Anxiety Disorders and Its Effects on an Individual, Family, and the Society Essay Example

affect almost 40 million Americans, and it encompasses several mental conditions that prevent an individual from relaxing due to constant worry and fear (Folk). The apprehension is about things that are yet to happen which result in fear. This research paper will discuss anxiety disorders i.e. its types, causes, diagnosis and treatment and the effects it has on an individuals, his/her family and the entire society.

Discussion

Types of Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety is a natural body response to what the brain perceives as a danger or some challenge. Feeling alarmed can be advantageous as it ensures that one remains focused, however, constant anxiety can be overwhelming as it interferes with an individual’s normal life. Studies have illustrated that fifteen types of the disorders exist. Each form has some distinct characteristics that differentiate it from the rest (Davidson). However, under certain circumstances, an individual can have several forms of the disease at the same time. Among the 15 types only four are common, they include:

1. Social anxiety disorder. This form of illness interferes with one’s ability to socialize due to fear of being ridiculed because of peoples’ judgment regarding an individual’s appearances or behaviors.
2. Specific phobias. Phobias limits one’s appreciation of life, due to unnecessary fears of certain situations and objects.
3. Generalized anxiety disorder. This form of anxiety makes a person to be constantly alarmed about most of the everyday objects and circumstances in his/her environment. Therefore, a person is unable to relax at any given moment (Smith, Robinson, and Segal).

Causes

Scientific studies have revealed that anxiety disorders are the result of an inter-link between multiple aspects. These factors include genetics, brain physiology, and a person’s surrounding. Some people are

more prevalent to anxiety illness than others; this could be attributed to inherited genes. Therefore, if an individual’s generation suffered any form of anxiety, they are more likely to get the disease (Simpson, Neria, and Lewis-Fernandez). Brain physiology can also result in the disease by interfering with normal functioning due to biochemical imbalances; this results in unexplained alarmed response. Lastly, a person’s environment determines the kind of lifestyle that one lives (Smith, Robinson, and Segal). For instance, one is likely to suffer from social anxiety disorder if he/she has had a constant episode of abuse from relatives and friends. According to Bourne, understanding the causes provides information that researchers can work on to find the most effective prevention, treatment, and cure of the illness. Bourne concept arises from the logic that treatment can be useless if the environmental cause is not eliminated as the disease is likely to recur.

Symptoms

Anxiety disorder patients often express varying symptoms because the illness arises from a group of related conditions. Such a feature make distinction impossible. Therefore, the disease might affect some people more than it affects others. For instance, one anxiety disorder patient might have constant about everything within the environment, on the other hand, another patient might be calmer most of the times. The illness often results in emotion and physical symptoms. Although there are different anxiety disorder conditions, they all share one common symptom which is the expression of constant fear towards objects or situations that are not threatening. If left untreated the condition advances into depression which is more problematic.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Given that anxiety disorder often result from multiple, but related conditions and the symptoms can

resemble those of relatively common diseases such as hyperthyroidism (National Alliance on Mental Illness). Determining the right treatment is often challenging; this forces the doctors to undertake multiple trials with various treatments before settling for the most efficient ones. The most common form of treatments for anxiety disorders is medications and psychotherapy. Although they are considered separate forms of treatment, researchers have found out that combining them is more beneficial than utilizing a single form (Emilien, Durlach, and Leola).

Psychotherapy involves the use of counseling to help the patient get over unnecessary alarms and fears. The counselor guides the patient gradually towards normalcy. The whole process is centered at changing the patients’ negative habits that have made the fear towards particular objects or situation so intense, for example, avoiding a specific situation makes a circumstance or object seem more dangerous. The therapy is stepwise as the patient uses what he/she has achieved so far to move to the next step. Success is revealed in form of reduced symptoms. However, specialists believe that this form of treatment is short-term, and it’s mostly efficient when used for patients suffering from generalized anxiety disorders. Alternatively, doctors can utilize mindfulness treatment to reduce the constant alarm that an anxiety disorder patient experiences from time to time. Mindfulness concentrates patient’s awareness on the present situation and the acknowledgment and acceptance of certain emotions; the next step involves teaching the subject how to relax his/her muscles. The patient repeats the process whenever he/she feel tensed. Eventually, they start realizing that their fears are baseless.
Other than psychotherapy and applied relaxation, medication can also be used. The symptoms of a patient often direct the

physician to the appropriate type of drugs to be prescribed. These medications might include sedatives such as benzodiazepines, antidepressants which involve medications that affect the functioning of the neurotransmitter referred to as serotonin and anti-anxiety drugs such as buspirone.

The constant agitation has both short term and long term effects. For instance, during the early stages of the illness, a patient might find it hard to compete for certain tasks; this can be attributed to poor concentration or avoidance of certain places or objects. The reduced quality of productivity of anything that the victim undertakes acts a discouragement that increases the symptoms of the disease. At this point, an individual begins losing his/her identity because things and activities that used to be important and entertainment lose meaning; this can make one make wrong choices such as substance and alcohol as a way of escaping the reality. If left untreated the patient start having suicidal thoughts that can make one take his life (Ressler).

Anxiety disorder patient often become over dependent on family members to help them perform simple tasks. In case the patient is a parent, children are often deprived of the necessary attention that is required for offering them appropriate guidance. At certain times, the cost of treatment can strain the family’s income which would deny the essential family needs such as proper education and good shelter (Senaratne, Van and Mancini). Such problems can result in a cycle of poverty where children who often drop out of school have generations that will not have a chance to go to school subjecting them to absolute poverty.

Reduced productivity and increased expenditures due to anxiety disorders can have a

detrimental impact on the nation’s economy. For instance, the increased poverty resulting from the rampant anxiety disorders increases government expenditure on amenities such as hospitals because the income of the lower income taxes. Therefore, the government will be forced to either raise taxes or eliminate certain benefits that it had offered its citizens making life more expensive.

Works Cited

1. Bourne, Edmund. The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook. New Harbinger Publications, 2011. Document. <https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=CxLTcVskCMsC&dq=causes+of+anxiety+disorder&source=gbs_navlinks_s>.
2. Davidson, Richard J. Neuropsychological Perspectives on Affective and Anxiety Disorders. Psychology Press, 1998. Document. <https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=VhdzL5JYR6kC&dq=types+of+anxiety&source=gbs_navlinks_s>.
3. Emilien, Gerard, et al. Anxiety Disorders: Pathophysiology and Pharmacological Treatment. birkhauser, 2012. Document. <https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=-brdBgAAQBAJ&dq=treatment+of+anxiety+disorder&source=gbs_navlinks_s>.
4. Folk, Jim. "Anxiety Disorder Statistics." Anxiety Effects On Society Statistics June 2015. Document. <http://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-statistics-information.shtml>.
5. National Alliance on Mental Illness. "Anxiety Disorders." 2016. Document. <https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions/Anxiety-Disorders>.
6. Ressler, Kerry. Anxiety Disorders. Oxford University publishers, 2015. Document. <https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=zd8wBwAAQBAJ&dq=effects+of+anxiety+disorders+to+an+individual&source=gbs_navlinks_s>.
7. Senaratne, R, M Ameringen Van and C Mancini. "The burden of anxiety disorders on the family." NCBI (2010). Document. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21135638>.
8. Simpson, Helen Blair, et al. Anxiety Disorders: Theory, Research and Clinical Perspectives. Cambridge University, 2010. Document. <https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=s_z03KmH8QoC&dq=causes+of+anxiety+disorder&source=gbs_navlinks_s>.
9. Smith, Melinda, Lawrence Robinson and Jeanne Segal. "Anxiety Disorders and Anxiety Attacks." May 2016. Document. <http://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/anxiety-attacks-and-anxiety-disorders.htm>.
10. Ward, Susan. "The Effects of Anxiety on the Family." 10 August 2015. Document. <http://www.livestrong.com/article/76206-effects-anxiety-family/>.