Anxiety disorders

In this fast-paced and high-pressure society, anxiety from different channels, such as life pressure, work pace, interpersonal relationship and social problems, has filled many people's lives and become a problem troubling the whole society. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America reports that general anxiety disorder (GAD) has become the most common mental health problem in the United States, with about 3.1% of the population or 6.8 million adults suffering from anxiety disorders, but less than half (43.2%) are receiving treatment [1]; According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) conducted by Malaysia's Ministry of Health in 2017, up to 79.4% of respondents developed anxiety symptoms in the past 12 months [2]. Anxiety disorder is a common mental illness, anxiety patients will because of the fear of the current event and the expected event of worry, and some things or time to produce irrational fear, affect the patient's thoughts, feelings, ability and behavior. Common social phobia, specific phobias (such as claustrophobia, trypophobia, acrophobia, fear of animals, etc.) and separation anxiety are all anxiety disorders [3]. Generally, young people are more likely to have anxiety disorders due to mental immaturity, lack of experience, and weak emotional control. Women are more sensitive than men, and the probability of suffering from anxiety disorder is about twice that of men [4]. How can we relieve the anxiety disorder? First of all, the concept of anxiety should be clear.

First, the concept and classification of anxiety disorders

Anxiety disorder is a neurotic disorder characterized by widespread and persistent anxiety or recurrent panic attacks [5]. The patient's anxiety is not caused by the actual situation, often accompanied by autonomic nerve dysfunction and motor restlessness, serious people can have panic attacks. At present, in clinical, mainly anxiety can be divided into two categories, generalized anxiety and panic attacks [6], generalized anxiety patients often appear puzzling, spontaneous, worry, fear, and tension on the realistic situation of emotional state, and will continue to nervous anxiety, and a significant plant nerve symptoms, muscle tension and motility, lasts more than six months. Patients with panic attacks will have a strong emotion of intense fear and avoidance of things, activities or situations for no reason, and the frequency of recurrent attacks is more than 4 times a month. The main symptoms are sweating, chest tightness, palpitation, dyspnea and shivering all over the body.

Two, the symptoms of anxiety disorder

The onset of anxiety is often accompanied by psychological, physiological and biochemical changes and a series of symptoms.

Psychological symptoms: reflected in a certain degree of emotional disorders, such as nervousness, upset, fear, panic or anxiety and irritability, feel that danger is imminent, but they are unable to face the alert state.

Physiological symptoms: also known as somatic symptoms, mainly cardiovascular system, respiratory system, nervous system, urinary system and other different symptoms, such as headache, insomnia, dreams, tinnitus, insomnia, syncope, tremor, sweating, palpitation, palpitation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, frequent urination, body chills, red face, etc.

Biochemical changes: Increases in blood glucose, epinephrine, corticosteroids, red blood cells, etc.

Three, effective ways to alleviate anxiety

"Born in worry, die in happiness", moderate anxiety will have a positive effect, but excessive anxiety will affect our health, life and work, so anxiety patients need to control the anxiety level in the appropriate range through effective therapy to improve work efficiency, ensure our quality of life.

Studies have shown that anxiety disorders are chronic, and sufferers may suffer from anxiety for years or decades. However, this does not mean that anxiety disorders will be with patients for the rest of their lives. Anxiety disorders generally start in childhood, adolescence or early adulthood, peak until middle age, and then decline again with age [4]. The main ways to relieve anxiety are drug therapy and psychological treatment. If you take drug treatment, it is recommended that patients go to professional medical institutions, after the doctor's diagnosis, with the doctor's advice to take the relevant drugs. Psychotherapy mainly includes supportive psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy and relaxation therapy [7] :

Supportive treatment: Patients can be encouraged by communicating and confiding in the doctor, and the doctor can be replaced by a suitable friend. At the same time, attention should be paid to reasonable diet, proper exercise and rest. In addition, deep breathing is also an effective way to relieve anxiety.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy: At present, it is the most effective method to treat anxiety disorders. It is mainly cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy, which can reduce dysregulated emotions and behaviors by changing the individual's thinking and evaluation mode, and regulating the behavior itself, respectively. It needs to be treated under the guidance of professional psychotherapist.

Relaxation therapy: Induction of muscle relaxation through techniques such as hypnosis, meditation, relaxation training and biofeedback is the easiest and most effective of the three methods to relieve anxiety and is best treated under the guidance of a professional psychotherapist.

Although anxiety disorders have become the most common mental illness, the number of people seeking treatment in medical institutions is very low. The European Epidemiological Study of Mental Disorders reported that only 20.6% of depression patients would seek help from medical institutions. Among those who sought professional treatment from medical institutions, 23.2% did not receive any treatment, 30.8% only received drug treatment, 19.6% only received psychological treatment, and 26.5% received both drug treatment and psychological treatment [8]. Relevant data show that the combination of psychology and drugs is more effective than psychotherapy alone [9]. However, considering that anxiety disorders are mainly psychological disorders, the use of drugs may produce side effects or make patients dependent, so it is recommended that patients take the priority of non-drug treatment to alleviate. If the patient's symptoms are serious and have seriously affected their normal life, it is recommended to go to a professional medical institution for drug and psychological dual treatment in time. At the same time, in daily life, efforts to maintain a good state of mind, positive self-counseling and relaxation are also effective ways to relieve anxiety.