Signs and Symptoms of Anxiety Disorder
Most often, people suffering from anxiety believe they only have a character flaw, not a mental disorder.
Unfortunately, people who suffer from anxiety are labeled as ‘moody’ or ‘paranoid.’ Anxiety sufferers have difficulty reacting appropriately to stressful situations and are most often depicted as blowing things out of proportion.
Psychological Symptoms
The definition of anxiety is experiencing overwhelming thoughts of worry or fear for a period of six months or more. There are however additional symptoms for these disorders that vary from person to person dependent upon type and severity of the illness.
Someone with anxiety is usually short tempered, impatient and irritable. In addition, the sufferer may also be restless, have trouble concentrating or have the inability to complete tasks and goals. Furthermore, they may experience forgetfulness, become easily confused and be absent minded. The inability to express thoughts coherently as well as complaints of their minds going blank are additional symptoms.
There are physical tolls the body endures as well from a person afflicted with anxiety. The person will often be constantly on the lookout for danger or tend to think of the worst possible scenarios. In these cases, people around them will usually see the sufferer as pessimistic.
Most people who suffer from anxiety also suffer from Agoraphobia or fear of public places. This is most often seen in those with obsessive compulsive disorder. While most anxiety sufferers do not necessarily experience OCD, for the most part it is very common to a lesser degree.
Some anxiety sufferers may also be afflicted with depression and hallucinations. This general occurs in those with severe anxiety and can often lead to thoughts of suicide.
Thoughts of worry, fear, negative feelings and irrational thoughts are persistent in those with anxiety.
Physical Symptoms
Anxiety is a psychological condition, but it can be physically taxing on the body. It has a tendency to manifest itself into several symptoms that can further affect a persons day to day functioning.
Some of the most common physical symptoms include an increased heart rate and higher blood pressure, sweating, dizziness, and headaches. A person with anxiety often has trouble taking deep breaths and hyperventilates quite frequently. He or she may experience fatigue, insomnia, and hyperactivity.
Since a person with anxiety has excess adrenaline, the body can experience muscle tension and body aches/ In addition, the excess adrenaline also accounts for the alteration in moods.
And when the mind spends so much time in a state of worry, other bodily functions are compromised. This leads to a loss of appetite or nausea, diarrhea, or frequent urination, and constantly being thirsty. Many anxiety sufferers even complain about a reduced sex drive.
Other Anxiety Symptoms
Everyones symptoms are not the same. Some anxiety sufferers experience symptoms that are the exact opposite of the ones mentioned earlier. These symptoms are often brought to fruition by extreme levels of anxiety such as someone suffering from SAD finding themselves in the middle of a group of strangers.
One of these symptoms is low blood pressure (levels below 90/60) and this can reduce the amount of oxygen and nutrients that reach the brain.
Other anxiety sufferers have reported a heightened sex drive during levels of high anxiety.
Still others with chronic anxiety report having food cravings. Often the craving is for sugar, and this may be due to the fact that blood pressure is at times chronically low in cases of severe anxiety
An established writer, Funmi Salami loves to share her health related knowledge and experience. Her articles about Physiology of Anxiety and Anxiety Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can be found on Clivir.com – the free learning community site.
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