Anxiety Symptoms

All individuals experience anxiety at some important time in their lives. Such feelings of anxiety before an exam or an important presentation can allow people to be motivated and focused on the job at hand. However excessive or disproportionate anxiety can cause a lot of problems in the professional as well as personal areas. Excessive anxiety symptoms can adversely affect the normal functioning of individuals.

Anxiety in some cases may be excessive and may include continuous worrying, intense fear and uneasiness. Such anxiety symptoms as persistent fear, worrying or uneasiness may interfere with the school, family responsibilities or work of individuals. In many cases the anxiety causes individuals to start avoiding everyday activities or situations.

The anxiety symptoms may be different in different individuals and the anxiety attacks may strike without proper warning. In some cases of anxiety the person may have intrusive thoughts while others may worry about everything. The symptoms of anxiety include feelings of apprehension, problems in concentrating, feeling extremely tense and jumpy, anticipating the worst, restlessness, irritability and feeling that the mind is going blank.

The anxiety symptoms also include some physical problems that are a product of the fight or flight mechanism of the body. The physical symptoms include sweating, pounding heart, upset stomach or dizziness along with shortness of breath and frequent urination. Individuals suffering from anxiety also tend to experience headaches, fatigue, insomnia, muscle tension and tremors or twitches.

Many people suffering from the different anxiety disorders also tend to experience depression. Such depression can make anxiety worse. The anxiety attack in many cases can occur due to a trigger while in others it may occur without any warning. Such attacks and the physical anxiety symptoms are experienced at their peak for around ten minutes but they do not last for more than half an hour.

The anxiety symptoms experienced during an attack may include hyperventilation, hot flashes, chills, overwhelming panic, heart palpitations, trouble breathing, feeling detached, trembling and nausea. The major anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, phobia, social anxiety disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Phobias may be related to specific events, objects or situations while in generalized anxiety disorder the anxiety and anxiety symptoms may be experienced without any reason too. Making some lifestyle changes and seeking help for the anxiety can help in getting relief from this condition. A healthy diet along with exercise and rest are extremely important to dealing with this condition effectively.

In some cases medication may be prescribed. Certain medications like benzodiazepines can provide immediate relief from the anxiety symptoms. However the anxiety medication including antidepressants may have certain side effects. Along with medication treatment of this condition may include cognitive behavioral therapy and exposure therapy.

In cognitive behavioral therapy the faulty thinking patterns and problematic beliefs of individuals are identified and replaced with healthy belief systems. Likewise in exposure therapy patients are encouraged to confront their fears in a supportive and controlled environment. Therapy is extremely important for treatment of anxiety as the symptoms can only be controlled through medication and the underlying cause can be treated only through therapy.