What Is Anxiety and How Is It Treated?

Anxiety is one of the most common mental illnesses in the United States. It affects approximately 18.1% of the adult population and 25.1% of children. It is possible many more people may be undiagnosed though. 

What Is Anxiety Disorder?

Anxiety is how you naturally respond to stress and stressful or foreign situations. Anxiety may cause you to feel fear about the future and certain events. While most people will feel anxious and afraid at times in their life, to be considered an anxiety disorder it would need to recur for a few months. 

Examples of What Anxiety Affects

Some things that anxiety may affect in one person may seem like normal, mundane tasks to the next person. 

Here are some common things that anxiety affects:

  • Raising a hand in class
  • Public speaking
  • An interview
  • Hanging out with new people
  • Taking tests

What Causes Anxiety Disorder?

Nothing is fully proven to cause anxiety. Doctors are still studying this disorder to find out what can cause anxiety. However, doctors have narrowed it down to a few factors. 

Those factors can include:

  • Genetics
  • Environment
  • Brian chemistry

Symptoms of Anxiety Disorder

There are many symptoms of anxiety disorder, some you may have never thought to tie to anxiety.

These symptoms include:

  • Dizziness
  • Sweating
  • Hot flashes
  • Chills
  • Fear
  • Numbness
  • Dry mouth

What Kinds of Anxiety Treatments Are There?

The most common forms of anxiety treatment are medication and therapy. After being diagnosed with anxiety disorder, your doctor will discuss your anxiety treatment options and give you their best recommendation. Some people do not need either form of anxiety treatment to manage their anxiety, and some may need both treatments. 

Therapy is a great form of anxiety treatment as your psychologist can talk with you and understand how your anxiety disorder directly affects you. This will enable your psychologist to teach you strategies to cope and tools to use if you're ever in an anxious situation. 

Medication is also a good form of anxiety treatment. It may not be favorable to some because not everyone is okay with relying on medications. However, since doctors have linked brain chemistry to be a cause of anxiety, these medications can help balance that brain chemistry. It is also a good tool for preventing anxiety attacks.

Other Anxiety Treatments

Another way to treat anxiety is through lifestyle changes. 

Some changes include:

  • Regulating your sleep schedule
  • Meditating
  • Eating Healthy
  • Quitting smoking
  • Quitting drinking
  • Exercising

If you're feeling more anxious than normal and you have already made the lifestyle changes above, you may need to consult your doctor and see what other kinds of anxiety treatment will work for you. Reach out to a clinic like BrainCore Therapy of Louisville for more information.


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