Anxiety, Its Development, Effects, and Treatments

Anxiety is one of the most common mental disorders as 1 in 4 Australian will experience it at some stage of their life. It is a mental disorder that accompanies by the feelings of concern, anxiety, and panic that are too intense, which it interferes with one's daily activities. Even when there is nothing to be stressed about, an individual with anxiety disorder will keep encounter stress almost all of the time. Not only does having anxiety disorder interfere with the daily activities, but it also has several negative impacts on the body. Further explanation of the impacts of anxiety disorder will be discussed in this essay.

As mentioned above, 1 in 4 Australians will eventually experience anxiety in some stage of their life once. Plus, anxiety disorder is the most common mental health disorder in Australia as 2 million Australians are suffering from anxiety, twice as many as depression, according to Georgie Harman (Beyond Blue's CEO). Women are likely to encounter anxiety disorder than men as 32% of women aged from 16-85 will experience anxiety disorder, whereas, there are only 20.4% of men. A more in-depth stat that portrays the fact that more women suffering from anxiety than men are at the moment, 1 in 6 women is experiencing anxiety, corresponding to 1 in 9 men.

Different from other mental disorders, anxiety disorders can gradually develop as evident in untreated individuals. It can be extremely critical that the individual will become immobilized at first and could end up in depression. Signs of anxiety are a sudden panic attack and intense episode of fear. Moreover, associated physical symptoms are increasing heart rate, dizziness, sweating, and difficulty in breathing. Some emotional symptoms that individuals encounter when having anxiety disorder are feeling powerless, excessive worry about the past, present or future and finding it hard to concentrate and remember. Finally, a common symptom of anxiety disorder is always avoiding an uncomfortable situation and make them feel anxious. This can be like giving a speech in front of a big crowd. If these symptoms are significantly affecting one's life, they could be causing isolation and can eventually lead to depression.

As mentioned earlier in the essay, untreated individuals with anxiety disorder will face the risk of more severe, even life-threatening conditions. Depression is the next life-threatening conditions. Both of them have the same symptoms and cause the same problems for the individual. A more severe problem is suicidal. The stat is given by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 90% of the people who committed suicide have been diagnosed with mental disorder. This includes anxiety disorder as it is one of the most common ones. The risk of addiction to substances is substantially higher if the individuals are left untreated. They suppose that the use of alcohol, nicotine, and other drugs can give them a sense of relieve. However, there is not any scientific evidence that proves this. In fact, long-term alcohol use can cause changes in the body and produce more anxiety. The final effect of untreated anxiety disorder is physical illness. Chronic stress, an illness developed from anxiety, can jeopardize the immune system. As we all know, with a vulnerable immune system, it will make the individual more susceptible to infections, such as colds, the flu, and other viral and bacterial diseases.

If you know someone or yourself are suffering, developing anxiety disorder, then look for help/support immediately, do not stay QUITE! The sooner you seek out for help and support, the better it will be since individuals who left untreated will result in more severe, even life-threatening conditions. Firstly, if the symptoms and signs are vague and hard to be recognized, then talk to your family. They understand you more than the counselor does; therefore, talking to them is a significant first step in the process of curing you. However, if the symptoms and signs are there and you can feel it, reach out to local services. Here are the top ones in Australia that you can approach: Sane Australia, Beyond Blue, Black Dog Institute, Reach Out, Headspace, Lifeline, and NSW Mental Health Line. Contacting them and they will instruct and advise you what to do, whether to see a doctor or it is a self-treatment. I assure you that all of those services will place you on top and do the best of their abilities to cure you of anxiety disorder.

In Sydney, based on what I got from researching, there are not as many support groups, much less than support services. Two notable off-line support groups that I found out about are WayAhead and Black Dog Institute. For the Black Dog Institute, the support clinics are run by professional and qualified psychologists. They are offering a nine-week psychoeducational wellbeing group, REACH, for people who have been diagnosed with anxiety disorder. The topics included are fostering strengths, dealing with loss and grief, identifying early warning signs and triggers, wellbeing strategies, nurturing support networks, creating a unique Wellbeing Plan. However, not everyone is eligible to join the program. They must be over 18 years old, diagnosis of anxiety disorder, for a minimum of one year, capacity to participate in a group setting, capacity to commit to attending the nine weekly sessions, acceptance of illness, motivation to implement personal change strategies. WayAhead offers more locations and more diverse supporting groups for the patient diagnosed with anxiety disorder. They run over 30 support groups throughout NSW for people with anxiety disorder. The thing that made WayAhead more convenience and better than others is there are a Vietnamese and Spanish speaking support groups in West Ryde and Mount Druitt. I would go to the Vietnamese speaking support group as it will be more comfortable for me to share my story in my mother language. Besides these off-line support groups, there are also online groups like Beyond Blue or Mental Health Online. I would not participate in the online group. This is because I believe it will not be effective as I express myself more truthfully in person than online.

Anxiety disorder treatments can be self-done. However, it is best to seek help from professionals. There are different treatments according to the levels of anxiety. If an individual encounter mild anxiety disorder, they can be cured by making a few adjustments to their lifestyles, whereas if the case is severe, the individual might need to take medication. The treatments can be categorized into physical, chemical, and mental. For mental treatment, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is the most common one. You will be working with a therapist, which involves changing your thoughts and view on the problematic and fearful problems/situations which cause anxiety. CBT will deliberately and cautiously expose you to feared circumstances to reduce the anxiety that comes with them. Onto the physical treatments, breathing and relaxation are extremely useful/effective for stopping panic attack. Also, moderate exercise will have with anxiety. Even a short 5 minutes walk or general gardening can help you to improve how you feel and reduce the stress and tiredness. It is proven by the Health Direct, exercise helps boost your levels of serotonin - these are 'feel good' hormones, which will eventually reduce the stress level causing by anxiety in your body. Finally, chemical treatment means that cutting down on caffeine, moderate alcohol, and take medication. Caffeine makes you harder to sleep; therefore, you will not be fully rested. Anxiety is worse when caffeine speeds up your heart beats. Alternate caffeine with juice or water can help. Not only are them healthy for you, but they also relax you, vitally needed for anxiety. There is this idea, which believes that alcohol helps with anxiety. This has been proven wrong. Consuming alcohol can have negative physical and mental consequences such as blackouts, loss of memory, and even brain damage. After a while, dealing with these issues will eventually create more anxiety and stress. If all of the above treatments/approaches don't work, then medication will be needed. Antidepressants are usually recommended in combination with the measures described above.