The Mindfulness Response: Anxiety

Types of Anxiety Disorders

            The different types of anxiety disorders have varying symptoms, and each is unique. They all concern ongoing anxiety, feeling a threat when there is none, and excessive worry. The treatment for different anxiety disorder has similarities with the use of medication, individual or group therapy, and building skills for relaxation and stress management (NAMI, 2017).

Panic Disorder 

            Panic attacks come on within 5- 10 minutes and have at least five symptoms. Panic attacks can occur repeatedly and without warning. There are people in the Emergency Room who report that they feel like they have had a heart attack, but when checked it is a panic attack. Panic attacks mimic other symptoms and cause powerful, physical symptoms including chest pain, heart palpitations, dizziness, shortness of breath, upset stomach and sudden feelings of terror or that doom is coming.

Phobias

            Most people with specific phobias have triggers. Common phobias are fear of heights, small places like elevators or claustrophobia. Therapy helps to reduce fear. A trained therapist will help a person learn to manage fear. Someone with specific phobias try to avoid their triggers and will create safety behaviors. These fears that create safety behaviors attempt to control it but in reality, it can take over a person’s life.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) 

            GAD is negative anxious thoughts that build up into chronic, exaggerated worrying about everyday life. This type of cognitive distortions or negative thoughts make it more difficult to concentrate or finish routine tasks. A person may describe low energy, fatigue, worry, headaches, tension, or nausea along with the anxiety.

Social Anxiety Disorder 

            Unlike shyness, this disorder causes intense fear and irrational worries about social humiliation. A person is nervous in social situations and fears being judged for–doing or saying something stupid. People may not participate in conversations, or offer their ideas, and may avoid parties, become isolated, and fear that a panic attack would occur.

Anxiety, PTSD and Psychosis

Calm                           Anxiety                        Panic                          PTSD, Psychosis        

Relaxed                       Nervous                       Overwhelmed                              Fear, Paranoia

Figure 5 Symptoms Ruler

PTSD _____________________________________________________________

Psychosis _____________________________________________________________

Physical Sensations _____________________________________________________________

Thoughts _____________________________________________________________

Feelings _____________________________________________________________

Actions _____________________________________________________________

Behaviors _____________________________________________________________

            Notice and observe your moods, feelings, and emotions. Make notes about what you feel or experience during the day and throughout the week. Try to keep track of your mood or symptoms changes and if there is any correlation to medication, stress, poor sleep, substance use, or other.

Causes for Anxiety

            Researchers believe that many factors combine to cause anxiety disorders. These include what is inherited from our parents, how we manage stress in our lives, and the effects of trauma on our lives. There are participants who are better at bouncing back from difficult situations than others. Some people have one experience and their sibling with the same experience may perceive it to be worse than what we did. Our past traumatic events in life can be cooled down with therapy and with mindfulness practice.

Genetics  

            Genetic factors families will have a higher-than-average numbers of members experiencing anxiety issues, and studies support the evidence that anxiety disorders run in families. This can be a factor in someone developing an anxiety disorder (NAMI, 2017).

Stress and the Environment

            A stressful or traumatic situation such as abuse, death of a loved one, violence or prolonged illness is often linked to the development of an anxiety disorder. Troubles in the family, with a relationship, a marriage, a divorce, legal issues, college or school classes and expectations can become source of stress.

Trauma memories 

            Visual flashbacks or emotional flashbacks, where suddenly a person is transported into the past trauma and reminded of all the pain.

I suddenly felt ashamed, and the trigger was a conversation on the radio about being assaulted. 

Psychosis memories 

            These can bring about triggers and flashbacks of being on inpatient mental health and not being able to manage symptoms.

My body was doing one thing and my mind was thinking about something else

Insight Into Different Types of Anxiety Disorders

THEME	Daily Stress	Social events	Obsessive Compulsive	Trauma memories	Panic or Anxiety Attack
Emotions And Feelings	Constant worry, nervous, anxious	Fear of embarrassment or being insulted.	Ruminating, worrisome, repetitive, thoughts, actions	Nightmares Flashbacks of trauma cause irritability	Feeling of being overwhelmed, doom, going crazy, or going to die.
Thoughts	I am nervous and worried about everything and everybody.	I am afraid to meet new people. People will judge me. People will think I am dumb.	I am unable to stop the thoughts or acts, or rituals. I must do them to feel calmer.	I am terrified by past trauma. I can’t trust.	I am unable to focus or concentrate. I can’t do things like I used to do.
Physical Response	My body is constantly tense, jittery. I have headaches. body aches.	I sweat, shake, tremble in social situations. My body is tense. I get headaches, body aches.	I have rituals that I must do, such as: checking, cleaning, organizing, shopping, hoarding, counting, saying, or doing things.	I avoid places and people. I isolate from others. I don’t answer calls. I don’t call friends. I am tense in my body.	My body shakes. I get dizzy, nausea, head, chest, stomach aches, throat closes and can’t breathe, ringing in ears, blurry vision.
Avoidance	I avoid conversations.	I avoid social or family events	I can’t get to appointments.	I avoid people and places	I avoid people and places.
NAME	Generalized Anxiety Disorder	Social Phobia Social Anxiety Disorder	Obsessive Compulsive Disorder	Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder	Panic Disorder
Treatment	Therapy, medications	Therapy, medications	Therapy, medications	Therapy, medications	Therapy, medications

Some Examples of Treatments and Therapy

Medications, psychiatry, individual, family, or couple’s therapy, intensive outpatient group therapy, support groups, occupational therapy, nurse consultation

DBT, CBT, REBT, exposure treatment: behavior therapy for fears and phobias, EMDR, (Eye Motion Desensitization and Reprocessing) trauma-focused therapy.