An anxiety disorder is not like a normal temper or anger. It is a condition characterized by extreme fear and anxiety, so people who experience it are constantly on the alert. You ask why? Because people suffering from this condition feel as if they need to be alert to dangers at all times.
However, since this feeling is not in their hands, they cannot control it. So, what is the effect of this psychological disorder on the sympathetic nervous system (I explain what it is in detail below)? What are the common types of anxiety disorders? According to experts, should drug treatment or different therapy methods be preferred? In this article, we provide answers to these questions.
Anxiety disorders can affect up to 30% of adults at some point in their lives.
People with anxiety disorders experience uncontrollable and often unrealistic worries in their daily lives. So it’s kind of like a delusion. In addition, the things they worry about can be different issues. They can feel the stress of many things at the same time.
For example, in the USA, 8% of women, compared to 5% of men, face this condition more frequently at some point in their lives. In fact, this can be caused by factors such as genetics, personal life experiences (for example, experiencing a traumatic situation such as the loss of a loved one), personality traits and brain structure.
The most important situation in anxiety is the individual’s worry about an event that may occur in the future. In other words, for those who experience it, we can say that they are suffering from something that does not exist. For example, in generalized anxiety disorder, anxiety interferes with daily life. Namely, the person may get tired immediately due to being overly nervous and may have difficulty concentrating. He constantly thinks about his responsibilities and is afraid that he will not be able to fulfill them. Example; A person can start thinking about even the slightest repair and renovation work months in advance.
Another type of anxiety disorder is panic attacks.
The most basic symptom here is the sudden appearance of intense stress, which is felt physically and psychologically, in the form of an attack. In this panic situation, symptoms such as heart palpitations, excessive sweating-trembling, shortness of breath, feeling like you are suffocating, chest tightness, dizziness, fainting, numbness of a part of the body, hot flashes, nausea, feeling out of control, fear of death may occur. .
Those who experience this condition severely may also be at risk of heart attack. It is a disease that usually occurs between the ages of 20-24. These attacks may occur for a reason, or they may occur for no reason.
Let’s talk about phobias, another type of anxiety.
This is an extreme fear of a particular object, situation, or activity. Moreover, this fear is constant, it does not go away so easily. Experts always say: “Patients suffering from this condition are aware of their phobia but are not successful in overcoming it”.
Therefore, there is an extreme avoidance of that feared thing. Consider, for example, claustrophobia, it’s the fear of being locked up.
In fact, in the movie Panic Room, Jodie Foster played someone who had experienced such a situation. So it was very difficult for him to stay in a closed place like a panic room while escaping from the thieves who broke into his house. The character played by Ki Foster was compelled to experience an extreme situation and overcame his fears, except that.
Agoraphobia, which is actually a phobia like claustrophobia, can be given as an example of anxiety disorders. Because agoraphobia is the fear of staying in places where it is difficult to escape. These people may be afraid of using public transport; For example, because of fears such as “what if I can’t get off at the stop”.
Open spaces and crowds are also a threat to these people because it can be very difficult for them to get out of the crowd and leave that environment. For example, a person does not want to go out alone, he definitely wants to have someone with him. If the individual who experiences this is not treated, he may not even be able to step out of his home.
Social anxiety, which we know as social phobia, means being afraid of socializing. A person may withdraw into his shell because he thinks that he will be ostracized, oppressed and rejected in society. For example, public speaking, meeting new people can be a source of serious stress for these people.
When we look at separation anxiety, the individual may become excessively anxious when the subject of separation from the person they are attached to comes to mind. In fact, even if there is no separation, we can say that the person is afraid of this possibility at a high level. In general, we can say that these two situations are types of anxiety that can be experienced for six months.
In addition, when we look at the prevalence in the society, we see that 2-3% of adults have panic attacks, 8-12% have any phobia, 7% have social phobia, 13% have agoraphobia, 2% have generalized anxiety, 1-2%. Let’s not go without adding the information that there is separation anxiety in the .
Fear seen in anxiety is a feeling of urgency. Therefore, it triggers the fight-and-flight impulse in the sympathetic nervous system. This means “either avoid or stay and fight” a danger. So how exactly does the sympathetic nervous system react in such a situation?
You can think of the sympathetic nervous system as part of the autonomic nervous system (the system that regulates involuntary movements). The control of heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, how often you go to the toilet or sweat is in the autonomic system. Looking at the sympathetic system, we can say that it plays an important role in responding to dangerous situations.
For example, let’s say your body didn’t feel safe at that moment, then this system might step in and speed up your heartbeat, for example. Or it sends more blood to the parts of your body that need oxygen so you can get out of that danger.
The essence of the word; this system reveals the actions caused by the autonomic nervous system in uncanny situations and thus tries to pull you back to the safe area. In such a case, many physiological symptoms may appear in your body at the same time. This is exactly how anxiety activates this system. When you suddenly feel extremely stressed about a subject, even if you suddenly feel the need to go to the toilet, the reason is that this system is activated.
So you can understand this issue as if your body is trying to relax you. But it should be added that; anxiety disorders are not good for your sympathetic nervous system. Because your body will be in a constant reaction and try to save you from that mood, and metabolism problems may arise. For example, obesity… When a person is under extreme stress, he suddenly feels hungry and may unconsciously eat a lot.
Antidepressants are actually short-term solutions to the problem of anxiety.
When treating anxiety, antidepressants work on chemicals (neurotransmitters) in the brain, such as norepinephrine (which creates a fight-flight response), apart from serotonin (we can simply say the happiness hormone). In other words, when you take these drugs, the amount of these hormones increases. Thus, we can say that the production of chemicals needed to regulate the response to stress increases. It usually takes about a month for these drugs to take effect.
For example, sertraline (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor-SSRI) is one of the drugs that reduce anxiety. However, it may seem to reduce at first and then cause depressive symptoms to appear. A UK study examines a group’s use of antidepressants for 6 weeks. Although it appears to have no effect on depression, a high degree of reduction in anxiety is observed during this 6-week period.
In yet another study, experts say that people taking this drug felt less anxious. It is stated that as symptoms such as anxiety, anxiety and stress decrease, the melancholic mood improves to some extent accordingly. In the study, it is stated that it is appropriate to prescribe antidepressants such as SSRI (such as paxil, lexapro) or SNRI (serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors-cymbalta, savella) to people who show moderate symptoms, although they do not fully meet the diagnostic criteria for depression or generalized anxiety disorder. .
In addition, beta-blockers (such as propranolol, atenolol) used in heart diseases can also be given for the treatment of physical symptoms of anxiety. However, according to experts, drugs that are generally used for anxiety do not offer permanent solutions, as stated at the beginning. We can say that psychotherapists and psychiatrists recommend therapy sessions for more permanent results. It can be stated that especially cognitive behavioral therapy methods give good results in this field.
People can learn a different pattern of thinking, behavior and action through this therapy. To put it emphatically, it is absolutely necessary to talk to an expert to get help on this issue. No one should take antidepressants at their own discretion without the guidance of a professional.
- Sources: Psychiatry Org, Psych Central, Medical News Today, My Cleve And Clinic, Journals of Neurophysiology, Good Rx, Taylor & Francis
- Image Sources: Medical News Today, Inc. Magazine, Psychiatric Times, Greatist, ABC, TED Ideas, Pulse Clinic, Times of India, Metro, Healthline
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