The Many Faces of Anxiety*

*This article was first published on my LinkedIn page as part of the 2023 Mental Health awareness week

You may of heard or even found yourself saying to someone it's not the end of the world mate, we all get a little bit anxious sometimes or it's not that bad, its only anxiety! Although we may have accidentally found ourselves saying these things in the past, we need to try hard to watch what we say to people. Anxiety is a real mental health illness. What is anxiety then? Can it be treated? and Can we get healed? 

So what is Anxiety? Anxiety is a diagnosable mental health condition. Psychologist's and Psychiatrist's use a reference manual to help them understand what conditions a person might have: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM published by American Psychiatric Association) and International Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders (ICD published by World Health Organisation). Anxiety is defined as an intrusive and constant bombardment of thoughts of fear, tension, worry and tenseness leading to panic attacks, obsessive thoughts, palpitations, high blood pressure, increased heart rate, social isolation and sweating (APA, 2023).  Anxiety is also a umbrella term used for a several mental illnesses. For example, Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Panic Attacks, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Social Phobias.

Each theme will contain common concepts in plain English and when psychological terms are used they will be explained - so no jargon. Also, each day will outline what is meant by that diagnosis for the sufferer and their loved ones and friends, what you need to do to get checked out, treatment options and what they entail and what coping mechanisms there are. Medical and academic journals and books will back up expressed opinions or thoughts. And finally, at the end of each daily post a link to a help book or leaflet and a mental health charity in the UK that can offer support. 

To kick the week off we are going to focus on one of the more commonly diagnosable mental health conditions in the UK - Generalised Anxiety Disorder or what some know as GAD. Although this illness is more recognisable to some, it does not mean it is any less life restricting to the sufferer. According to NHS Scotland, GAD is a chronic long term condition "that causes you to feel anxious about a wide range of situations (NHSinform, 2023)." Along with the chronic anxiety symptoms, sufferers excessively worry about what some may consider as less important things in life like a record is stuck on repeat, an inability to cope with stress, constant pain in their head, shoulders and chest due to their muscles constantly being tensed, have high blood pressure and increased heart rate which can lead to palpitations. 

If you have suffered with this condition you probably have noticed the impact it can have on all avenues of your life. For example, relationships can become fraught and tense due to the person being short tempered with family members and friends. Also you may have been told by other that "you have changed" or that " you are not the person I once knew". To be able to be diagnosed with GAD you will need to demonstrate to the clinician (GP, Psychologist or Psychiatrist) that your symptoms have been bothering you for most days over a period of six months or more (APA, 2013, p.222). However, most sufferers say that this has been an issue all their life. Even though this is the case, most people do not get a diagnosis until the age of 30 and it seems that twice as many women will be diagnosed than men. This also is not just an issue for adults as children can suffer from this mental health condition too (APA, 2013, p.223). 

Copy right owned by verywellhealth.com

Now we know some of the more common symptoms of Generalised Anxiety Disorder, can it be treated? Thankfully the answer is yes. There are a number of ways people try to cope with this illness. Firstly, some try medication - either antidepressants or relaxants which are prescribed by your GP or a Psychiatrist on the NHS or through private healthcare. Another form of treatment is what we call a talking therapy usually with a low intensity form of cognitive or psychoanalytic therapy by a Mental Health Nurse (MHN or CPN), Psychological Wellbeing Practioner (PWP) or Clinical/Counselling Psychologist. Research has shown that a combination of therapy and medication work best for patients (NHSa, 2022). Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is one of the most commonly offered talking therapies as it extremely effective at helping to control symptoms even within a few sessions (NHSb, 2022). 

Although this treatment is not offered on the NHS, some have turned to hypnotherapy or homeopathy. Not all treatments are available on the NHS as a whole or locally. This can lead to what the media term "the post code lottery" (The Guardian newspaper, 2022). What services will be offered locally is agreed by your local NHS clinical commissioning group which is made of healthcare professionals from a number of GP practices. Some people prefer to deal with things on their own and may turn to meditation, yoga or relaxation techniques. Now we know what treatment options are available for GAD whether from the NHS, private healthcare or self-help and its what symptoms to look out for, lets have brief look at what we know may cause it.

Have you heard of the nature verses nurture debate? This basically means is poor mental health and personality disorders caused by things that are inherited through our family - by genetics/DNA or is it caused by our environment - a modern fast paced life and society? Personally I believe that it is caused by a mixture of the two. Scientists have demonstrated through research into human genetics that certain combinations of DNA strands or faulty links not only cause us to be unique but can cause certain health conditions. A certain amount of our genes are inherited from parents and grandparents which can cause what we call predispositions or the chance of that link being activated by our environment. The environment we grow up in including our community, schooling, employment, and associations can activate these links if we experience some form of trauma or constant stresses. So we get put on hight alert by our brain as it is hard wired to protect us. This can then lead to us having chronic anxiety - GAD. 

We have looked at the how, the why and the when but what can we do o try and heal ourselves? Yes it is possible to find either some coping mechanisms or even cure it. Why not try this link to find out about relaxation techniques:

Self-help - Generalised anxiety disorder in adults - NHS (www.nhs.uk)