Anxiety - What It Is, The Different Types And The Symptoms

Anxiety could be defined as a state of certain negative emotions.  Anxiety sufferers often experience constant fear and worry and in some cases, even physical signs like chest pains or nausea.  Anxiety is a very complex emotion which consists of different types of elements.  Some of these elements are somatic or cognitive, and the body will normally prepare itself to deal with an external threat.  When people have anxiety their heart rate speeds up and their blood pressure increases.  Several muscles in the body will also reach high levels of blood.

A person who has anxiety usually has a sense of dread.  A variety of voluntary and involuntary processes take place in the body.  The ultimate objective of these processes is to take the organism away from the source that is causing the anxiety.  Anxiety is a very significant emotion and its function is to increase the survival rate of organisms.  In humans, it seems that anxiety is derived from the hippocampus and the amygdale, two areas of the brain.  When someone senses bad taste or odors, a large amount of blood will flow in the amygdale.  Studies reveal that medium levels of anxiety are present in this situation as well.

Based on these studies, it seems as if anxiety is a natural reaction in order to keep humans and other organisms from eating food or objects that could be harmful to their well being.  It is normal for a person to have anxiety, however, excessive levels of anxiety could be described as anxiety disorder.  People with extreme cases of anxiety disorders might experience strong cases where they feel terrorized.  Anxiety disorders are divided into phobias, panic disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders and generalized anxiety disorders. 

Phobia:

A person with a phobia will have an unusual amount of fear of a specific object or situation.  Phobia sufferers have a tendency of constant imaginations and realize that their fear is often illogical.

Panic Disorders:

When an individual suffers from a panic disorder, they will experience intense panic attacks, and may have dizziness or problems with their breathing.  It normally takes about ten minutes for these attacks to reach their height. 

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder:

With the obsessive compulsive disorder, the person will have an obsession or compulsion towards specific types of behaviors.  People who suffer from this disorder often feel the need to do something obsessively as an attempt to reduce their anxiety.

Individuals with this disorder constantly feel the need to be extremely clean and are frightened by germs.  Whenever they feel they have picked up germs, their anxiety elevates and in order to reduce their anxiety they will wash their hands many times in a day.  Currently, there are two primary methods that can be used to help those who suffer from anxiety and they are either therapy or prescription medications.

Generalized Anxiety Disorders

Generalized anxiety disorders are more common and affect a larger fraction of the population.  It is frequent on both men and women and is distinguished by long periods of anxiety that are not associated with a specific object or situation.