Anxiety, in layman terms, is physical unease. It often related to the future or anticipating impending doom in the future.
Feelings associated with anxiety are a normal response when in a stressful situation. But this becomes a disorder when there is excessive worry and stress reaction even when there is not a stressful situation.
Risk factors for the development of anxiety disorder:
- Family history of anxiety disorder or any other mental illness
- Females have a higher risk of developing anxiety disorders than males
- Exposure to chronic stress, violence or trauma
- Lack of strong social support
- Low socioeconomic status
- Having inadequate coping skills
For a person suffering from an anxiety disorder, the anxiety does not go away and can get worse over time. The symptoms can interfere in the daily functioning of the individual in job performance, school work, and relationships.
How chronic anxiety is harmful to you:
- Anxiety makes the person feel at the edge all the time which might lead to irritability.
- With anxiety comes a negative perspective while stunts the mental growth
- Anxiety attacks can also lead to chronic heart diseases, heart attacks or strokes
- In a lot of cases anxiety is a stepping stone for the development of depression
- Anxiety takes a toll on respiratory functions and physical health
- Inability to have a healthy sleeping and eating pattern
- Anxiety is most of the time accompanied by feelings of incompetence which does hamper a person’s self-esteem
- Anxiety also leads to distrust and doubts in relationships, damaging the relationships
- People with anxiety might also use alcohol and drugs to soothe their symptoms which can lead to addiction.
- Carrying out daily activities is very difficult due to the lack of motivation
- People suffering from anxiety withdraw themselves from social interaction
- Excessive stress caused due to worrying can seed to forgetfulness and memory loss
- When anxiety is left untreated, it compromises the immunity system leaving you more susceptible to physical illness
- Problem concentrating makes it difficult to perform tasks quickly and effectively
- Worrying about anxiety itself can cause a lot of panic attacks, making a vicious circle of growing anxiety
- Unable to cope with anxiety, suicidal thoughts can cross the mind and might even lead to self-harm
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