If you recognize yourself in any of the descriptions below, don't panic. Anyone can develop an anxiety disorder or overlapping anxiety disorders, especially in today's world, where we are constantly bombarded with stress. We are built for nature, walking barefoot, swimming, eating natural food, and bird song. We aren't made for skyscrapers, cell phone towers, transportation, and McDonald's. While we might be used to these things, they still cause stress.
According to The National Institute of Mental Health, at least 40 million Americans suffer from an anxiety disorder at any time. However, in most cases, even in these numbers, sensitivity can be reduced, and anxiety disorders erased relatively quickly.
Anxiety & Overwhelm
By definition, anxiety is a state of worry or uneasiness about what may happen or an eagerness to do well in some areas. Overwhelm is a state of dis-ease (of being uncomfortable), where you feel you can no longer cope with feelings or circumstances, much less come up with clear answers or solutions to your problems. When ongoing, stress can lead to feeling overwhelmed. When you are overwhelmed, stress triggers chemical and electrical responses in your body, leading to symptoms and syndromes such as fatigue, irritability, sadness, and hypersensitivity. You can expect symptoms to arise if you have been overwhelmed for a significant amount of time or have suffered significant trauma. Your body is simply reacting normally to your emotions.
Anxiety Sensitivity (The New Kid on the Block)
A small percentage of the world's population reacts more strongly and suspiciously toward anxiety symptoms. They become fearful and panic when others can ignore them. The reason for this seems to be that they associate symptoms of anxiety with health problems. For example, they may fear heart palpitations are signs of an impending heart attack or that a feeling of tightness in the chest represents a breathing problem. Anxiety sensitivity isn't the same as Hypochondriasis.
While everyone avoids anxiety to some extent, some people go out of their way to prevent it. These people are likely to go on to develop panic attacks and phobias, such as agoraphobia.
People with anxiety sensitivity are concerned about the fear of physical, cognitive (what they think), and publicly observable symptoms (what others will notice).
If you're anxious about being anxious, you place significant value on feeling safe and have a high need for tranquility. Everyone wants to feel safe, but you don't feel safe as long as you have symptoms of fear. Fear of fear often leads the anxiously sensitive person down a path of panic, phobias, and depression.
I believe people with anxiety sensitivity are likely Highly Sensitive People with genetically inherited traits. Highly Sensitive People comprise 10-20% of the world's population. Not HSPs develop anxiety sensitivity, but many do and some to larger degree than others. Being highly sensitive is often misdiagnosed as anxiety or depression when it isn't.
Highly Sensitive People
Highly Sensitive People are born more sensitive to their senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and spirit) than 80% of the rest of the population. Their senses are heightened, and they notice them more, which can be disturbing. HSPs also have a heightened sense of intuition. Although being highly sensitive is genetic, it is not a disorder.
HSPs are more inclined to develop anxiety disorders later in life simply because they are so sensitive. Their heightened sensitivity to stimulation (sensory, social, or informational overload) can create symptoms that mimic anxiety or depression, which causes misdiagnosis of these disorders. You can read about how HSPs are hard-wired for stress here.
Some people develop sensitivity even though they do not have the genetic trait of sensitivity due to stress, anxiety, overwhelm, or trauma. These people recover from stress much more quickly than Highly Sensitive People do.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
If you have Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), you've been anxious for quite a while. Your anxiety is chronic but non-specific. Meaning there's nothing you can think of that is making you nervous. You just are. Your stress interferes with day-to-day tasks. You're unfocused and preoccupied. You sometimes have difficulty making decisions, even simple ones, such as what you want to wear. Stay anxious and nervous long enough, and you can experience a panic attack.
Panic Disorder
Panic disorder is often considered a psychiatric disorder when you have intense panic attacks unrelated to external events. In other words, there's no reason to be afraid. Yet, you are reacting like you are about to be eaten alive. Your panic disorder becomes situational when associating your panic attacks with particular people, places, or situations. It can quickly lead to avoidance behaviors, leading to a phobia.
Phobias (including Agoraphobia)
Phobias are typically fearful reactions to largely non-dangerous stimuli, such as when you are afraid of spiders (Arachnophobia). If you are scared of spiders, you may overreact to seeing one, even from across a room.
If you have agoraphobia, you might not leave the house without someone accompanying you. Typical phobias include fear of flying, public speaking, driving, heights, and closed-in spaces. You wouldn't typically fear a spider across the room, leaving your house to check the mail or visit a store. Furthermore, riding an elevator won't harm you. These types of fear are not based on reality, even though they may be genuine to you.
According to Dr. Harold N. Levinson, author of Phobia Free, there are three types of phobias. 5% of all phobias result from a neurotic condition, which can respond reasonably well to conventional psychotherapy. Another 5% of all phobias result from severe traumas, such as plane crashes, dog attacks, or war. However, according to Dr. Levinson, 90% of phobias are caused by the cerebellar-vestibular system, more commonly called the inner ear, which can be treated with Dramamine, Scopolamine, or Benadryl. While I agree with those as being likely causes of phobias, I am inclined not to agree with those percentages. I was also severely agoraphobic for ten years, and there was nothing wrong with my ears. Still, it doesn't hurt to have your ears checked, especially if you deal with allergies, or you could try taking an over-the-counter cold or allergy medication containing Guaifenesin, such as Tylenol Cold Multi-Symptom Severe to see if it helps.
Often, sensitivities and anxiety disorders overlap. For example, you could be a sensitive person with a phobia but never have a panic attack. Or, you could be someone who was not born sensitive but have General Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Or, as mentioned earlier, you could be a Highly Sensitive Person (someone born sensitive) with a panic disorder but no phobia or GAD. However, anyone, sensitive or not, can develop an anxiety disorder.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
When you have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), include a combination of cognitive and behavioral therapy in your treatment. These therapies work very well to heal the mind and soul regarding abuse and trauma issues. Many wellness suggestions for anxiety, panic, phobias, and depression can also help PTSD when combined withCognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
"If left unchecked, emotional memory can lead to chronic fear, forming the basis of anxiety disorders such as phobias, panic attacks, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Normally, the prefrontal cortex dampens the amygdala's response and calms the fear. But for most PTSD sufferers, their prefrontal cortex does not send this message. About 25 percent of Americans have a diagnosable anxiety disorder at some point in their lives… (http://www.ect.org/effects/memory.html)".
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