If you worry about finances, your health, or family matters, that’s a normal part of life. But if your anxiety is more generalized, never goes away and is getting worse, it’s time to take stock.
Dr. Nathan Brown
“Clinical anxiety is more excessive and more persistent” than normal worry, explained Nathan Brown, PsyD, LSU Clinical Psychologist at UMC. “It can last for six months or more and begins interfering with your social life, your personal and work life, and even with your ability to experience pleasure. It can also have a negative impact on your productivity.”
The symptoms of clinical anxiety disorders are far-reaching. They include feeling restless or on edge, which can lead to being easily fatigued.
It can become difficult to concentrate, and it’s easy to become irritable. Symptoms can include headaches, muscle aches, stomachaches, unexplained pains, and sleep problems.
So, why do some people suffer general anxiety disorders, while others don’t?
“In my opinion, it’s part biological, part psychological, and even has cultural causes,” Brown said.
“One third of anxiety disorders are inherited, so we have the genetic component. But, if you’re being raised by someone with an anxiety disorder, you might also model your behavior after that person. And, since neuroticism is a personality type, where people are anxious about having future anxiety, stressful experiences in the past may lead to a present fear and anxiety.”
Anxiety disorders come in all shapes and sizes, and can be very specific to one particular fear.
Phobias produce fears of everything from heights (acrophobia) to spiders (arachnophobia), and the all-encompassing agoraphobia which brings on fear of places and situations that may cause panic, helplessness, or embarrassment.
Many people with this disorder are afraid to leave their homes, so the anxiety produced can be paralyzing, especially when something as basic as standing in a line or being in a crowd can incite terror.
Leave a Reply