YMIF - Your Mind Is First!

What is anxiety?

The American Psychological Association (APA) defines anxiety as “an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure.” Knowing the difference between normal feelings of anxiety and an anxiety disorder requiring medical attention can help a person identify and treat the condition.

In this article, we look at the differences between anxiety and anxiety disorder, the different types of anxiety, and the available treatment options.

Life events that can cause anxiety:

Stress at work
Stress from school
Stress in a personal relationship such as marriage
Financial stress
Stress from global occurrences or political issues
Stress from unpredictable or uncertain world events, like a pandemic
Stress from an emotional trauma such as the death of a loved one
Stress from a serious medical illness

Other outside factors that can cause anxiety:

Medication side effects
Use of an illicit drug, such as cocaine
Symptoms of a medical illness (such as heart attack, heat stroke, hypoglycemia)
Lack of oxygen in circumstances as diverse as high altitude sickness, emphysema, or pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in the vessels of the lung)

Causes:

Anxiety may be caused by a mental condition, a physical condition, the effects of drugs, stressful life events, or a combination of these. The doctor's initial task is to see if your anxiety is a symptom of another medical condition. Anxiety disorders are different from normal anxiety. They are the most common form of mental illness in the United States, affecting nearly 1 in 5 adults. They can involve periods of excessive worrying or fear that is more than you would expect from everyday kinds of stressors.