We explain what this psychological disorder that affects so many people consists of.
For this reason, when dealing with emotional and behavioral problems, one of the first steps is to detect the possible alterations that have to do with anxiety and stress, to prevent them from feeding the discomfort.
Now… how to identify anxiety? Let’s see what this phenomenon consists of and what are the symptoms that characterize it.
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What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state that involves several processes in the body , which occur both at a conscious and unconscious level. Specifically, it is characterized by a state of high activation of the nervous system, which has several consequences in practically all the systems of the organism, and also predisposes us to carry out certain behaviors, as we will see.
In general, the anxious person will show a tendency to quickly detect stimuli that may indicate the presence of some danger or opportunity, and many body functions are adjusted to be “in a state of emergency”. This happens because, evolutionarily, anxiety arose as a mechanism to adapt to moments in which it pays to invest a lot of energy to maximize the chances of survival, either to escape danger or to access valuable resources that can satisfy basic needs for a while.
On the other hand, it must be taken into account that the vast majority of people express anxiety at some point or another in their lives; it is not a psychological trait present only in some individuals and not in others. Of course, some people have a greater predisposition to enter this state.
How to identify it?
These are the main symptoms that indicate the presence of high levels of anxiety. All of them occur in different degrees of intensity and frequency, and it is not necessary to manifest all of them for us to consider that we are anxious.
Physiological symptoms
Anxiety produces a large number of physiological type symptoms that can be easily detected by the person who manifests them as well as by others, especially in medical contexts.
The most common are the following:
- cold sweats
- Tremors (muscles remain tense)
- heart rate acceleration
- blood pressure rise
- Contraction of skin capillaries (skin appears paler)
- Tremor in the voice (as a result of muscle tension)
- Dizziness (if anxiety level is high)
- Alterations in the functioning of the intestines
- nausea
psychological symptoms
As for psychological symptoms, these have to do with the need to react quickly to stimuli that come from the environment. They are the following.
- Concentration problems
- Irritability and sensitivity to stimuli
- recurring thoughts
- Fear of what might happen in the short and medium term.
behavioral symptoms
The behavioral symptoms of anxiety are those that are reflected in the physical movement of individuals, their way of physically interacting with the environment.
These are the tendency to flee and the tendency to avoid . This implies that significantly anxious people, in many contexts, avoid situations that could subject them to a lot of psychological pressure, or else directly leave them if they are already involved in one. This becomes very clear in the case of phobias , one of the most frequent anxiety disorders.
What to do to combat this discomfort?
A certain level of anxiety is normal and does not have to be bad; As we have seen, it is useful, since it allows us to react quickly to situations in which we are at risk or in which we can gain a lot in a short time.
However, sometimes anxiety can be excessive, making us feel bad and negatively affecting our quality of life . In these cases, it is advisable to go to a psychologist.
And it is that psychology professionals have the training and methods to properly manage this psychological phenomenon when it accumulates and causes us problems. This improvement usually requires several sessions, but once the therapeutic process has begun, the patient begins to adopt habits and thought routines that are very effective in counteracting the harmful influence of anxiety.
Bibliographic references:
- Craske, Michelle G.; Stein, Murray B.; Eley, Thalia C.; Milad, Mohammed R.; Holmes, Andrew; Rapee, Ronald M.; Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich (May 4, 2017). “Anxiety disorders”. Nature Reviews Disease Primers. 3: 17024.
- Hofmann, S.G., Dibartolo, P.M. (2010). Introduction: Toward an Understanding of Social Anxiety Disorder. Social Anxiety. pp. xix–xxvi.
- Nivard, M. G.; Dolan, C. V.; Kendler, K. S.; Kan, K.-J.; Willemsen, G.; van Beijsterveldt, C. E. M.; Lindauer, R. J. L.; van Beek, J. H. D. A.; Geels, L. M. (September 4, 2014). “Stability in symptoms of anxiety and depression as a function of genotype and environment: a longitudinal twin study from ages 3 to 63 years”. Psychological Medicine. 45 (5): pp. 1039 – 1049.
- Richards, A., French, C.C. (1991). Effects of encoding and anxiety on implicit and explicit memory performance. Personality and Individual Differences. 12 (2): pp. 131 – 139.
To the classic question “what do you do?” I always answer “basically I am a psychologist”. In fact, my academic training has revolved around the psychology of development, education and community, a field of study influenced my volunteer activities, as well as my first work experiences in personal services.