating, excessive worry, feeling confused, perception of danger or threat, problems making decisions, fear of dying, going crazy or losing control, etc.
- behavioral: Motor hyperactivity, blocks, impulsiveness, desire to escape or run away from certain situations, permanent alertness.
- emotional: Anguish, fear, feeling of lack of control, irascibility, insecurity, feeling of strangeness and/or emptiness, restlessness.
- Social: Difficulties in following the course of a conversation, verbiage, blanking out, impulsiveness, fear of interpersonal conflicts and difficulties in expressing their opinions in front of others.
Anxiety can appear at any stage of life. And “anxious symptoms are the most frequent, because they appear when we are faced with a threatening stimulus.”
Anxiety: causes and diagnosis
The causes vary from one person to another and are related to any situation that poses a threat to the person, whether real or imagined. Because at that moment the body goes into a state of alarm and begins to show the symptoms previously explained.
And although these symptoms could indicate that we are suffering from an anxiety disorder, the psychologist explains that “both fear and anxiety activate a response that prepares us for action. That is why at certain times, these symptoms are necessary and useful “.
However, the problem comes when the fear is disproportionate, limiting, or occurs when faced with stimuli that do not represent any type of danger.
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“In these cases, we find ourselves with maladaptive anxiety, which makes the person suffer or limits the life of the person.”
But it is not the only type of anxiety. And we could highlight the following:
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Separation anxiety disorder.
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Selective mutism.
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Specific phobia.
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Social anxiety disorder (social phobia).
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Panic disorders.
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Agoraphobia.
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Generalized anxiety disorder.
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Anxiety disorder induced by substances and/or medications.
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Anxiety disorders due to another medical condition.
For this reason, to make the most specific diagnosis “we have to take into account the symptoms that the person presents, since they will indicate what type of situation we are facing”.
And there are also other indicators that, the psychologist emphasizes, must be taken into account:
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How long the symptoms have been manifesting.
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That the fear is disproportionate to the situation.
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That there is a high discomfort in which there is a deterioration in the social, labor, or other areas of functioning.
What is the treatment for anxiety
As is logical, the treatment for anxiety “will depend on the type of disorder that the person presents.”
The two types of treatment are:
- Psychotherapy: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most effective for treating anxiety disorders. CBT consists of specific techniques aimed at improving the symptoms in order to get the patient to gradually return to the activities that she has lost due to her anxiety symptoms. And one of the most used techniques is exposure therapy.
- Medication: Different types of medications, such as anxiolytics, are used to help relieve symptoms depending on the type of anxiety disorder you have.
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