A
small word which can describe a large
set of emotions, which usually can be worry, worried, frightened, scared, paranoid, feeling persecuted
right up to schizophrenia/paranoid schitzophrenia.
Anxiety, within reason, is just a part of life; everybody experiences at some point. It is connected to the fight or flight syndrome that we, as have all animals, have deep within us, enabling us to survive.
It can become a problem when anxiety takes over most of your feelings and therefore, your life. There are many medical definitions of this state of being, such as generalised anxiety disorder, non-specific anxiety disorder, persecution complex and many more. If necessarry, there are medications/
drugs available to help alleviate the symptoms and sometimes tackle the cause of these anxiety states.
If a diagnosis does not include one of the main mental illnesses, then it's often likely
people will be prescribed
one brand from a group of benzodiazepine
drugs: The most well known of these is probably Valium. These
drugs are addictive, can cause
nasty side effects and
long term side effects and, if used for too
long can actually make the original problem worse, with paradoxical effects. The withdrawal from this drug can result in some of the worst withdrawal symptoms known, and can last for years.
If prescribed a {benzodiazepine] it should be for no longer than a two week period What has become known as talking cures are a safer, cheaper alternative and can actually do something to help the original problem, rather than just masking it.
In some cases, such as paranoid schitzophrenia
drugs, usually
anti psychotics, can be of great help and allow the sufferer to live a far more '
normal' life.
Anxiety is just a state of mind, and, even when having a panic attack and it feels as if you may die, emotions are not generally known to kill you.
My palms felt sweaty and I was
sure I was going
red in the
face, as I stood in the line for the bus. I was begining to feel more and more anxious and the more I thought about it, the worse it got. Eventually, the anxiety took control of me and I started to panic. I left the bus stop, ran home and didn't attend the job interview.