Anxiety Disorders Information

A fairly ?new' anxiety, Social Anxiety disorder was overlooked for quite a long while by the medical community as it was often confused with shyness. That being said, the drug companies haven't been backward and there are as many Social Anxiety medications on the market as there are other anxiety medications although truly most anti anxiety drugs are suitable for all types of anxiety disorders. Only a very few drugs are completely anxiety specific, so a general mild anti anxiety medication will probably work just as well as specific Social Anxiety medications.

What is social anxiety, you ask? Well, to put it simply you fear certain social situations and will go to any lengths to avoid them. This doesn't necessarily follow that you'll be of a retiring nature and that you won't like social gatherings. It only means that certain specific social situations lead you to feel anxiety and sometimes to experience panic attacks. So whereas a person with a shy disposition might shirk all social gatherings, you could be the life of the party one minute with all eyes on you and loving it and the next minute something could happen to bring about your Social Anxiety. Perhaps you find yourself in a humiliating situation or you find yourself in a position from which you can't remove yourself and that's when your Social Anxiety symptoms will all kick in at once drowning you in their viselike grip. So what can you do about it?

First rest assured that you can generally use Social Anxiety medications to treat your condition, but it's always a good idea to make certain that you truly are suffering from Social Anxiety and not just plain shyness. So here are a few symptoms for you to look out for when next you find yourself in that position.

Fear of being socially humiliated, fear of being embarrassed, heightened feelings of awareness, shortness of breath, sweaty hands, trembling and twitching. If you experience palpitations, nausea and lightheadedness, along with feelings of incompetence and extreme cases of anxiety as well then there's a good chance that you suffer from Social Anxiety or Social Phobia as it's also known. These symptoms might seem like normal ?shy person' symptoms but they only become Social Anxiety symptoms when they're experienced in the extreme end of the spectrum of feelings.

Social Anxiety medications however can fix these problems easily especially if caught in the early stages so you need not suffer for too long. However if you're unwilling to get on the medication bandwagon, there are always alternative treatments available for you. Therapy can also be a viable alternative to Social Anxiety medications and can help you greatly. Talk with your doctor about all your alternatives and find the right one for you. Social situations need not be embarrassing or excruciatingly painful affairs; and who knows you might just find yourself enjoying yourself for the first time in a long while if you can find the correct suitable cure for yourself.

Tags: anxiety and depression, anxiety disorder, anxiety attack

Anxiety and panic attacks are mental conditions that affect a large portion of people. While these attacks can be frightening, they are generally mild and don't always occur often. A panic attack differs from a panic disorder in that a panic attack may happen a few times. While these attacks can be frightening while they are going on, they are not severe. Panic disorder on the other hand can be debilitating as you are constantly suffering from fear, anxiety and panic on a regular basis. How can you identify panic disorder symptoms then?

The symptoms of panic attacks and panic disorders are largely the same. To add to these emotions of panic attacks, you will experience a cyclic effect of anxiety and worry in your panic disorder symptoms. The reason for this cyclic effect is that you are waiting for the next attack to strike. While you are waiting your fear and anxiety continues to build up. So the next time a panic attack occurs not only will you feel the symptoms of a panic attack, you will also have other more intense and debilitating panic disorder symptoms to contend with.

Panic disorder is a severe condition that must be treated quickly. Should this mental disorder be left untreated or be misdiagnosed then the sufferer will be on a roller coaster of constant worry and anxiety. Agoraphobia is an escalated effect of untreated panic disorder and is a state where the victim is housebound because they're afraid to risk exposing themselves to panic disorder symptoms.

Panic disorders can show up as early as our teenage years or early adulthood. Stressful and major life transitions can also trigger panic disorder symptoms. Panic disorder can have mild effects on your life; they can also lead to social impairment or even agoraphobia. Any phobias that develop as a result of this disorder comes mainly from a fear of triggering another panic disorder attack.

The symptoms of panic attacks are dizziness, lightheadedness, chest pains, shortness of breath, rapidly beating heart, nausea, excessive sweating, stomach problems, shivers or chills, smothering feelings, mind paralyzing terror, shaking, trembling, a sense of unreality, a fear that you are losing your mind, fear of your death, feeling that you can't get any air, difficulty breathing, tingling in your fingers or toes.

The added panic disorder symptoms are an intense anxiety that another panic attack will occur, lingering worry, depression, suicide and a restriction in your life. The restriction happens as you actively seek to avoid situations where panic disorder symptoms will become full blown and leave you terrified.

As you can see while both panic attack and panic disorder are basically the same the effect that they have on you are different. As this mental condition is very serious it is best to get help as soon as you can. Identifying panic disorder symptoms is just the beginning of your cure and your will to fight back is another part of it.

Tags: anxiety and depression, anxiety symptoms, anxiety medications

A great many of us are acquainted with fear and stress. These are normal situations in our lives and once we pass these troubles we tend to forget about them. Unfortunately there are people who live with fear and panic their whole lives. For these people panic does not mean a reaction to a normal dangerous situation, instead it means wondering when you will be terrified and helpless next. This is what having panic disorder can do to you.

Panic disorder is a serious condition. The feelings arising from this disorder are irrational to the situation. They have a tendency to appear in response to stressful events in our lives. These may be events like getting married, having your first child, even changing your job. Panic disorders usually start from panic attacks. These can sometimes arise during teenage years to early adulthood.

Panic attacks and their symptoms are associated with panic disorder. The symptoms can range from a fast beating heart, dizziness, nausea, paralyzing terror, smothering sensations to a fear of death. Sometimes panic disorder can lead to various phobias, substance abuse, medical complications and in extreme cases, suicide.

The sufferer of panic disorder will live in constant and persistent fear of future panic attacks reoccurring. The effect of living with panic disorder is that you tend to restrict your life in certain areas so that you avoid triggering another panic attack. While we may think that this behavior is strange, for the panic disorder victim this sort of lifestyle tends to be a nightmare.

The effects of panic disorder ranges from mild to being socially impaired to the more serious and debilitating condition of agoraphobia, where you are housebound for a large part of your life as you desire to avoid another panic attack. With panic disorder, phobias are usually the result. Here phobias do not develop with regards to specific objects or events in one's life. Instead experiencing a panic attack in different places or situations will cause the phobia to manifest itself.

People who may have had 4 or more repeated panic attacks and who think that they might have another such bout of pure mind numbing terror should consult with a psychiatrist who specializes in anxiety and panic disorders. This is very important because the longer your condition is left untreated, the more the quality of your life will degrade.

Many therapists agree that the best ways to treat panic disorder is with cognitive therapy, behavioral therapy and in some a combination of these two along with prescription medication. These are all excellent methods to control your panic disorder, however these will remain only methods and not possible cures if you do not take the first step in seeing a trained psychiatrist as well as completing the course of treatment.

Tags: anxiety and depression, generalized anxiety, anxiety medication

When humans began to evolve they developed an instinct for danger. This response made their bodies get ready to fight for survival or run away until they were in a position that would aid their living. This state is called a fight or flight reaction. That emotional state has survived into our present day lives. However the feelings that arise from this can lead to panic attacks as our bodies have no way of getting rid of the excess adrenaline that is present because of the fight or flight response.

Panic attacks are an exaggerated condition due to fear. While some fear is healthy, in panic attacks there is an overwhelming amount of fear. The panic attack can come into our lives with no warning at all. There may be no logical reason why we can get into a state of panic, however once a panic attack occurs it is very intense and there is nothing that we can do about it.

There are a number of symptoms that can be found in a victim of panic attacks. A racing or pounding heart, difficulty in breathing, feeling as if you are struggling to get air, paralyzing terror, dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea, trembling, excessive sweating, shaking, choking, chest pains, hot flashes, sudden chills, tingling in your fingers or toes (otherwise called pins and needles) and the overwhelming fear that you are going to die.

The symptoms that were given above are ones that we may experience as a result of a perceived danger. In a panic attack these reaction arise with no valid reason. They may occur in situations that are normally safe and harmless. There are instances where a panic attack victim will have an attack whilst they are sleeping as well.

As panic attacks can occur suddenly and with no warning signs, there is really no way that they can be stopped once started. The amounts of stress hormones and adrenaline that is released and the level of fear that we experience in a panic attack is out of proportion to the actual situation. The only thing we can do is to try and control our excessive emotions through various means and treatments.

While a person is in the grip of a panic attack, they go through an intense and excessive amount of terror. As these feelings are extremely intense, the few minutes that they last may seem like an eternity.

For those of us who live normal lives terror is but a fleeting emotion. A person who has panic attacks relives this fear constantly every day. The only way out of this maze is treatment and if you suffer from panic attacks be assured that there are many viable treatment methods out there and that with a little time and effort on your part you should be able to cure your panic attacks without too much hassle.

Tags: stress and anxiety, anxiety attack symptoms, anxiety drugs

Panic and anxiety are our bodies' normal response to danger. This reaction is a reason why the human race has been able to evolve despite all of the dangers that our ancestors had to face. Were we to live without this defense mechanism there is a strong chance that we would blindly walk into danger and get killed. Should this defensive response to danger go out of control, then instead of normal anxiety and panic, we must deal with panic attack symptoms or worse.

Panic attacks are scary as they overwhelm us with a sudden surge of irrational fear. There is no time to prepare for the panic attack symptoms as we receive no prior warning. These intense feelings of panic can arise for no obvious fear.

How would you know what the panic attack symptoms are? While there are a number of them, should you suffer from four or more of these symptoms then you may inform a trained anxiety specialist that you could be suffering from panic attack disorder. The sooner that you have these symptoms medically identified then your proper course of medication may begin.

The many panic attack symptoms are as follows: a violently pounding heart, difficulty breathing, feeling a lack of oxygen, mind numbing terror, dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea, trembling, lots of sweating, shaking, choking, chest pains, hot flashes, sudden chills, tingling in the fingers or toes.

As much as these are part of our ingrained response to fighting for survival or fleeing uncontrollable danger, these become symptoms of panic when this reaction arises for no known dangers or circumstances. Panic attack symptoms may come into existence in situations that seem to be harmless to an outside observer. A person who has panic attack disorder will manifest this complaint even in the throes of deep sleep.

Panic attack symptoms can let us know that we are suffering from a mental condition that can be treated successfully. As untreated panic attack can deteriorate into panic disorder it is best to understand panic attack symptoms for what they are and get medical aid as fast as possible.

Should you experience a panic attack in a place like an elevator then you might develop another type of anxiety disorder as well. This disorder is specific phobia and arises more out of your desire not to go through another bout of panic attack or feel the paralyzing effects of panic attack symptoms, rather than having a phobia regarding elevators.

Sufferers of panic attacks know that this disorder can strike at any time without any warning. This leaves no time to prepare or stop the panic attack symptoms. They also know that the level of fear that they experience has nothing to do with their situation.

Once you and your psychiatrist or doctor, have identified what your panic attack symptoms really are then you can try cognitive and behavioral therapy in conjunction with prescription medicines to reduce and maybe even cure your panic attacks. There's no better alternative than a cure.

Tags: anxiety attacks, anxiety causes, anxiety help