About Anxiety
Learn about the signs, symptoms and causes of anxiety.
Anxiety overview
Feeling anxious can be an instinctive response – it’s what’s known as a ‘fight-or-flight’ response which helps us to detect and avoid danger. So if it’s human nature to feel tense or react nervously in situations where we feel threatened or under pressure – you might ask, “why is it so important to talk about anxiety?” It’s because there’s a big difference between a natural response, and having persistent or excessive feelings of stress, worry or dread – especially in the face of a situation that wouldn’t normally evoke an anxious response.
People who struggle with an anxiety disorder have an uncontrollable ‘fight-or-flight’ response which perceives threats at a heightened level – even when there are none – allowing one’s mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles. Anxiety is when those anxious feelings don’t seem to go away, and often there is no logical reason or cause behind them.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is an umbrella term for several mental health disorders that cause persistent, uncontrollable, or irrational experiences of worry, stress, nervousness, fear or apprehension. These disorders affect how a person feels and behaves, resulting in self-criticism and feelings of inadequacy, and can even cause physical symptoms. Anxiety makes it difficult to cope with life’s everyday challenges, which is why it can impact a person’s professional and personal endeavours.
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health disorders, affecting about one in four Australians at some point in their life.
Causes of anxiety
An anxiety condition isn't developed or caused by a single factor but a combination of things. A number of other factors play a role, including personality factors, difficult life experiences and physical health.
Anxiety disorders are caused by many factors, such as:
- Family history of mental health conditions
- Personality factors
- Ongoing stressful events including:
- work stress or job change
- change in living arrangements
- pregnancy and giving birth
- family and relationship problems
- major emotional shock following a stressful or traumatic event
- verbal, sexual, physical or emotional abuse or trauma
- death or loss of a loved one
Types of anxiety
An anxiety disorder can develop in a number of ways. A better understanding of anxiety and its different types, is a positive first step towards learning how to deal with anxiety.
Some common diagnoses include:
Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)
This is the most common anxiety disorder. It is a mental health condition when you have uncontrollable worry and anxiety that isn’t necessarily connected to recent stressful events, but it can be brought on by certain situations.
Social anxiety disorder (SAD)
Social anxiety disorder, or social phobia, is when you are affected by a significant amount of fear of avoidance within social situations, causing considerable distress and impaired ability to function in parts of your daily life.
Panic disorder
If you experience unexpected and disabling panic attacks, and are also preoccupied with the fear of a recurring attack, you may have a panic disorder. A panic attack may include a rapid heartbeat , sweating, shaking, shortness of breath, numbness, or an overwhelming sense of fear.
Specific phobias
This type of anxiety is defined as an extreme fear of a particular object, activity or situation which is out of proportion with the actual level of threat posed. People struggling with a phobia feel anxious when faced with a spider or snake, aircraft travel, germs, injections, or tall buildings, to name a few.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder in which people have recurring intrusive and unwanted thoughts, ideas or feelings (obsessions) that often drive them to do something repetitively (compulsions) like checking things repeatedly or performing certain routines over and over.
Signs and symptoms
If you suffer from anxiety, your physical, behavioural and psychological characteristics may be very different to another person with anxiety. Signs and symptoms of anxiety will vary depending on the type of disorder, frequency of symptoms, severity of the disorder, and any pre-existing mental health disorders.
Often the symptoms are not obvious, which is why it’s important to seek professional healthcare advice if you notice any symptoms of anxiousness that are affecting your quality of life.
Common features of an anxiety disorder include:
Physical
- Panic attacks
- Rapid heart rate or breathing
- Tightening of the chest
- Hot and cold flushes
- Nausea
- Churning stomach
- Insomnia or restlessness
- Trembling or twitching
- Digestive issues
- Sweating
- Shortness of breath
- Dry mouth
- Numbness or tingling sensations
Psychological
- Excessive or irrational fear
- Obsessive thoughts
- Self-doubt
- Feeling worthless
- Catastrophising (anticipating the worst outcomes)
- Worry
- Apprehension
- Excessive risk analysis
- Mood swings or irritability
- Feeling helpless
- Disassociation
Behavioural
- Avoiding certain situations or environments
- Procrastinating tasks
- Rituals or compulsions
- Changes in eating or sleeping habits
- Difficulty concentrating
- Hyper-vigilance
- Moping or isolation
- Nervous tics
- Agitation
- Inability to sit still or remain calm
- Using substances to self-medicate