It used to be called stress and in some cases the ill effects were referred to as psychosomatic. In the last twenty-five years and more so in the last fifteen years physicians, mental health care professionals and ordinary people have come to understand that anxiety disorders exist and negatively impact people on a broad scale.
We live in an anxious world. Many of us grew up in anxious homes and an anxious community. Boomer children were faced with fearful situations that were in our face because of television, radio, and then the internet. There were no buffers to shield us from the direct onslaught. School, jobs, every aspect of life became seed beds for stress, fear, and anxious situations. Those levels of anxiety affected our jobs, relationships, and daily lives. Those conditions are if anything worse for current generations. The Anxiety Disorders Association of America provide these statistics:
Statistics and Facts About Anxiety Disorders
- Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older (18.1% of U.S. population).
- Anxiety disorders cost the U.S. more than $42 billion a year, almost one-third of the country’s $148 billion total mental health bill, according to “The Economic Burden of Anxiety Disorders,” a study commissioned by ADAA and published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Vol. 60, No. 7, July 1999.
- More than $22.84 billion of those costs are associated with the repeated use of health care services; people with anxiety disorders seek relief for symptoms that mimic physical illnesses.
- People with an anxiety disorder are three to five times more likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than those who do not suffer from anxiety disorders.
NUMBERS AND PERCENTAGES REFER TO ADULTS AFFECTED IN U.S. POPULATION
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
6.8 million, 3.1%
- Women are twice as likely to be affected than men.
- Very likely to be comorbid with other disorders.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
2.2 million, 1.0%
- Equally common among men and women.
- One-third of affected adults first experienced symptoms in childhood.
- In 1990, OCD cost the U.S. 6% of the total $148 billion mental health bill.
Panic Disorder
6 million, 2.7%
- Women are twice as likely to be affected than men.
- Very high comorbidity rate with major depression.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
7.7 million, 3.5%
- Women are more likely to be affected than men.
- Rape is the most likely trigger of PTSD, 65% of men and 45.9% of women who are raped will develop the disorder.
- Childhood sexual abuse is a strong predictor of lifetime likelihood for developing PTSD.
Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)
15 million, 6.8%
- It is equally common among men and women.
Specific Phobias
19 million, 8.7%
- Women are twice as likely to be affected as men.
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For many years people went undiagnosed with doctors, employers, and family unable to understand the energy expended to operate relatively normally in the daily world. It was not until the mid 90s that I heard any health care worker speak of an anxiety disorder. Often anxiety sufferers were labeled as people seeking attention, slackers, excitable, or other pejorative attitudes. For some their work or family culture was such that it was okay to be a little stressed, but one could not acknowledge an anxiety disorder without jeopardizing their career or family life. I know that the military was (and probably continues to be) such a culture.The signs of anxiety can be both physical and emotional. Helpguide.org discusses symptoms that include:
The primary symptoms of irrational and excessive fear and worry as well as other common emotional symptoms of anxiety such as:
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Common physical symptoms of anxiety include:
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The causes of anxiety disorders are not well understood but most professionals agree that there are multiple contributors that include heredity, brain chemistry, personality, and life experiences. The icing on the cake is that anxiety sufferers often experience some degree of depression since the same vulnerabilities cause both. Life with an untreated anxiety disorder is physically and emotionally difficult. However, many people do not seek treatment because of fear of being negatively labeled or having people think less of them or think that they are crazy.
Luckily, once understood, anxiety can be treated with relaxation techniques, therapy, and medication. The medication for the most part is the same that is used for depression. For most people, anxiety is not a short term disorder, but a chronic condition that continues lifelong at some level. It is an exercise in balance and awareness to minimize flares and acute episodes. Awareness of triggers and situations that upset the balance and using the tools we have been given to help us manage situations.
I write this because it affects me and my family and because it is a real issue and not simply a new syndrome for pharmaceutical companies to throw a drug at. I personally know eight people who suffer from some form of anxiety disorder. Most are long term sufferers and most have begun treatment only in the last one to three years. You probably know some who is dealing with this problem. The best way you can help is to be informed, supportive, and compassionate. If you are suffering from untreated anxiety, speak to your physician or health care professional and know that you are not alone.