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Helpful Reads
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 Overcoming
Anxiety For Dummies
Think you worry too much? You're not alone – over 25
million Americans suffer from some form of anxiety. Help is
here in this friendly guide, which offers sound advice on
identifying anxiety triggers through taking self-tests, improving
your eating habits, relaxing, and finding support for you
and your loved ones.
 EMDR:
The Breakthrough Therapy for Overcoming Anxiety, Stress, and
Trauma
EMDR, or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, is
a new, nontraditional, very short-term therapy for treating
trauma victims that utilizes rhythmical stimulation such as
eye movements or hand taps. Shapiro, a clinical psychologist
and fellow at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto,
Calif., who developed the approach, reports cases in which
as few as three 90-minute EMDR sessions have relieved patients'
disabling anxiety.
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Anxiety Disorders
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You're at a party with friends when
the apartment starts getting crowded and you begin to
breathe heavy. Suddenly you feel as if the walls are closing
in on you. You gasp for breath. Your heart races. You
begin hyperventilating. Your face starts to go numb. You
are having a panic
attack. If you have no idea what this feels like,
consider yourself very lucky. Anxiety disorders are serious
illnesses that affect over 19 million American adults.
• Panic
Disorder
If you are one of the 2.4 million adults with panic disorder,
you experience boughts
of terror that strike suddenly and repeatedly without
warning. Having one panic attack
does not classify you as having panic disorder. You must
experience panic attacks quite regularly to be diagnosed
with it. As with other anxiety disorders, panic disorder
must be treated,
or further complications can develop, such as avoidance
of certain places because you have experienced a panic
attack there.
• Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder Also known as OCD, this disorder is
characterized by experiencing
anxious thoughts and performing rituals beyond your
control. You may be obsessed with germs and wash your
hands compulsively all day long. Or you may lock and unlock
your door several times, just to be sure. Most of the
3.3 million adults with this disorder realize
that what they are doing is senseless, but do not know
how to stop these compulsions. Treatment
of this illness is very important, for without treatment,
OCD can inhibit daily activities and even the ability
to hold down a job.
• Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder
Also known as PTSD, this disorder occurs after a highly
stressful event in one's life, such as war, abuse, rape,
or something similarly disturbing. Whatever the cause
of the problem, people with PTSD constantly relive
the event, whether through nightmares or recollections
during the day. These flashbacks detach the person from
reality and can greatly affect their personality and demeanor.
To be diagnosed with PTSD, one must experience symptoms
for at least one month.
• Social
Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder) About 5.3 million
Americans suffer from this disorder, which involves an
overwhelming sense of anxiety and self-consciousness when
around others. Persons with this disorder have the irrational
fear of being watched and judged by those around them.
Sufferers become overly critical of everything they say
and do. Such fear can lead to avoidance of social situations,
making it difficult to overcome this problem.
• Phobias
Phobias are irrational
and excessive fears related to something that poses
little or no danger. Such fears can range from a phobia
of spiders to a fear of heights. If one is not aware of
the extreme irrationality of his or her fear, a phobia
could become very detrimental to one's well-being and
could possibly infringe upon daily activities.
• Generalized
Anxiety Disorder
A.K.A. GAD, this disorder is much more than just normal
anxiety experienced day to day. A person with GAD will
expect the worst in every situation and will worry excessively
about every aspect of his or her life. Most of the time,
the source of worry is difficult to pinpoint, only adding
to the anxiety. GAD is often accompanied by physical
symptoms, such as fatigue, headaches, muscle tension,
irritability, and hot flashes. The disorder, affecting
about four million Americans, is diagnosed after experiencing
six or more months of these debilitating symptoms. GAD
is most often accompanied by one of the other anxiety
disorders and/or depression.
Written by Laurie Mascia
Do you experience any of these
types of anxiety and have a suggestion with dealing with
it? E-mail
us!
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On the Web
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Anxiety Disorder Association
National Institute of Mental Health
Mentalhealth.com
WEbMD Mental Health Center
Anxietypanic.com
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Anxiety Facts
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Anxiety disorders are more common
than people think. Most people experience some form of
anxiety on a daily basis, but the amount of people that
suffer from chronic anxiety is startling.
• One in every eight Americans age
18-54 suffers from an anxiety disorder. This totals over
19 million people.
• Women suffer from anxiety and stress
almost twice as much as men.
• Anxiety disorders are the
most common mental illness in America, surpassing even
depression in numbers.
• Anxiety is the most common mental
health issue facing adults over 65 years of age.
• Anxiety disorders cost the
United States $46.6 billion annually.
• Anxiety sufferers see an average
of five doctors before being successfully diagnosed.
• The age of onset can range
from 7 years old through to the late 60s and 70s, although
the main grouping for age of onset is the early 20s through
40s.
Source: http://www.conqueranxiety.com
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