LET’S TALK
ABOUT MENTAL ILLNESSES
WHEN DOES ANXIETY BECOME AN ILLNESS?
Simple
anxiety becomes an “anxiety disorder” when it starts to interfere with everyday
life, day after day after day. Under the
right circumstances, anxiety can actually be helpful. It heightens alertness and readies the body
for action. But when it freezes us in
place or dooms us to a downward spiral of depression and irrational fear, it
has crossed the line.
Anxiety
disorders are fairly common, afflicting over 8 percent of adult Americans
during any six month period and almost 15 percent of Americans during their
lifetimes. People suffering from these
disorders share many of the same symptoms, including shakiness, trembling,
muscle aches, sweating cold or clammy hands, dizziness, jitteriness, tension,
fatigue, racing or pounding heart, dry mouth, numbness or tingling, upset
stomach, diarrhea, a lump worsened by the irrational worry that something bad
may happen to the anxiety sufferer or a loved one.
Anxiety
disorders are actually a group of illnesses, including phobias, panic disorder,
post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Phobias
afflict 7 percent of all adult Americans during any six month period and cause
those suffering from them to feel terror, dread or panic when they confront the
object, situation, or activity that they fear.
Panic disorder afflicts over a million Americans, causing its victims
intense, over-whelming terror that has no apparent source. The sufferers will often rush to the hospital,
convinced they are suffering with a heart attack or stroke. Sufferers of obsessive compulsive disorder
(OCD) -- which affects over two million Americans-- can’t feel certain about
things, no matter how hard they try or how many times they repeat actions to
make sure. They go through senseless,
repeated and ritual behaviors -- like cleaning objects repeatedly, washing
their hands continually, or checking light switches -- to prevent or produce a
future event. Obsessive and distasteful
thoughts and fears plague sufferers with obsessive compulsive disorder, too,
and they respond to these thoughts also with ritualistic repeated actions.
Post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) can affect any one who has survived or been witness to a
catastrophic event, and can be more severe if the trauma was
unanticipated. People with PTSD often
suffer flashbacks, nightmares, and night terrors, and may be hyperalert and
have an excessively acute startle reaction -- dropping
to the floor, for instance, if a door slams or a car backfires. They may also have all the symptoms of
depression, complicated by crushing sense of “survivor’s guilt” and emotional
numbness.
People
with anxiety disorders also often abuse drugs or alcohol, in the mistaken
belief they can “self-medicate” to quell the painful feelings their illness
brings. Ironically, drugs and alcohol
actually pull mood down and usually worsen the illness.
Most
psychiatrists believe physical, psychological, environmental and hereditary
factors combine to trigger anxiety disorders.
Research has shown that the most effective treatment for anxiety
disorders is a combination of psychotherapy, behavior therapy and
medication. After medications have
lessened symptoms, anxiety disorder sufferers are better able to profit from
various psychotherapies.
Psychiatrists
use psycho-therapeutic techniques to help their patients deal with the
consequences of their illness and any other problems that may coexist with or
be hidden by it. Talking issues out and
exploring their roots in psychodynamic psychotherapy can be crucial in some
cases.
Those
suffering with even the most severe anxiety disorders have much reason for
hope. Medication helps about half those
suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder and research indicates
that 90 percent of the phobic and obsessive-compulsive disorder patients who
can cooperate with the behavior therapist and conscientiously follow
instructions will improve. Studies have
shown that while they are taking the medica-
tions, 60 to 80 percent of the patients who suffer from panic disorder do
very well and up to 95 percent improve.
OF GREATER
NAMI of Greater
312-563-0445
Fax: 312-563-0467