Category: Anxiety

Most of the people around the world are suffering from an anxiety disorder. However, the problem took a new form during the lockdown due to the pandemic. People who have a history of anxiety and depression are the people who suffer a lot due to the lockdown. Besides this, the daily wage workers got effected to the level words can’t describe their misery.

How anxiety trigger? Everyone is eager to know what’s happening around the world. The number of positive cases, all this kind of news triggers anxiety in people who have a previous history of anxiety. On the other hand, even normal people are feeling anxious regarding the situation we are facing.

How to stop anxiety? Feeling anxious is a common symptom during distress. However, one can overcome it with a few relaxing techniques. This will help them in both mental and physical health. Many people won’t pay much attention to anxiety, considering it to be a normal or simple problem. Severe cases of Anxiety affects the daily life of the person. Subsequently, they fall sick with different health disorders.

Relaxing techniques to overcome anxiety

Breath

A powerful technique to distracting the mind by concentrating on breathing alone. Different kinds of breathing techniques can be followed. Based on your health condition and comfort level one can select the breathing type. Deep breathing, navel breathing, slow breathing, rhythmic breathing, and so on. One can practice these techniques any time in a day early morning give more effective results and also help you to have a wonderful day.

Progressive muscle relaxation

Another excellent relaxing technique. In this one has to focus on one body part or the muscle which they want to relax. Firstly, focus on the muscle and take slow breathing and hold the breath by concentrating on the muscle and release the breath. One can feel sensation in the area and also experience the muscle relax. There are two ways to do this. Either go from toe to the neck and head order or reverse order as well.

Visualization

This technique requires experts help whereas others can do by themself. This requires a lot of imagination power. Firstly, sit in a bright and quiet room once your comfortable image a place you like. A quiet place like a garden or a beach. Then imagine you are sitting there quietly focusing on your breath by closing eyes. One should also imagine the smell of the place to get a real feel. Try to do this for a few minutes after this your mind will be completely relaxed and clam.

Yoga

As we all know Yoga is the best relaxing technique also the best health provider through its stretching poster. Common advice to the people who are suffering from anxiety is practicing yoga. If your a beginner, start with a small exercise. It is not advisable to practice without proper guidance. Otherwise, take up the online yoga classes if your suffering for severe anxiety problem.

Note: Yoga is an ancient and powerful technique that our ancestors followed for many years.

Repetitive prayer

Chanting mantra while breathing is another powerful and effective way to calm the mind. One has to sit in a neat and quiet place and repeat the mantra of his convenience and interest. Repeat it while breathing in and out at least for 15 to 30 mints. Try to do is early in the mornings or during the sandhya time(Twilight time) to have better results.

Conclusion

Put an end to the mental disturbance in the lockdown and enjoy your quarantine time with family. Follow the above-mentioned techniques. Select any technique which is convenient for you and do daily. The above mentioned is applicable only for people who have mild anxiety disorder not for a serious and extreme case for that please contact health export and take required medicine. Stay home and stay healthy.

Any person who has ever had an anxiety attack knows just how terrifying it can be. Abruptly and without any warning the heart starts pounding, you feel nauseous and dizzy, and you just want to move away from the area where the anxiety attack strikes. Symptoms of the attack in women normally vary, depending on the harshness of the episode.

During extreme severe attacks, you may become disconnected, feel like you are losing control of your environment, or even feel like dying. However, stress is a natural and normal phenomenon of the body that responds to both bad and good situations. Hormonal imbalances which normally occur as a result of stress are very common and researchers have diagnosed and refer to it as Adrenal fatigue. Anxiety symptoms are caused generally due to stress and women are more prone to this situation as compared to men.

Professionals believe that over 80% of women who are married are working and also double up as homemakers. They are laden with household chores and at the same time, strain to prove themselves that they can perform as well as men. These stressful and continuous conditions normally lead to anxiety.

Before the development in medical science, physiologists and researchers believed that stress is due to emotional problems. But, when more detailed and specific research was conducted, scientists discovered many causes of anxiety and better way of dealing with them before they become a definite disorder.

Anxiety symptoms in women as a result of stress lead to;

• Constant tension which does not allow them to focus on other activities
• Always fearful that something bad may happen
• Apprehensiveness
• Aggressiveness
• Being socially inactive and loneliness
• Amenorrhea, anorexia and insomnia.

Biologically women are more vulnerable to anxiety as a result of a number of stages in their life cycle like during the early stages of menopause, during other hormonal stages and pre and post-delivery periods.

What exactly triggers anxiety disorders and symptoms in women? Although some anxiety attacks are normally isolated episodes which are triggered by stress, majority of symptoms have underlying issues which needs instant attention. Even though, anxiety and stress symptoms are closely linked, anxiety symptoms can be caused by others factors apart from stress which may lead to more severe mental conditions, like anxiety disorder or panic disorder. If you want to stop being anxious and live a normal and social life, your first step should be to know the causes of your attacks.

So, what exactly are the anxiety causes? As with any other emotional symptoms, the beginning of the development or an attack of an anxiety disorder can be linked to a combination of various factors.

These factors include;

• Your outlook on life
• physiological factors,
• your personality,
• ways of thinking and your mindset,
• Your biological vulnerabilities and social stressors.

In a biological term, anxiety attacks takes place when the body’s flight or fight response fails. The flight or fight response is the body’s alarm system. It is normally controlled by a complicated set of physical and mental mechanisms which when faced with a pending threat in our environment, prepare us to respond to the eminent danger.

We are inherently designed to save ourselves and to stay away from situations which could pose dangers to our physical or emotional well-being. When we are faced with threats, our ‘fight or flight’ response is activated, and prepares us to take ‘flight’ and flee from it or ‘fight’ the danger. When the response is unnecessarily triggered, without any rational threat in the environment, people have an anxiety attack.

Even though, it is not quite clear why the response sometimes misfires in some of us, what scientists are familiar with is that some women are more vulnerable than other women. One main factor is genetics. Researchers have found that genes sometimes play a huge role in the advancement of these conditions, and it tends to run in various families, and that one twin is particularly susceptible if the other twin has had anxiety attack in her past. Even though, these researches suggest strong connections between a woman’s gene and her anxiety attack symptoms, there are a lot of women with no family history of anxiety attack symptoms who have developed this disorder.

Women anxiety symptoms were once seen as being purely emotional, but today, after many years of research, we know that anxiety attack symptoms have real physiological causes. Among the most common physiological causes of anxiety attack in women is hormonal imbalance. Others causes include thyroid problems, digestive imbalance and adrenal imbalance.

Social causes of anxiety attack are one of the most important factors which can be studied from a social standpoint. Adults or adolescents who have been sexually or physically abused at a tender age are the most vulnerable to panic and develop other anxiety disorders later in their life.

If a woman has already suffered from another mental disease, the possibility of experiencing panic disorder is greater. In such people, the initial attack is normally triggered by stress, a life-changing event, a major physical ailment or taking medication which stimulates the brain that control fear reactions.

Introduction

Anxiety is an unpleasant state of high arousal which prevents the sufferer from relaxing and makes it very difficult for them to experience any positive emotion. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), anxiety disorders include: separation anxiety disorder, specific phobia, social anxiety disorder (social phobia), panic disorder, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder and selective mutism (BHATT, 2019). Severity of anxiety disorders is often overseen by the public. For instance, social anxiety is more common than the major autoimmune conditions like Crohn’s diseases or Type 1 diabetes put together. (STATISTICS RELATING TO SOCIAL ANXIETY AND RELATED MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS, 2019) There has been strong evidence for the use of psychological therapy as a treatment for anxiety disorders.

In this essay, we will be specifically looking at the evidence for the use of behavioural therapy and psychotherapy as the treatment for phobias. Phobia is defined as an irrational fear of an object or situation. All phobias are characterised by excessive fear and anxiety, triggered by an object, place or situation. The extent of the fear is out of proportion to any real danger presented by the phobic stimulus. Phobias can be divided into (1) specific phobias where the phobic stimulus is a specific object, animal, situation or activity, for example acrophobia which is the phobia of heights. Phobias can be (2) complex phobias which are normally more disabling than simple phobias. Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is an example of complex phobias. It is when you feel restless and nervous when you are in social situations as you might be afraid to humiliate yourself. Complex phobias can majorly affect sufferer’s life as it prevents people from carrying out daily activities. For instance, SAD may lead to people not being able to go to school or work. Simple phobias often are developed during adolescence while complex phobias are usually developed when deep-rooted fear is associated with a particular situation (PHOBIAS, 2018). 2 in a 100 people suffer from phobias at a clinical level where everyday life is affected. There are many psychological treatments for phobias, however the type of treatment used always depends on the type of phobia and the individual. In the case of specific phobias, exposure therapy (behavioural) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is known to be the most effective treatments.

MAIN BODY

Specific phobia (SP) involves an extreme, persistent fear of a specific object or situation that’s out of proportion to the actual threat of the object or situation, creating life interference and distress (Smitha Bhandari, 2020). The behavioural approach in explaining specific phobias is the two-process theory (O. Hobart Mowrer, 1947) which argues that phobias are acquired through classical conditioning but are then maintained through operant conditioning. The process of classical conditioning explains how we learn to associate something we do not fear (neutral stimulus), for example a dog, with something which triggers a fear response (unconditioned stimulus), for example being bitten. After an association, the dog (conditioned stimulus) now causes a response of fear (conditioned response) and consequently, a phobia of dogs is developed. Operant conditioning is the when the avoidance of the phobic object or situation is negatively reinforced by the reduction of anxiety. Avoidance maintains the fear and preserves the phobia. However, frequent contact with a phobic object may reveal that it is harmless, which will lead to the extinction of the phobia, explaining the effectiveness of exposure therapy.

Systematic desensitization is a form of exposure treatment as direct confrontation with feared stimulus is involved. This approach was developed by Joseph Wolpe (1958). SD uses a counterconditioning method to treat SP. As we can’t feel scared and relaxed at the same time (reciprocal inhibition), associating relaxation and the phobic stimulus together gradually reduces phobic anxiety and treats the SP. During SD, the therapist and patient make an anxiety hierarchy list, starting from a small phobic stimulus, for example, with Arachnophobia, which is the phobia of spiders, they may start with a picture of a spider at the bottom of the list to the most frightening stimulus being on the top of the list which in this case could be having a spider crawling on your hands. Then patients would learn relaxation methods like breathing exercise, meditation or even get prescribed drugs like Valium. In the presence of the therapist, the client then confronts each item in the hierarchy while they are in a state of deep relaxation. They start with the least feared item and move on once they feel relaxed and unafraid in its presence. This confrontation may be real (in vivo) or imagined (in vitro). The process continues until they reach the top of the hierarchy and feel relaxed in the presence of all the items. If the SD works, clients have learnt a new response to the stimulus and no longer associate the object or situation with fear. (McLeod, 2015)

Strong evidence for the effectiveness of SD comes from (Kate B Wolitzky-Taylor 1, 2008). They conducted a meta-analysis that examined adults diagnosed with SP. The effectiveness of exposure treatments relative to a placebo control and non-exposure psychotherapies. The review included 33 studies involving a total of 1,193 participants. Results indicated that exposure-based treatment outperformed placebo conditions and alternative active psychotherapeutic approaches. (Dr. John Hunsley, 2013)

Four additional follow-up studies of systematic desensitization were carried out: one in animal phobia (Barrett, 1969), one in height phobia (Baker, 1973) and two in flying phobia (L. Solyom, 1973). All of these reported that there was no relapse of the initial phobia. In the flying phobia study by Solyom et al., subjects were followed 8 to 24 months after SD. 70% of the 32 patients reported minimal or no anxiety during subsequent flights. Subjects in the other treatment groups did similarly well.

Similarly, another exposure therapy for treating specific phobias is flooding. This approach directly exposes clients to the objects or situations they fear. For example, someone with a fear of heights is taken to the top of a tower block and encouraged to stay there. In theory, flooding the client exposes them repeatedly to the feared stimulus, allowing them to see that there is no basis for their fear, leading to the extinction of the fear. (Higgins, 2013)’s study provides strong evidence for the effectiveness of flooding as it led to more rapid extinction of avoidance responses.

Overall the findings are consistent with qualitative reviews that have concluded exposure-based treatments like SD and flooding are the most potent and durable treatments for SP. However, (Yujuan Choy 1, 2006) emphasized that much more research is needed to investigate the long term effectiveness of therapies and to better understand and prevent relapse. It is suggested that even though successful results for exposure treatments were shown and most phobias responded robustly to in-vivo exposure, high dropout rates and low treatment acceptance may be the explanation for this positive outcome.

On the other hand, exposure-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) appears to be the Canadian Psychology Association’s most commonly used and is often considered the first line of treatment for specific phobias (Barlow, 2002).

CBT is also known to be one of the effective treatments for Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) which is also known as social phobia. SAD is defined as a collection of fears linked to the presence of other people (Kring, 2007). For instance, during interpersonal interactions, people with SAD are deeply concerned that they embarrass and humiliate themselves, resulting in others judging or laughing at them. SAD can range in severity. For example, some people might be anxious about speaking in public. In contrast, others fear most social situations. Those with a broader array of fears are more likely to experience comorbidity with other mental health problems like depression. Studies have also implied that psychological treatments of social anxiety disorder are effective in adults. (C Acarturk 1, 2008)

Moreover, CBT appears to be more cost-effective than medications for the treatment of social phobia as evidence suggests superiority of psychological interventions over drugs in maintaining long-term treatment effects. (Ifigeneia Mavranezouli, 2015)

Further development of cognitive therapy for SAD was carried out by David Clark (1997) which expands on other psychological treatments. The therapist helps patients learn not to focus their attention internally when in a social situation. They also help patients combat their negative images of how others will react to them. This cognitive therapy has been shown to be more effective than fluoxetine (Prozac) or exposure treatment with relaxation techniques (David M Clark 1, 2003) (Clark, 2006). Further support of the efficacy of cognitive therapy comes from (Ewa Mörtberg 1, 2011). Patients who had received cognitive therapy for social anxiety continued to show positive outcomes 5 years later.

Psychotherapy was compared to antidepressant medications by (John Canton 1, 2012) and they concluded that there was little difference in the effectiveness of these two types of treatment. Conversely, according to long-term follow-up data patients who received psychotherapy were more likely to maintain their treatment gains and the effects were more enduring than those of pharmacotherapy. They also suggested that CBT appears to be more effective than other evidence-based psychological treatments.

Meta-analysis conducted by (Natasha K Segool 1, 2008) examined the efficacy of psychological intervention in the treatment of youth SAD. The researchers compared the effects of CBT and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drug treatment. The review included 14 studies involving 332 participants diagnosed with SAD, aged between 5 and 19 years old. The results suggested that CBT produced significant reductions in social anxiety symptoms like general anxiousness and social avoidance which lead to decrease in impairment due to these symptoms. Additionally, CBT treatment resulted in increased social competence. Even though SSRIs was found to be more efficacious than CBT in reducing symptoms, due to the concerns about the use and side effects of SSRIs with youth and the strength of the psychotherapy results, group CBT is highly recommended for treating youths with SAD.

The efficacy of CBT for SAD in adults is well established as shown in the effectiveness review by (Rebecca E Stewart 1, 2009). Results suggested that patients treated with CBT for SAD in clinically representative conditions improved significantly. In addition, CBT for SAD produced significant reductions in depression symptoms. Therefore, it appears that CBT for adult SAD can be effective when used in typical clinical settings.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is strong evidence for use of psychological therapy for treating anxiety disorders like phobias. However, many studies have suggested that the efficacy of treatments highly depends on the type of phobia and the patient, whether patient is a child or an adult, suffering from a simple phobia or a complex phobia.

Among individuals reporting a lifetime history of suicide attempt, over 70% had an anxiety disorder (NEPON, 2011) Anxiety doesn’t only affect individuals, but also the economy. Nearly 1 in 7 people (14.7%) experience mental health problems in the workplace. Absence from work costs the economy an estimated 15 billion a year annually, 12.7% of total sick days taken in the UK in 2015 is due to mental health problems like anxiety. (STATISTICS RELATING TO SOCIAL ANXIETY AND RELATED MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS, 2019). The burden of phobias on individuals, health services and the wider society could be reduced through improved rates of detection and appropriate treatment. Therefore, further research and studies on improving the effectiveness of psychological therapy could be carried out in the future in order to reduce treatment time and increase efficiency of the treatment, making patients recover faster and return to daily life activities, improving the quality of the life of patients and people around them.

Opening

I support the following statement “The prevalence of social media is having a negative impact on the younger generations and will cause numerous social anxiety issues in the future”. This is evident in a world where there are over 4 billion social media users across multiple platforms, even some with multiple accounts. Surveys have revealed that 90% of children aged 13-17 at least one type of social media (Number form ref. list) (Acap.org, 2019). This has subjected the younger generations to a vast amount of media-related information that could psychologically affect them both positively and negatively. Most social media platforms include celebrities and other high-status users who display their high standards of life which include luxury items and expensive lifestyles. This sets false expectations and standards for the younger generations therefore causing social anxiety issues when not being ‘good enough’ for other users to see. Cyberbullying has also increased as an effect of social media leading to social anxiety, which then leads to Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). This can lead to extreme cases of addiction, mental disorders and suicide.

Argument

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)

This anxiety disorder causes long-lasting, and even permanent, emotional states that cause individuals to have a physical or emotional reaction inequal to their experience. Symptoms can include the lack of desire to socialize and being withdrawn from society. SAD can be caused by the patient’s brain structure and their living environment. Studies and research show that social media is one of the largest causes of the increase in SAD cases. Sources indicate that 92% of American teens check social media regularly, alongside 24% reporting that they check social media constantly, this includes an average of teens (12-19 years old) using social media for 6 hours a day. This study also showed that 46% of teen girls had admitted to feeling bad about themselves as a result of social media portraying idealistic and unrealistic standards. The results show an increase in social anxiety for the younger generations due to the increase of social media exposure. (All information and figures from (Number from ref. list) (Ignite Teen Treatment, 2018))

Social Media Addiction

Countless teens are heavily focused on their online relationships, online status and presence causing social media addiction which is greatly correlated to the cause of Social Anxiety Disorder. Social media platform such as Twitter have positive feedback mechanisms such as ‘Followers’ and ‘Likes’ on their accounts and posts, these mechanisms provide a reward for the user which stimulates the brain to release dopamine, causing the social media addiction (number from ref. list) (Ignite Teen Treatment, 2018). This produces dependence on social media which can lead to symptoms, for example, feeling stressed without social media, feeling depressed and depression when not getting likes on social platforms and being withdrawn from their present lives (Number from ref list) (Iberdrola, n.d.). This increases social anxiety which had serious mental and physical consequences that they did not know of this could include a lack of sleep and loss of motivation to study.

Health

Social media has also increased the screen time of the younger generations, this can harm the vision and mental health of the users. Increased screen time can cause Computer Vision Syndromes, this is when extended periods of screen time can cause eye strain, headaches, blurred vision and a decrease to eye health. A study in 2013 had collected data showing that children in the town of Shitka showed that the children who had longer screen viewing times were inclined to have a lesser intake of protein, iron, calcium, potassium, vitamin B-2, vitamin K and dietary fibres with an increase of N-6 fatty acids (Number from ref. list) (Tsujiguchi et al, 2018). These results show a direct correlation between the amount of screen time caused by social media and a lack of nutrients that are imperative for their long-term health which could cause issues such as obesity. Extended screen time has also led to children and teens staying indoors rather than outdoors, causing Vitamin D deficiencies as an effect of less exposure to the sun which has a direct correlation to social anxiety and depression among them.

Roughly 24% of young girls have reported daily about bullying based on their body size and structure through social media. This is evidence that social media usage causes social anxiety in younger generations due to a lack of body confidence due to irrational social media standards (Number from ref. list) (More-Love.org, 2019).

Suicide

Cyber harassment and Cyberbullying are when a teen is targeted multiple time by another online user or group in the form of humiliation or embarrassment by social media platforms or cellular phones and harassment or threats by other users on the platforms. Data collected in a study collected data from 2004-2010 shows that Cyberbullying victims reported had increased to 40.6% from 20.8%, and the rates of offending had risen from 11.5% to 20.1%. Cyberbullying has been increasingly correlated to suicide or the increased risk of suicide. This is shown in a survey where 2000 middle school students that indicated they were victims of cyberbullying were approximately 2x more likely to attempt suicide due to the mental strain it caused them. Also, those who indicated they had been a cyberbullying offender were 1.5x more likely to attempt suicide than students who were neither offenders nor victims of cyberbullying. These results are evidence that shows cyberbullying increases the risk of suicide as a result of feeling isolated, unstable and hopeless within the younger generations, therefore proving that social media has been increasing social anxiety among the younger generations. (number from ref. list) (Luxton, June and Fairall, 2012)

Another aspect of how social media has influenced suicide is with the increasing amount of topics and data available about it. According to statistics in Japan (2008), there have been 220 attempted suicides via the intake of Hydrogen Sulphide gas which has resulted in 208 deaths which included 58 deaths of teens aged 16-19. This suicide outbreak was blamed on an online forum that explained various methods of suicide. An additional cause that social media has been held accountable for has been the effect where it has influenced suicidal behaviour, methods along with documentation as instructions to young people. A study conducted by Dunlop examined possible infectious effects on suicidal behaviour of 719 individuals aged 14-24 years old. The results had shown that 79% had reported being exposed to suicide-related content through friends and family. Therefore, this shows that the likelihood of suicide through social media connections has a direct correlation to the increase of social anxiety within younger generations. (Number from ref. list) (Luxton, June and Fairall, 2012)

Closing

In conclusion, social media usage is increasing every day by large margins as a result of the rapid increase of technology and it’s availability for the younger generations, therefore showing that there has been an increase in social anxiety within younger generations and it will continue to increase, impacting more and more children. A solution that could be implemented nationwide is that the government could take cyberbullying and harassment seriously to ‘crackdown’ on offenders and offer more support for those who have become a victim. Parents or Guardians could also limit the amount of time that their child has on devices that accommodate social media.

There is a prominent stigma in society concerning mental illness that is including anxiety. It is believed by many that it is not a real medical condition, this is perhaps why there is not much awareness. Around 30% of the 3 million people who have anxiety in the UK don’t seek help. In addition, those who do not seek treatment may not know of the many ways they can calm their anxiety on their own. Although some might not recognize a mental illness due to the stigma surrounding it. For example, those who have anxiety may feel as though if they are open about it then they will be socially excluded due to people seeing them as “crazy”. However, in reality, many people suffer from this and are not “crazy” so they try to cope in silence in fear of rejection. The awareness of anxiety can be hard to put across to the public as the illness itself is ‘invisible’, although there can be physical symptoms. Due to it being invisible a stereotype has risen that people with anxiety are looking for attention when they are “faking” their symptoms. This makes people ignorant as they do not recognize it for what it really is, a real mental illness.

Anxiety is the feeling of unease or worry, when there is nothing to feel uneasy or worried about this is because of a chemical imbalance in the brain where the emotional brain overpowers the cognitive brain. This shows that anxiety is not self-inflicted and has a medical explanation to prove that it is serious. There are many different types of anxiety such as social anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder. Symptoms of anxiety can be mild to severe for example butterfly feeling in the stomach to the feeling of a tight chest, or even the feeling of a heart attack one of the most extreme symptoms. Although anxiety is caused by a chemical imbalance, trauma or medical conditions can also trigger it. Is this why there isn’t enough awareness? It is too hard to comprehend due to the many different types and triggers, it is different for everyone.

Anxiety is really opposed to the belief of some that it is not. It is a real issue that can isolate people as many experience panic attacks just from going outside of their house. It is not someone crying for attention. Just like a broken leg, it can bring physical pain. Some may think that it is fake as it doesn’t always come with physical symptoms or some may be able to hide it well as they have been suffering with it for many years. Anxiety can affect a lot of people in different ways as there is a large range of ages that can have it from young children to as old as 59. This can make anxiety difficult to understand meaning that making people aware of it is a hard task. As a result, the correct meaning of anxiety is brushed over as it is easy to disregard it than to learn the real meaning.

When someone is diagnosed with anxiety it can take a while to get treatment, as the first step is usually a self-help course. This involves working through a booklet at home without doctors or specialist help, which can make it difficult as it may be a sensitive subject to think about. The course helps you understand what anxiety is and what you are feeling is okay and normal. Although there is not much help from doctors there is occasional contact with the doctor. This course can last up to two months if it doesn’t work there may be further treatment available. There may be a therapy that can be used to calm the anxiety and to learn to control it when it arises. Although these treatments are available after the initial diagnosis doctors may not reach out until you contact them saying how you would like to progress. This is why having more awareness is important as after help is given from the doctors that does not mean the anxiety is gone. Therefore, the benefit of more awareness is that those who still cannot control their anxiety after the help of doctors can seek help from others who also have it.

There isn’t enough awareness of anxiety or mental disorders in general, which is clear by the misconceptions about each disorder. In previous years anxiety awareness was not as prominent as it is now due to the belief of the person suffering wants attention. However, there still isn’t enough as many people don’t know what anxiety is or that there are different types. In schools, there is more help with leaflets going around and information at hand for people who may be thinking they could have anxiety. Although there is an increase in help within schools the stigma surrounding it may stop people from seeking the help. Outside of schools, there isn’t much awareness unless you specifically look for it, for example on the internet or making appointments to see a doctor. The problem with someone feeling nervous to make an appointment with a doctor or go to therapy is that they cannot reach out. So, if the stigma and negative connotations were lifted from the word and anxiety and what it represents it would make it easier for those suffering to feel comfort in seeking out treatment. Along with this people may become aware of what anxiety actually is and therefore be able to look out for others.

In conclusion, anxiety as well as other mental disorders should be talked about more openly with less negative connotations. Instead of portraying those with anxiety as crazy or faking it, we should bring to light the real issues, in order to tackle them in the way they should. Just as someone with a broken leg is believed and treated with respect so should someone with anxiety, as they also have the right to receive the treatment they need. The system of treatment that those with anxiety experience should have the option to develop into a longer term of treatment, depending on the patient to be more beneficial to them. I wish that as time goes on, not only anxiety but all mental health issues are seen in a more positive light, to allow those suffering to feel accepted and not so much of a “reject”.

Bibliography

1. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/anxiety-disorders-in-children/
2. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/generalised-anxiety-disorder/
3. https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/
4. https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/a/anxiety
5. https://www.verywellmind.com/overcoming-stigma-for-generalized-anxiety-disorder-1393170

Today, anxiety has become a widely recognized English word relatable to several panicky and uneasy moments. The reason is not farfetched as the number of people living in anxiety seems to be on a daily rise owing to different reasons from immediate family issues to several other external causes. This is why it has become an important issue to be discussed, because anxiety, if not properly handled, could lead to depression in the long run.

Anxiety and anxiety disorders were only recognized as phobias in the early days of discovery, but after series of occurrences and examinations, researchers were able to find a link between the panic attacks (phobias) and the irregularity of blood flow into the brain. Anxiety was coined from the Latin word ‘ango’ which means to torment or vex which is exactly how anxiety works in a person.

Unlike fear, anxiety is an entirely different response to situations and most of the time, a means of escape in situation that were only perceived as a threat but in reality not beyond control. In other words, anxiety was never meant to be, but when an individual begins to anticipate the future, how to approach it and how to cope with the turn outs, anxiety sets in especially if such individual have a negative foreboding of the future expectation.

According to David Barlow, anxiety is a “future oriented mood state which an individual is not ready for nor prepared to cope with its negative outcome.” This is the distinguishing factor between fear and anxiety. Fear on its own is only for a short time, and for a present cause. And while the body responds to fear to figure out an escape route from a threat, anxiety interferes with the body’s coping mechanism and rather than finding a means of escape, the body only tries to avoid. But in the real sense, we can’t totally avoid trouble can we? The common adage “he who fights to run, will only run back to fight,” is true of anxiety, because the more you avoid the situation, the weaker you become and the greater the tendency for anxiety disorder.

There have been many different cases of anxiety, some short and sporadic, while others take a longer time to get over, whatever the case, it all starts with the feeling of dis-quietness and unease which when left for a long period of time, becomes a stronghold in an individual. The thing about anxiety is that the source of the edginess could be only a mirage, something unreal that was imagined to be real, but the harm it has caused and still causing a lot of its victims is beyond expression.

Let me shock you a little, everyone at one point or the other have once had an experience of anxiety. This is true because anxiety is a normal human response to some issues. There had been times you got so worked up over an upcoming test, an expectation, and something as simple as a gift. But when you can no longer handle or control your worries and they begin to set you on edge every now and then, you need to watch it. While so many have experienced anxiety in certain areas of their life, not all advanced into a long term problem.

This is why I have to begin with anxiety disorder, because an uncontrolled feeling of anxiety often results in anxiety disorder which has led several people to death, depressions and even mental illness.

Anxiety disorder

Living in an unpredictable world is enough reason to be worried and fearful about things. You are anxious about plans even before they are executed; worried about expectations, whether they’ll be met or not. What’s more is that we even get anxious of successes, even after knowing you have put in so much efforts to get the desired results, you still worry and ask the ifs, the when and the what of the success. Life is full of many things to be anxious about; in fact, it is normal to get anxious about things.

But when you can no longer control your anxiousness or when the feeling goes beyond a normal response to situations rather than being a temporal feeling, then that is a disorder called anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorder is an uncontrollable feeling or response to situations: bad, mild or good; which lingers on or deteriorates with time, leaving the individual helpless.

Once anxiety becomes a disorder in an individual, it worsens with time and such individual slips gradually into a forlorn state unless help is gotten. Anxiety disorder could hamper your activities, interfere with your performance, reaction and response to situations and most times your relationship with others.

Anxiety disorder differs from anxiety in itself due to the excessive response and interference with man’s daily life. This disorder actually develops when you start to think of it as something that cannot be controlled. Here is the breakdown; anxiety disorder does not begin as a disorder, it begins as a normal nervous feeling that gradually gets a grip on you. The more you suppress, avoid or fear anxiety, the stronger the grip gets.

In a normal human life, many things could cause an anxious response, but recently, we have begun to see these normal responses as something that should not be felt or expressed; but then, negative reactions and impulses such as sadness, failure, stress or disappointment are part of our makeup and very important for our survival in life. When you hide your feelings in order not to feel weak, you end up bottling up feelings you should express, and what happens to an over-inflated balloon is that it bursts leaving its contents spilled.

It is similar for people with anxiety disorder. It could start by running from your fears instead of facing them, or magnifying your fears beyond what they actually are. Simply put, anxiety disorder is like blowing a situation out of its proportion. It is either you face the issue or you let it go because if not handled carefully, anxiety disorder will lead to mental disorder.

It takes about six months or more before anxiety can be considered to be a disorder. This disorder is often expressed in different forms, each having its own unique triggers and symptoms. There is the generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder (PD), phobia-related disorder, separation anxiety disorder and so many more. It is possible to experience one or more type of anxiety disorder depending on the cause.

Anxiety disorder has been discovered as the most common mental disorders adults face. This clearly shows how deep it has eaten into our society. In the U.S, the estimated percentage of adults with the different types of anxiety disorder ranges from 7-9% for phobias, 7% for social anxiety disorder, 3% panic disorder, 2% generalized anxiety disorder and about 2% separation disorder. The estimates are a given for any year with women being the most affected.

Anxiety disorder has caused many victims to withdraw or avoid trigger situations, thus leaving certain areas of their lives affected, main areas such as career, interpersonal relationships, and performance at work or in school. In actual fact, before you can be said to have anxiety disorder, the situation must have gotten out of hands or glaringly affecting the major aspects of an individual’s life.

It is still very difficult to identify the main cause of anxiety disorder, but research has claimed it to be a likely combination of different factors such as psychological, environmental, genetic as well as developmental. Some cases have suggested a combination of genetic and environmental stress, which is why it may likely run in a family. The good news though is that anxiety disorder can be treated and patients can go back to living a normal life.

Anxiety

You are afraid of something! Yes, I am too. We all are afraid. There is something that increases our heartbeat, makes our mind race and even set us on edge. We’ve all felt anxious at certain points in life. But I’m sure you didn’t think it was anxiety. Honestly I didn’t too. I used to think it was just natural for me to feel such way. But then, I had to write this book and got so many answers from my research as to what anxiety is.

During my anxious moments, I feel restless with lot of irrelevant scenes I wouldn’t imagine on a normal day getting a hold of me. I would imagine myself falling off a stage if I ever try public speaking, and in most cases, I would imagine my plans failing and would even cringe at the imaginary thought of failure. Funny, but those days can be so bad. I could remember one period I felt so anxious and I was physically down for days, my heart was pounding, and I felt a severe headache and the stinging feel of pins and needles. But now I can attribute it to anxiety. What then is anxiety?

Anxiety means a foreboding or premonition, a state of distress or an uneasiness of the mind. It could also come as eagerness, an earnest but tense desire, apprehension or worry about the future. Note it that anxiety is focused on the future and not the present unlike fear. Anxiety combines the physical and emotional feeling you get when nervous about a thing. It works the same as your normal response to a threatening situation but in a rather negative way.

Just as explained earlier, it is very common to feel nervous or tense when you have a big decision to make or when you are planning a big event. In fact, the nervousness is triggered by the stress of preparing for such event most especially if it has to do with a major aspect of your life. So whenever you are taking a major step like:

• Relocating
• writing an examination
• changing jobs
• giving a presentation
• getting married or getting divorced
• having a baby for the first time
• attending an interview
• starting a business
• or public speaking,

It feels normal to get the jitters and sweat and even feel nervous. It feels more natural to question how you’ll perform and imagine the result. You know, at a point, you may not be able to sleep, and you may lose your appetite for food and interest in other things. But you get better with time and more balanced when the event has passed. I’m sure this will prove to you that anxiety is a normal and natural reaction you have for first time situations and in most cases, repeated situations.

Anxiety versus anxiety disorder

So, while it is normal to feel anxious about a thing or a situation, it is quite difficult to measure when it becomes abnormal or out of control. But a proven litmus test you can use is to identify how strong the feelings get and how long it lasts. Anxiety can become so upsetting when it lasts for a longer time than it should. When you discover you are fretting over mundane issues or you are frequently experiencing the psychological and physical effects of anxiety, at this point, it is safe to call it a disorder.

When anxiety becomes a disorder, you may find it difficult to live life the normal and happy way you used to. You become constantly worried about something happening, if people are watching or bothered about people’s judgment. And instead of the body to relax at the passing away of an anxious moment, the body stays alert, expecting threats from the slightest experience and seemingly unthreatening situations.

For some people, they begin to feel like the whole world is looking out for their mistakes and they become more conscious of their actions and behavior to the point that it becomes so difficult for them to act normal.

Anxiety is usually accompanied by the following symptoms. Some symptoms are on the physical level, while some are psychological.

• Faster or irregular heart beat
• Sweating
• Twists or butterflies in the stomach
• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Headaches
• Difficulty sleeping
• A tensed or nervous feeling
• Feeling like others are watching
• Inability to concentrate
• Numbness
• Negative thoughts or expectation
• A busy mind
• Fearing the worst

For so many, it is a combination of the physical and psychological and some others experience more than what is listed.

A long term effect of anxiety is anxiety disorder and with it comes several other effects and difficulties one of which is depression. In our world today, we have seen and heard of so many deaths caused as a result of depression, which in the real sense could have been avoided if the anxiety disorder was easily identified. In addition to that, anxiety often lowers your immune system, hence your vulnerability to certain illnesses whenever you are anxious. While some people face the problem and seek for help, others drown in anxiety by finding a negative way to cope with it.

People experience anxiety disorder in different ways depending on the trigger or root cause. For some, you simply can’t explain why you feel anxious, while others can relate the cause of their anxiety to an experience, whether past or present. Truth is, we never truly outgrow anxiety because everyone, whether a child or an adult has an expectation.

Anxiety disorder is usually caused by but not limited to traumatic events, diets, medications and the physical or mental wellbeing of an individual. The most common forms of anxiety disorder are: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder (PD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social anxiety disorder and separation anxiety disorder. Each of these forms of anxiety disorder is expressed differently and may have different trigger or root cause. It is therefore important to understand and identify the causes and human responses so as to know exactly when you need.

In my reflective journal, I have chosen to center on anxiety and how this affects working memory, concerning academic performance. I chose anxiety, as this is what I believe most affects me in my studies. I know that this is something I will have to combat to reach my full potential and successfully complete my foundation year as well as my degree to the standard that I aspire to. Relating anxiety to memory came from realizing the correlation between them, with my ability to retain information or just remember simple things worsening as my anxiety does. I will explore these topics, and their relations and effects on each other while implementing changes to my own life to positively improve my academic journey through my foundation year.

Throughout the last few years of my studies, there was always the same cycle. I’d struggle to learn content during class time, not being able to concentrate on what was being taught, and then I’d try to learn it all by myself. But by the time exam season came, I’d already forgotten everything even with revision. This would heighten the anxious feelings, leaving me on edge and for weeks coming to exams, trying to remember the content but as I’d been anxious throughout the school year and even more so by that time, it was hopeless. So, from these experiences, I believe that as my anxiety and stress worsen throughout the academic year, so does my ability to retain any of the knowledge I’ve learned. Numerous arguments link the entities of anxiety and memory together. For example, Beuzen (1994) explained how brain structures such as the hippocampus and the amygdala are involved in anxiety and impairing memory (A.Beuzen, 1994). It has been seen that cognitive function becomes disrupted by anxiety (Maloney et al., 2014) but the opposite can also be seen with cognitive impairment causing anxiety (Pektus et al., 2017). In the first term of my foundation year, I tested whether there is a positive correlation between improving my anxiety and stress levels, and my memory retention, as shown through my various exam results.

To see what would be most effective in reducing stress and anxiety, I have researched many different methods. One method that stood out to me is the use of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) (V¸llestad et al., 2011). Mindfulness refers to ‘the ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us’ (Mindful, 2019). From this, V¸llestad (2011) and his peers hypothesized that by intentionally cultivating this basic human ability through MBSR, we can remove or control anxiety. There was a significant improvement found depression and anxiety which held up at the 6-month follow-up. I decided to implement MBSR into my life by replicating the protocol used by V¸llestad (2011) but developed by Kabat-Zinn (1990). This involves frequent mindfulness exercises, 2.5 hours of meditation sessions, and maintaining a daily diary of these exercises. After 4 weeks of doing the MBSR program, I found that by taking time out of my day to focus on myself, I have been able to maintain an overall calmer disposition, and I have noticed a significant decrease in anxiety attacks throughout the week. As well as a slight increase in my summative and some formative test results that I interpret as an overall positive correlation; What I found most helpful in this process were the daily diaries. I completed these in the form of video diaries, as I found it a lot easier to express my feelings and experiences with MBSR verbally, as opposed to putting them in writing. Overall, I feel that this is definitely something I will continue to practice in the future, however, for this to be as successful as possible, I am going to have to tailor the MBSR protocol to better suit me as I am still struggling to retain as much information as I’d like, and not achieving the grades I want.

As the sole practice of MBSR has not benefitted me the way I would’ve liked, I further researched other techniques and found that Rosmarinus officinalis L. (rosemary) has antianxiety effects and overall benefits on insomnia, depression, and memory (Ribeiro-Santos et al., 2015). A clinical trial by Nematolahi (2018) evaluates the effects of consuming rosemary on things such as anxiety and memory in university students aged 20-25. He found that there was not only an improvement in anxiety, depression, and sleep quality but also significant effects on enhancing retrospective and prospective memory (Nematolahi et al., 2018). From this, I decided to begin drinking rosemary tea every evening and sometimes while studying. I instantly saw the promised improvements. I found that I have been able to study for longer periods of time, taking fewer breaks than I would normally have to. I feel more confident about the upcoming mock exams and hope my efforts and growth will be reflected in the subsequent results.

Overall, I will definitely be expanding and developing these practices further through my academic journey in University Education. However, I do hope to do more research and come to understand what truly works for me best.

Introduction:

About 50% of people who suffer from anxiety are also diagnosed with depression (Smith, 2019), but actually, depression is not the only effect of anxiety. It also can have an effect on a person’s capacity to work, examine, and take part in any other activities. Furthermore, anxiety is considered one of the most common results of many issues such as medical causes, Stress build-up, social isolation, and trouble sleeping.

Actually, everyone might suffer from anxiety, without regard to age and gender, that is why anxiety seems to be a very important problem that should be discussed, and it is difficult to ignore this problem because it increases in a very frightening way especially nowadays.

Anxiety also might make you feel fear and panic, accordingly, people suffering from anxiety should get over it because fear does not prevent death, It prevents life.

Indeed, there are many solutions that could help people get away from anxiety disorder, some are effective, and others are not. This essay aims to evaluate one existing solution which is ‘ going through a basic medical method ‘, and presents ‘meditation’ as the most effective method of getting over anxiety disorder since it provides a natural, cheaper, faster, and easier way of treatment.

‘Going through a basic medical method’ as the first solution:

Solutions have been previously suggested and implemented to solve the problem of anxiety disorder, and one of these basic solutions that were suggested by people was to go through the basic medical method by taking some drugs according to a doctor’s permission.

There are many different types of medications that may be prescribed by the doctor, in most cases, the doctors usually prescribe a type of antidepressant which is called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), and actually, it depends on increasing the level of a chemical called serotonin in the person’s brain (Bandelow, 2013).

This medication may appear to quickly treat the problem of anxiety and this may seem to be an advantage.

But on the other hand, the disadvantages of treating the anxiety problem with medications are much more than its advantages. For example, not every person will be able to buy such medications as he or she might suffer from a lack of money.

Meanwhile, these medications have common side effects such as dizziness, headaches, low sex drive, and blurred vision (Millichamp, 2011).

Accordingly, taking medications to get over the problem of anxiety is not the best way yet, as its disadvantages are much more than its advantages, and it is a temporary way because it could not be part of the person’s daily routine and mostly, it depends on the personal and the health status of each person.

‘Meditation’ as the second solution:

Scientists found that the practice of training the mind to focus and redirect your thoughts, which is called ‘meditation’, is the best natural way to reduce stress and has many other benefits that are countless (Thorpe, 2017).

Also, studies have shown that ‘The more regularly and the more deeply you meditate, the sooner you will find yourself acting always from a center of the piece’ (Walters, n.d).

Actually, practicing meditation is considered one of the most effective ways to help people get over anxiety and feel much happier and healthier. The practice of meditation has many advantages that could encourage people to practice it such as controlling anxiety, reducing stress, promoting emotional health, enhancing self-awareness, reducing age-related memory loss, helping fight addictions, improving sleep, decreasing blood pressure, and controlling pain.

Conversely, the disadvantages of practicing meditation are very limited, for example, it might take lots of time and short meditation might make little sense.

Accordingly, practicing meditation has a few disadvantages and multiple advantages. That is why it is a highly recommended natural solution to get over the problem of anxiety disorder.

Why Meditation?

Practicing meditation is one of the most effective ways that help you get over anxiety. As it can help in calming your mind and do much more for your overall health it also relieves stress as it encourages you to rest physically and mentally while affecting your sensory system in a positive way (Cologne, 2006).

Meditation also can slow aging as Studies have shown that practicing of meditation can slow the aging process, as a result, people who meditate regularly live longer than those who have never tried it before.

Meanwhile, one of the most important reasons for meditation is that it makes you think positively and it helps you to control your emotions and become more psychologically stable.

Meditation is a powerful and natural treatment for people who suffer from depression and anxiety, it brings you better health as it strengthens your immune system, reduces your blood pressure, lowers cholesterol levels, and makes you optimistic as well as more cheerful.

Accordingly, if you are one of those people who cannot sleep well at night, meditation is the best solution that you have been looking for. It dramatically develops the quality of sleep and it is the most effective natural treatment for insomnia.

Eventually, Meditation is the best way for people who suffer from anxiety as it brings happiness and people who meditate regularly become less stressed, healthier, sleep better, and have another positive point of view on life. Simply, meditation brings you a better life and makes you more happier and cheerful person.

Conclusion:

To conclude, anxiety disorder is considered one of the most important problems that may lead the person suffering from it to a lot of personal, social, physical, and psychological issues. So, it should be taken seriously, because it has serious consequences affecting the generations to come.

Therefore, and because prevention is better than cure, it is recommended for every person to find his or her own special way to reduce stress and anxiety, either through meditation which has multiple advantages that could help you to get over such problem, or any other comfortable method, especially in the era of social media where people face a lot of bullying, ignoring and objections.

Reference List:

1. Cologne, T. (2006), Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG), Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279594/
2. Mayo, C. (2018), Anxiety disorders, Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anxiety/symptoms-causes/syc-20350961
3. (2017). Anxiety and panic attacks, Retrieved from https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/anxiety-and-panic-attacks/anxiety-symptoms/
4. (2017). Managing and treating anxiety, Retrieved from https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/anxiety-treatment-options
5. ADAA, (2018). Tips to Manage Anxiety and Stress, Retrieved from https://adaa.org/tips
6. Smith, M., (2019). Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Retrieved from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/generalized-anxiety-disorder-gad.htm
7. (2018). Anxiety and physical illness, Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/anxiety_and_physical_illness
8. Smith, K., (2019). Anxiety vs. Depression: How to Tell the Difference, Retrieved from https://www.psycom.net/anxiety-depression-difference

For this research paper, I decided to speak about the five major Anxiety Disorders. The disorders include Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Social Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Occasional anxiety is a normal part of life. You might feel anxious when faced with a problem at work, before taking a test or making an important decision. But anxiety disorders involve more than temporary worry or fear. For a person with an anxiety disorder, the anxiety does not go away and can get worse over time. The feelings can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, schoolwork, and relationships.

The feelings of anxiety and panic interfere with daily activities, they are difficult to control and can last a long time. You may try to avoid places or situations to prevent these feelings. Symptoms may start during childhood or the teen years and continue into adulthood. Some symptoms are nervousness, restlessness, feeling tense, sweating, trembling, difficulty sleeping or breathing, etc. (American Psychiatric Association; 2013.) There are several types of anxiety; with there being multiple forms the symptoms don’t change up so that alone can’t help you figure out which form of anxiety you have but speaking with your doctor and learning what causes your symptoms to flare could help narrow it down. Anxiety issues can negatively affect an individual’s associations with companions, relatives, or sentimental accomplices. The two principal ways that anxiety makes keeping up sound connections troublesome are through reliance and avoidance. Social nervousness is the sort of anxiety issue that is frequently connected to the nature of an individual’s associations with others. For instance, somebody with social anxiety may expect that their companions consider them inadequately. Sentiments of desire and inadequacy are normal among individuals with social nervousness, and these inner battles can make individuals close themselves off as insurance from potential agony. Also, individuals with social anxiety may exaggerate their associations with others and become excessively dependent on approval from their companions or relatives. This reliance is undesirable.

In some cases, a person can manage anxiety at home without clinical supervision. However, this may be limited to shorter and less severe periods of anxiety. You can control it by learning Stress Management, Relaxation Techniques, Exercising, replacing negative thoughts with positive thoughts, or having a great support network. When you are unable to manage your anxiety on your own that is when you should seek professional help from either a therapist, psychologist, counselor, or social worker. Standard treatment for nervousness includes mental guidance and treatment. This may incorporate psychotherapy, for example, intellectual conduct treatment (CBT), or a mix of treatment and directing. CBT means to perceive and adjusting the destructive idea designs that can trigger a tension issue and troubling thoughts, limit contorted thoughts, and change the scale and power of responses to stressors. This assists individuals with dealing with the way their body and brain respond to specific triggers. There are also medications that a professional may prescribe you to help aid with your anxiety. Some of the meds are tricyclics, anti-depressants, and benzodiazepines.

Anxiety essentially means you are under perpetual stress as if you are being threatened. This can cause many kinds of problems. Some of the problems it may cause in the individual are digestive, neurological, and cardiovascular, and it can also slow down your immune system. When anxiety comes to play in your everyday relationships it can cause some problems. It can cause you to become too dependent upon the people around you, the people around you may tend to avoid you or you may even begin to avoid the people around you. The side effects that one may experience during an anxiety attack, which can incorporate side effects like peevishness, strain, poor fixation, and absence of rest can clearly influence one’s relational associations with relatives or one’s capacity to do one’s work successfully.

Having anxiety in the workplace can be detrimental to your career. For instance, you may receive a promotion offer but turn it down because it requires some traveling, public speaking, or even hosting meetings. People with anxiety tend to fear how they will look in the eye of the public, so it causes nervousness when in front of their peers. Getting stressed out at work happens to everyone, and it’s perfectly normal. However, stress that is persistent, irrational, and overwhelming and impairs daily functioning may indicate an anxiety disorder.

Dealing with anxiety can make things even more difficult, I for one suffer from anxiety so I know the day-to-day struggle of trying to remain focused, but your brain is going a thousand miles per hour. You must accept that this condition is stuck with you probably forever and you have to learn to tame it.

Reference Page

1. “Anxiety disorders. In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” (DSM-5. 5th ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association; 2013.) http://dsm.psychiatryonline.org Accessed Jan 15, 2020
2. “Treatments for Anxiety” (Medically reviewed by Dillon Browne, Ph.D. on November 1, 2018 — Written by Adam Felman) https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323494.php Accessed Jan 16, 2020

Introduction

Anxiety is a phenomenon that involves procedures linked to inner feelings familiar to awkwardness, disturbance, or shyness (Scovel, 1978). Anxiety has a complicated feature that deteriorates speaking abilities and this point is widespread as a fear of learners (Horwitz et al. 1986). He maintained that the “psychological barrier” is a common expression that can describe learners’ scares of learning languages and illustrate the impossibility successful achievements. Additionally, emanating anxiety is a common problem for learners in the initial stages of learning languages. Young (1992) expressed that many past explorations illustrated that anxiety in speaking is the most triggering thing among language aspects. Furthermore, he noted that fluent speech is an intricate task for students’ comprehension. Researchers like Macintyre and Gardner (1994) stated that emotional reaction to a concrete language is an obvious symptom of speaking anxiety. Anxiety is an unusual construction, thereby it is identified as a core reason for students’ failure. (Macintyre, 1995). In the meantime, investigators declared the existence of various clues that have potential aid to students with the aim of handling their anxiety in classroom sessions. Comprehending the authentic features of anxiety is a substantial process that is necessary for learners to contrive their communicative abilities in the process of scrutinizing foreign languages

The conspicuous characteristics of speaking anxiety

For decades, anxiety in speaking was considered a widespread problem according to different scholars who deal with linguistics. Early investigations illustrated that anxiety can be utilized in broad definitions. Beatty and Andriate (1985) described that anxiety is connected with the autonomic nervous system which consists of nervousness, tension, and suspense with stress. Stimulation of anxiety can be a cause of negative emotions in the lesson process which will be the main hindrance for students. McCrosky (1989) pointed out three main reasons for speaking about anxiety: Firstly, anxiety is a phenomenon of our mind that comes across with the negative consequences of a particular situation. Secondly, emotional factors cannot allow speakers to perform or deliver their speech to the audience. Lastly, it should be taken into account that the majority of students cannot control anxiety properly. Macintyre (1991) mentioned that people who suffer from anxiety commence pondering pessimistic thoughts that lead them to nervousness and discomfort. Similarly, Macintyre and Gardner (1994) admitted that the connection of anxiety with the nervousness of students might be hindrances to communicating in a second language. Moreover, they confirmed that anxiety is a psychological tension that students undergo via performing learning tasks. Jones (2004) defined that learners are afraid of public embarrassment as well as censure from their peers. Kearney (2005) compared anxiety with social instability which is derived from shyness. He regarded shyness as a general tendency toward anxiety. A great number of students are frightened of evaluation from others. Shams (2006) pointed out that “the instructor’s estimation of students and reaction from other learners pushed students to anxieties” (p. 10). Anxiety is a compound element that comes from a wide aspects of linguistic, cultural along personal traits (Liu and Jackson, 2008). Tuck (2016) found out that personal characteristics combined with educational aspects can form anxiety in a linguistic context. There are different reasons which stimulate anxiety in learners’ speaking process.

The motifs of anxieties among learners

For decades, language anxiety has been one of the most researchable sources of anxiety. Early investigations utilized broad definitions of anxiety. McCroskey et al. (1977) elucidated that “People with low self-esteem likely bias to a high level of confidence in the period of conversations” (p. 274). He argued that individuals with low self-esteem think that they do have not enough knowledge to express their views. Moreover, students who feel low self-esteem strive to avoid oral communication. Meantime, Xiuqin (2006) asserted that learners try to evade the idea of making drawbacks and receiving negative feedback from participants of the lesson. They think that they should practice the English language until they reach perfection. The obvious thing is making mistakes unavoidable process in the classroom.

In most cases, students don’t want to be misjudged by others in the classroom. People who are socially anxious are concerned with the impressions others form of them and fear undesired evaluation. Another reason is being unprepared for the lesson and unwillingness to oral communication. Liu (2007) assumed that most unprepared learners tend to be nervous and anxious during the lesson. She also mentioned that limited class time and large classes can be reasons for students’ unwillingness to the lesson. Wrench et al. (2012) supported the idea that competition moments also have negative outcomes which form anxiety in learners. This factor can be shown when students compare themselves with other students and think that they don’t have sufficient level with their group mates. Thus, it leads students to diminish their desire to communicate.

The ways of preventing speaking anxiety

Identifying anxiety-producing factors for L2 learners is the initial stage in coping with speaking anxiety. The investigations have also shown that all attempts to reduce speaking anxiety should be in non-threatening manners. Mejia et al (1991) noted that the “cognitive modification approach can be a treatment for learners’ anxieties” (p. 97). Students are supported to create positive self-talk and manage their self-evaluation in a realistic way. Ying-Ling and Kondo (2004) recommended that the “affective approach might be an instrument that changes the negative association between classroom and anxiety” (p. 259).

Foss and Reitzel (1988) suggested that eradicating any scares is a good strategy to overcome speaking anxiety. Based on the idea that once learners become aware of their fears, they may get ready to live anxiety-producing situations in a more positive way. Furthermore, he figured out that the learners felt more confident when the instructors’ method of feedback was not severe. They anticipated an amiable environment and harmony in the classroom.

Young (1991) suggested that eliminating anxiety might embodied in a classroom environment where the atmosphere consists of mutual acceptance and respect. A friendly environment helps students reinforce their speaking skills and diminish their anxiety levels (Capan and Simsek, 2012). Authentic communication is based on cooperation and supportive context. Promoting constructive work between learners with similar problems can be also a possible solution to overcome speaking anxiety. A positive way to provide correction without creating anxiety in the student might be modeling students’ answers.

Conclusion

The capability to converse in the English language is fundamental in our time to accomplish successful communication. People who are afraid of speaking in the community possibly will find their career choices constrained and avenues for endorsement closed to them, consequential in substantial personal trouble, disturbance, and depression. Therefore, anxiety has an unconstructive influence on language erudition, particularly anxiety about speaking, fear of assessment, and English classes regardless of the detail that some students and their English results and anxiety levels do not associate with each other.

Horwitz et al. (1986) prompted that instructors should encourage learners to maintain reliance to make misapprehensions in order to acquire communication talents. To empower learners to feel advantageous in using English, educators should avoid setting up activities that heighten the chances for them to fail. They should make sure that the learners are ready for the allocated activities and have adequate ideas and lexis to complete the task in an effective way.

In hindsight, each and every student may experience a certain level of communication apprehension which can be due to anxiety in speaking. However, being able to control anxiety and cope with its symptoms is indispensable for learners. Consequently, eradicating anxiety from the education process can be key to success in language learning.

References

1. Beatty, M. J., & Andriate, G. S. (1985). Communication Apprehension and General Anxiety in the Prediction of Public Speaking Anxiety. Communication Quarterly, 33(3) retrieved from:https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/74067/Cheng, Zewen.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
2. Capan, S. A., & Simsek, H. (2012). General Foreign Language Anxiety among EFL Learners: A Survey Study. Frontiers of Language and Teaching. retrieved from: https://www.academia.edu/31011732/Speaking_Anxiety_among_Different_Grades_of_K12
3. Foss. K and Reitzel A. A (1988) relational model for managing second language anxiety. TESOL Quarterly, 22 retrieved from: https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/25584/Daxstamparexoggixultima.pdf?sequence=1
4. Jones, J. F. (2004) A Cultural Context for Language Anxiety. EA (English Australia) Journal, Vol. 21 (2) retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336846946_Strategies_to_Overcome_Speaking_Anxiety_among_Saudi_EFL_Learners/link/5db698484585155e270b5b00/download
5. Horwitz, E. K. et al. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal pp. 125-132 retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336846946_Strategies_to_Overcome_Speaking_Anxiety_among_Saudi_EFL_Learners/link/5db698484585155e270b5b00/download
6. Liu, M. (2007). Anxiety in oral English classrooms: a case study in China. Indonesian journal of English language teaching, 3(1)
7. Liu, M., & Jackson, J. (2008). An exploration of Chinese EFL learners’ unwillingness to communicate and foreign language anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 92(1) retrieved from: https://www.academia.edu/37444161/THE_EFFECT_OF_SPEAKING_ANXIETY_ON_SPEAKING_SELF_EFFICACY_OF_CHILDREN_IN_A_FLL_CONTEXT
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