Anxiety Overview

Anxiety Video

HOST ON CAMERA:
Hello, and welcome to the Answered Patient. I’m Jane Hanson. In this episode, you’ll learn about anxiety disorders—some of their symptoms…how they’re diagnosed…and the treatment options that are currently available.

HOST NARRATION:
We all know that modern life can be stressful. Balancing the demands of our family and work lives can often cause feelings of stress and anxiety as we try to do all that we need to. And for most people, anxiety about deadlines or social situations is normal. 

HOST ON CAMERA:
But for people suffering from an anxiety disorder, this sense of nervousness is chronic, lasting for six months or more. These feelings can be overpowering, and are often out of proportion with reality. 

DR. CHERYL CARMIN: Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health problem affecting adults in the U.S. 

JOAN HOLDEN: In our country, we spend 47 billion dollars a year taking care of patients that have anxiety. That includes pharmaceutical support, psychotherapy, medical visits, and so on and it also includes the economical aspect of lost wages.

HOST NARRATION: While the exact cause of anxiety disorders is unknown, experts believe that heredity may be involved.  Environment, personal development—even your diet may play a role in whether you have an anxiety disorder.

HOST ON CAMERA: So, what is anxiety?  In part, it’s a physiological response to a stressful situation.  

HOST NARRATION: 
It’s related to the so-called fight or flight response.  When faced with a dangerous situation, anxiety can be a useful tool to help us anticipate trouble – spurring us into action – and keeping us out of harm’s way.  In dangerous or frightening situations, our heart rate goes up… blood flow to the heart and muscles increases… and production of the hormone adrenaline rises. Under normal circumstances, when the danger passes, the physical responses… and the heightened feelings of fear and stress that go along with them… will pass too.

HOST ON CAMERA: But with an anxiety disorder, these feelings and physical symptoms are persistent, and interfere with everyday life. 

DR. CHERYL CARMIN: It's a normal emotion.  There are countless situations where anxiety is appropriate and a good thing.  If you're walking down a dark street and you hear somebody walking behind you, you want to be vigilant.

DR. PATRICK McGRATH: When it's interfering with your day to the point that you're unable to get basic needs completed, basic job functions done, school things that you need to do and completed because all you're doing is worrying about it, then it's a problem.

HOST ON CAMERA: 
There are five types of anxiety disorders.  Each is usually diagnosed by its symptoms. There’s Generalized anxiety disorder…obsessive-compulsive disorder…post-traumatic stress disorder…panic disorder…and social phobia, also called social anxiety disorder.

HOST NARRATION: Generalized anxiety disorder--or GAD--is one of the more common forms of anxiety disorders.

HOST ON CAMERA: GAD affects nearly 7 million people in the US alone.   It can begin at any age, but many people develop GAD in childhood or early adolescence. Women are twice as likely as men to develop this form of anxiety.

HOST NARRATION:
As the name suggests, worries for people with Generalized Anxiety Disorder tend to be general, and are often related to everyday life. Transition to Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, is a second type of anxiety disorder. In this disorder, a person persistently experiences troubling thoughts--or obsessions--which lead to rituals--or compulsions--that are used to try to control those thoughts. For example, someone with OCD may feel the need to perform certain acts, like locking a door, in a certain sequence… or they may also do things repetitively.  

HOST ON CAMERA: These rituals may temporarily keep the obsessive thoughts at bay, but many people with OCD are fully aware of their habits, and are troubled by them. 

DR. DAVID JACOBI: Obsessions are intrusive, uh, unwanted, repetitive. // The individual sees them typically as senseless.  They don’t seem to, to jive with who they are as a person. 

HOST ON CAMERA: 
An anxiety disorder can also develop following a particularly stressful or traumatic event. This type of anxiety is called post-traumatic stress disorder. It often develops after an event in which a person has experienced the threat of physical harm, or has actually been hurt.

HOST NARRATION: People suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder may be emotionally numb, or may startle more easily.  They may lose interest in activities they used to enjoy. ‘Flashbacks,’ -- or thoughts and memories about the event -- are common and tend to be persistent.

HOST ON CAMERA: 
A person with panic disorder typically experiences a rush of panic, which can involve a sudden feeling of terror along with very frightening physical responses, such as rapid heartbeat, sweating palms, and dizziness.   During a panic attack, a person may feel as if they’re having a heart attack. Social phobia, also called social anxiety disorder, is an intense fear of everyday social interactions.   A person with social phobia may feel that they are being ‘watched’ and ‘judged’ by others.  Or they may experience intense dread about an upcoming social situation—sometimes worrying over it for weeks in advance.

HOST NARRATION: Much has been learned in recent years about why anxiety disorders develop, and how they can be best treated.  For many, a combination of psychotherapy and prescription drugs can help keep these conditions under control.  

HOST ON CAMERA: As with any condition, talk to your doctor if you think you may be suffering from an anxiety disorder.  He or she can work with you to find the best treatment.

PATRICK McGRATH: Anxiety is not a fear of a thing, it's really a fear of the way we think about a thing.

JOAN HOLDEN: It is something that can be easily treated, and something that has a great outcome if the medications work, and therapy helps, and it’s possible to get better.

HOST ON CAMERA: In the other chapters of this episode, you can learn more about how anxiety is diagnosed…get some science on how it works in your body…and discover the various treatment options available to you.

HOST NARRATION: 
And in our “Personal Story” chapter, you’ll meet a real doctor and patient who are successfully coping with an anxiety disorder.