Anxiety disorders

By: Hajer El Furjani, Georgina Krüger and Nita Helseth

Anxiety : normal human response to situations

Anxiety disorders: mental disorders characterized by excessive feelings of anxiety and fear

Affect more female and children Affect 18% of Americans and 14% of Europeans

Often occur with other mental disorders

EMOTIONAL SYMPTOMS PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS

Excessive worry Feeling nervous Fatigue Trouble concentrating or

thinking about anything other than the present worry

Sleep disturbance

Headache Tachycardia Tachypnoea /dyspnoea Sweating Dizziness Stomach and chest pain Diarrhea Muscle spasm

Causes Family history of mental diseases

Stressful life

Health issues :asthma diabetes, heart diseases and hormonal problems

Substance abuse: cannabis, amphetamines, alcohol and sedatives

Types of Anxiety Disorders

Generalized anxiety disorders

Phobias

Panic disorders

Posttraumatic stress disorder

Mixed

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

A. >6months with:tension, worry and feelings of apprehension, about everyday events and problems

B. >4 symptoms of list (see handout) Autonomic arousal symptoms

(1) Palpitations or pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate.

(2) Sweating.(3) Trembling or shaking.(4) Dry mouth (not due to medication or dehydration).

Phobias Specific phobias

• Animal type, natural environment type, situational type, blood-injection-injury type, and other

Agoraphobia• Fear to leave „safe“ places

Social phobias• Diagnosis: Liebowitz social anxiety scale

Panic disorders Unexpected, recurrent panic attacks,

+related behaviour change+worry about the attack's consequences

May be mistaken by heart attack

Posttraumatic stress disorder

After exposure to one or more traumatic events

Symptoms:• Flashbacks• Avoidance or numbing of memories of the

event• Hyperarousal

Obsessive compulsive disorder

May develop from anxiety disorder People feel the need to:

• Check things repeatedly• Have certain thoughts repeatedly• Perform certain routines repeatedly

Unable to control thoughts or activities

Relieve after activities are performed

Treatment Treatable with mental professionals Two main treatments

• Psychotherapy• Medications

Can use combination Need specific treatment for each

patient Time of treatment varies

Psychotherapy Talk therapy/psychological

counselling Cognitive-behavioral therapy Reduce anxiety symptoms when they

understand their anxiety Increase awareness Counteract the symptoms Reduce or control anxiety

Medications Antidepressants

• Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor• Serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor

Buspirone Benzodiazepines – relieve acute anxiety

symptoms, short-term• Alprazolam• Chlordiazepexide• Diazepam• Lorazepam• Oxazepam

References http://www.mindhealthconnect.org.au/anxiety-symptoms http://

www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/mental-health-anxiety-disorders

http://www.healtorture.org/sites/healtorture.org/files/PSS%20SR%20English.pdf

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/generalized-anxiety-disorder-gad/index.shtml

https://books.google.cz/books?id=44reFIgFDBMC&pg=PA53&hl=de#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/generalized-anxiety-disorder/basics/treatment/con-20024562, 25th Sept 2014

http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/anxiety-treatment.aspx, June 2010 http://www.adaa.org/finding-help/treatment http://www.adaa.org/finding-help/treatment/therapy http://www.adaa.org/finding-help/treatment/medication http://legemiddelhandboka.no/Generelle/51824, 15th Juli 2015 Drugs in anxiety disorders, pharmacology lecture