Commonly Prescribed Anxiety Medications
Many people have experienced anxiety at some points in their lives. I have and I’m sure most of you have. It keeps us alert and helps us deal with any stressful events that we may encounter. Anxiety can sometimes interfere with our daily life activities, don’t you agree? If we worry, we often can’t concentrate on the things we do, but if we look on the bright side of anxiety, where it can help us handle a situation, I must say that it can be used to our advantage, as well. For example, in an exam, because of fear of not getting the score you aimed, you tend to give your best shot and the result could be higher than you expect. That happens to me, too. And I can tell you, anxiety sometimes can be of big help.
How we all wish anxiety gives us all the best it can do to us rather than the worst. Unfortunately, it’s not the way anxiety works. If anxiety attacks we wish there could be ways to stop it for anxiety really does affect your mood, work, and practically your daily life routine. Otherwise, people suffering from anxiety are usually left immobilized; unable to perform effectively on you regular daily routine.
Anxiety can be treated by medication or by psychotherapy. It is said that psychotherapy can be the most effective treatment for anxiety. But, anxiety medications, such as anti-depressants may be added if needed be. Anxiety medications help relax and calm the anxious person and can remove the troubling symptoms that come with anxiety.
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Test Anxiety
In the life of every student, exams are usually one of the stressful events to go through. Most often than not, we feel anxious every time examination periods are about to come. It is normal for most students to experience some levels of anxiety during exams. It common to all the students and I am sure that we had our own share of anxiety during exams, hadn’t we? Anxiety is a human’s natural response to a stressful situation. The test anxiety can become a powerful motivator; it can make you study harder to be able to excel. But, if this test anxiety starts to affect exam performance it has become a problem.
The symptoms of test anxiety are but not limited to:
o Physical – headaches, nausea, or diarrhea, extreme body temperature changes, excessive sweating, shortness of breath, light-headedness or fainting, rapid heart beat, and/dry mouth, tense muscle
o Emotional – excessive feelings of disappointment, anger, depression, uncomfortable crying or laughing
o Behavioral – fidgeting, pacing, substance abuse, avoidance
o Cognitive – racing thoughts, going blank, difficulty concentrating, negative self-talk, feelings of dread, comparing yourself to others, difficulty organizing your thoughts.
The probable causes of test anxiety can be lack of preparation indicated by cramming the night before the exam, poor time management, failure to organize text information, poor study habits; or, worrying about previous performance on exams, how other students are doing, the negative consequences of failure.
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Social Anxiety
Have you experienced what it must be like meeting your big boss for the first time? The thought of being watched by your superior while working is stressful, isn’t it? Or, maybe you are so anxious to go to a beach party because you have not shed enough pounds to wear the two-piece swim suit (who knows how many years have them!), and you are so worried on what the people might say if you wear them with those excess baggage wrapping around your body? Those feelings are just normally. For as long as you have reasons to be anxious about anything, it is perfectly normal .But, if the anxiety is eating you up and you become anxious about what other people might say, or think, or do to you, which you know does not have rational basis, and the worst part is, you find it difficult to control your thought or emotion, that is social anxiety.
Social anxiety or social phobia is one of the largest mental health care problems in the word in the present day. A person with social anxiety simply spends time alone, closeted, away from people. They tend to choose to be alone than to be around with other people for fear that they might not fit in some ways or the other. Even when they are with familiar people, they may still feel overwhelmed and have the feeling that every movement and thought they made have been constantly watched or criticized. The feeling of being observed or being misjudged is one of the things that keep them away from people.
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Men Sexual Performance Anxiety
Anxiety is a normal part of life; therefore, it is likely that most people experience anxiety at some point in their lives. Anxiety keeps us alert and helps us cope in every stressful event or situation. But, there is a type of anxiety that is common to men when we talk about sexual issues- men’s sexual anxiety. Men’s sexual anxiety affects their performance in bed. This issue is hardly ever discussed openly for fear of losing their macho-image. Male’s sexual performance anxiety is described when a man has trouble getting “his thing up”.
Men who have sexual performance anxiety usually worry about whether they do get a penile erection and when they are about to have sex, they lose their erection, or it can be that when they are actually in the course of having sexual intercourse, they lose the genital erection, or they don’t get their “thing” stubbornly up at all. Sexual performance anxiety can happen to men in any of those situations. The real deal is usually that you are focusing relatively on the final goal, which is of course “orgasm”, or pleasing your partner with an orgasm, instead of focusing on all the rest of what goes on in the sexual encounter. Concentrating more on the relationship and the intimate experiences that you are having as a contrary to the final goal, to make the story short focus on enjoying the whole process of sexual intercourse and not torment yourself by thinking the end result.
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Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder is one of the common anxiety disorders. Anxiety disorders are the term covering several different forms of abnormal, pathological anxiety, fear, phobia and nervous condition, which may come on all of a sudden or gradually, over a period of several years and may impair or prevent the pursuing of normal daily routines.
The essential characteristic of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is excessive uncontrollable worry about everyday things. This constant worry affects daily functioning and can cause physical symptoms. GAD is usually difficult to diagnose for it lacks some of the dramatic symptoms, like unprovoked panic attacks, that are seen with other anxiety disorders. To be able to diagnose Generalized Anxiety Disorder, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Symptoms must be present more days than not for at least 6 months.
The diagnostic criteria for Generalized Anxiety Disorder symptoms are:
- Excessive anxiety and worry (apprehension), occurring more days than not for a period of at least 6 months, about numerous events or activities.
- The person with GAD finds it hard to control the worry.
- The anxiety and worry are associated with three or more of the following six symptoms, with at least some symptoms are present for more than 6 months in most days than not (at least one is required for children):
- restlessness or feeling tense or on the edge
- easily fatigued
- difficulty concentrating or mind going blank
- irritability
- muscle tension and muscle aches
- difficulty falling or staying asleep, or restless unsatisfying sleep
- difficulty swallowing
- trembling, sweating
- nausea, light-headedness
- feeling out of breath
Public Speaking and Panic Attacks
It is often observed that many people’s top ranking fear is not death but having to speak in public. The joke is that these people would rather be lying in the casket at the funeral than giving the eulogy. Public speaking for people who suffer from panic attacks or general anxiety often becomes a major source of worry weeks or even months before the speaking event is to occur.
These speaking engagements do not necessarily have to be the traditional “on a podium” events but can be as simple as an office meeting where the individual is expected to express an opinion or give verbal feedback. The fear of public speaking and panic attacks in this case centers on having an attack while speaking. The individual fears being incapacitated by the anxiety and hence unable to complete what he or she is saying. The person imagines fleeing the spotlight and having to make all kinds of excuses later for their undignified departure out the office window…
This differs slightly from the majority of people who fear public speaking because their fear tends to revolve around going blank while speaking or feeling uncomfortable under the spotlight of their peers. The jitters or nerves of speaking in public are of course a problem for this group as well‚ but they are unfamiliar with that debilitating threat which is the panic attack‚ as they most likely have not experienced one before.
So how should a person with an anxiety issue tackle public speaking?
Stage one is accepting that all these bizarre and quite frankly unnerving sensations are not going to go away overnight. In fact‚ you are not even going to concern yourself with getting rid of them for your next talk. When they arrive during a speech/meeting‚ you are going to approach them in a new manner. What we need to do is build your confidence back to where it used to be before any of these sensations ever occurred. This time you will approach it in a unique‚ empowering manner‚ allowing you to feel your confidence again. It is said that most of the top speakers are riddled with anxiety before speaking‚ but they somehow use this nervousness to enhance their speech. I am going to show you exactly how to do this‚ although I know that right now if you suffer from public speaking and panic attacks you may find it difficult to believe you can ever overcome it.
My first point is this and it is important. The average healthy person can experience an extreme array of anxiety and very uncomfortable sensations while giving a speech and is in no danger of ever losing control‚ or even appearing slightly anxious to the audience. No matter how tough it gets‚ you will always finish your piece‚ even if at the outset it feels very uncomfortable to go on. You will not become incapacitated in any way.
Causes of Panic Attack
When confronted with danger, the brain sends signals to a section of the nervous system. It is this system that is responsible for gearing the body up for action and also calms the body down and restores equilibrium. To carry out these two vital functions, the autonomic nervous system has two subsections, the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.
Although I don’t want to become too “scientific,” having a basic understanding of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system will help you understand the causes of panic attacks.
The sympathetic nervous system is the one we tend to know all too much about because it primes our body for action, readies us for the “fight or flight” response, while the parasympathetic nervous system is the one we love dearly as it serves as our restoring system, which returns the body to its normal state.
When either of these systems is activated, they stimulate the whole body, which has an “all or nothing” effect. This explains why when a panic attack occurs, the individual often feels a number of different sensations throughout the body.
The sympathetic system is responsible for releasing the adrenaline from the adrenal glands on the kidneys. These are small glands located just above the kidneys. Less known, however, is that the adrenal glands also release adrenaline, which functions as the body’s chemical messengers to keep the activity going. When a panic attack begins, it does not switch off as easily as it is turned on. There is always a period of what would seem increased or continued anxiety, as these messengers travel throughout the body. Think of them as one of the physiological causes of panic attacks, if you will.
After a period of time, the parasympathetic nervous system gets called into action. Its role is to return the body to normal functioning once the perceived danger is gone. The parasympathetic system is the system we all know and love, because it returns us to a calm relaxed state.
Using Music to Beat Stress
Listening to music does wonder to alleviate stress. Everyone has different tastes in music. We should listen to the music that makes us feel comfortable. Sitting down and forcing yourself to listen to relaxation music that you don’t like may create stress, not alleviate it. Music is a significant mood-changer and reliever of stress, working on many levels at once.
The entire human energetic system is extremely influenced by sounds, the physical body and chakra centers respond specifically to certain tones and frequencies. Special consideration should be given to the positive effects of one actually playing or creating music themselves.
Among the first stress-fighting changes that take place when we hear a tune is an increase in deep breathing. The body’s production of serotonin also accelerates.
Playing music in the background while we are working, seemingly unaware of the music itself, has been found to reduce the stress of the workplace. That’s why so many retail places play music while you shop – to take your mind off the high prices!
Music was found to reduce heart rates and to promote higher body temperature - an indication of the onset of relaxation. Combining music with relaxation therapy was more effective than doing relaxation therapy alone.
Many experts suggest that it is the rhythm of the music or the beat that has the calming effect on us although we may not be very conscious about it. They point out that when we were a baby in our mother’s womb, we probably were influenced by the heart beat of our mother. We respond to the soothing music at later stages in life, perhaps associating it with the safe, relaxing, protective environment provided by our mother.
Calm Yourself With Visualization
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The purpose of visualization is to enable you to quickly clear mental stress, tension, and anxious thinking. The visualization can be used when feeling stressed and is particularly useful when your mind is racing with fearful, anxious thinking.
This visualization process, when practiced frequently, is very effective for eliminating deep-seated mental anxieties or intrusive thoughts. To gain maximum benefit, the exercise must be carried out for longer then 10 minutes at a time, as anything shorter will not bring noticeable results.
There is no right or wrong way to carry out the visualization. Be intuitive with it and do not feel you are unable to carry it out if you feel you are not very good at seeing mental imagery. As long as your attention is on the exercise, you will gain benefit.
It is best to do this exercise in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed, and then when you are more practiced you will be able to get the same positive results in a busier environment such as the workplace. You should notice a calming effect on your state of mind along with a sensation of mental release and relaxation.
Either sitting or standing, close your eyes and move your attention to your breath. To become aware of your breathing, place one hand on your upper chest and one on your stomach. Take a breath and let your stomach swell forward as you breathe in and fall back gently as you breathe out. Take the same depth of breath each time and try to get a steady rhythm going.
Your hand on your chest should have little or no movement. Again, try to take the same depth of breath each time you breathe in. This is called Diaphragmatic Breathing.
When you feel comfortable with this technique, try to slow your breathing rate down by instituting a short pause after you have breathed out and before you breathe in again. Initially, it may feel as though you are not getting enough air in, but with regular practice this slower rate will soon start to feel comfortable.
Dealing With Panic Attacks
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If you have panic attacks, it may help to comfort you that you are not alone! You’re not even one in a million. In America, it is estimated that almost 5% of the population suffer from some form of anxiety disorder.
For some, it may be the infrequent panic attacks that only crop up in particular situations-like when having to speak in front of others, while, for other people, it can be so frequent and recurring that it inhibits them from leaving their home. Frequent panic attacks often develop into what medical physicians refer to as an “anxiety disorder.”
There are many ways of coping with an anxiety disorder. Some may not work for you, but others just might. It helps to know some of the most common coping techniques for dealing with panic attacks when they begin.
Your first step is to recognize when a panic attack is about to begin. When you have enough of them, you start to really pay attention to the tingling sensation, the shortness of breath, and the disconnection from the real life around you.
Many people I talk to wonder what that disconnection is like. They have a hard time understanding it. Those of us who have panic attacks are all too familiar with it. It’s like you can look at a solid object and see that it is there. You know it’s there, but a part of your mind doubts that it really IS there.
You may find yourself reaching out to touch that object just to be sure. You feel like you’re not a part of the world around you. It’s as if you are just a spectator in your own life with no control over anything around you.
Believe me, this is a horrible feeling.