As the first scientific post of the year this time I want to tell you about anxiety, specifically in generalized anxiety disorder, which due to its broad generic characteristics in each diagnostic criteria in the manuals often goes unnoticed, having many differential diagnoses for the same reason. I will try to explain what is anxiety, anxiety disorders, generalized anxiety disorder and social impact.
Previously I have been doing other posts regarding mental health as it is my area of study as a psychology student, so here is my latest post on psychotic disorders and schizophrenia in case you want to see it.
Anxiety is a construct that encompasses a number of psychic and somatic manifestations that arise in different ways depending on the focus of the state of alarm or concern, where the stimulus is oriented, although it does not necessarily have to have a predetermined stimulus to appear. It is a multidimensional response of several processes of the development of the person as a human being that interrelate with each other: cognitive, physiological, behavioral and affective.
Anxiety is an evolutionarily developed human condition that provides advantages over other species. It is a complex emotional response that is activated by processes of cognitive evaluation and re-evaluation, allowing the subject to gather and analyze relevant information about the situation, the resources and the expected outcome, in order to strategically act accordingly. It has an eminently adaptive function whose purpose is to guide behavior to deal with circumstances anticipated as aversive or difficult (Díaz, 2019, pp. 47-48).
Cognitive processes refer to the mechanisms involved in the processing of relevant information about the situation and oneself. Cognitive manifestations of anxiety include apprehension, fear, self-perception of helplessness, poor concentration and memory, difficulty in reasoning, feeling of unreality, depersonalization, among others. (Díaz, 2019, pp. 47-48).
Physiological processes are automatically generated by the combined activation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system, with the purpose of preparing the organism to act in contexts considered threatening or dangerous. Physiological manifestations of anxiety include: tachycardia, muscular tension, sweating, hyperventilation, thoracic oppression, paresthesias, among others. (Díaz, 2019, pp. 47-48).
Behavioral processes refer to actions taken to prevent, control, fight or flee from danger. Behavioral manifestations include responses of paralysis, caution, abandonment, avoidance and/or safety seeking. The behavioral disturbances associated with anxiety can interfere with, limit or impair the subject's daily functioning in important areas of his or her life (Díaz, 2019, pp. 47-48).
Los procesos afectivos aluden a la experien¬cia subjetiva de la sensación ansiosa. Implican procesos de reevaluación cognitiva de la propia activación fisiológica de ansiedad. Las manifestaciones afectivas se componen por afectos negativos displacenteros de nerviosismo, tensión, aprehensión, agitación, entre otros, que revelan el malestar subjetivo vivenciado. (Díaz, 2019, pp. 47-48).
Affective processes refer to the subjective experience of the anxious sensation. They involve processes of cognitive reevaluation of one's own physiological activation of anxiety. Affective manifestations are composed of negative unpleasant affects of nervousness, tension, apprehension, agitation, among others, which reveal the subjective discomfort experienced. (Díaz, 2019, pp. 47-48).
Anxiety is a condition of human beings that accompanies them throughout their existence, it is part of the development as a species, it contributes to survival by regulating risk actions and plans that people may formulate in the course of their lives. But when this condition, like others, begins to manifest itself in an excessive, uncontrolled and disproportionate manner, we could be talking about clinical affectation of the psychic and somatic plane.
According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA) anxiety disorders give responses associated with two affective elements: fear and anxiety. They are those that share characteristics of excessive fear and anxiety, as well as associated behavioral disturbances. Fear is an emotional response to an imminent threat, real or imagined, while anxiety is an anticipatory response to a future threat. Clearly, the two responses overlap, although they can also be differentiated, with fear being frequently associated with bouts of autonomic activation necessary for defense or flight, thoughts of impending danger and flight behaviors, and anxiety being more often associated with muscle tension, vigilance in relation to future danger and cautious or avoidant behaviors. Sometimes, the level of fear or anxiety is reduced by generalized avoidant behaviors (APA, 2014, p. 189).
Something that accompanies anxiety disorders are panic attacks described as "sudden episodes, of diurnal or nocturnal onset, characterized by a neurovegetative discharge, intense moral overwhelm, frequent experience of death, anxiety and eventually psychomotor restlessness, whose duration does not exceed 15-30 min" (Vallejo, 2015, pp. 400-401).
Anxiety disorders account for 3.8% to 25% of cases globally and with a prevalence up to 70% in people with chronic illness. Due to the psychological and social nature of this disorder, there are many environmental factors that can influence as risk factors such as: chronic illness, physical abuse, sexual violence, traumatic injuries, death of significant others, divorce or separation, economic hardship.
As we already know, there are two manuals that are in charge of classifying the different types of diagnoses of mental illnesses, the ICD-10 and the DSM-V. In ICD-10 anxiety disorders are found in F40 to F48 named as "Neurotic disorders, stress-related disorders and somatoform disorders" including obsessive-compulsive disorders, stress disorders and somatoform disorders as a family of Anxiety disorders. In DSM-V this changes, as it considers OCD, stress and somatoform disorders as a separate anxiety family with their own classification in the manual.
Los trastornos de ansiedad clasificados en el DSM-V son los siguientes:
- Trastorno de ansiedad por separación
- Mutismo selectivo
- Trastorno de Pánico
- Agorafobia
- Fobia Específica
- Trastorno de Ansiedad Social
- Trastorno de Ansiedad Generalizada
- Trastorno de Ansiedad Inducido por Sustancias o medicamento
- Trastorno de Ansiedad por Enfermedad Médica
- Trastorno de Ansiedad No Específica
The anxiety disorders classified in the DSM-V are as follows:
- Separation anxiety disorder
- Selective Mutism
- Panic disorder
- Agoraphobia
- Specific Phobia
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- Substance or Medication Induced Anxiety Disorder
- Anxiety Disorder due to Medical Illness
- Non-Specific Anxiety Disorder
This disorder in spite of being read simple is one of the most complex to diagnose since the persons who suffer it can fulfill several or all the criteria of the diagnoses or none, for that reason it is important to make acute psychodiagnostic evaluation of the symptoms, as this they are evolving with the time and the reaction to the indicated treatments to see for where it is focused the anxiety. Although there are characteristics that can help to identify this disorder, which is anxiety and excessive and disproportionate concern in a period of at least 6 months in different areas such as work and school, characterized by a persistent state of anxiety, although the course is fluctuating. On the other hand we have the definitions of the manuals that could give us an idea of the differences of this disorder.
The essential feature of generalized anxiety disorder is excessive anxiety and worry (apprehensive anticipation) about a series of events or activities. The intensity, duration or frequency of the anxiety and worry is disproportionate to the likelihood or actual impact of the anticipated event. The individual finds it difficult to control worry, and the maintenance of worry-related thoughts interferes with attention to immediate tasks. Adults with generalized anxiety disorder often worry every day about routine life circumstances, such as potential job responsibilities, health and finances, the health of family members, the misfortune of their children, or minor issues (e.g., household chores or being late for appointments). Children with generalized anxiety disorder tend to worry excessively about their competence or the quality of their performance (APA, 2014, p. 222).
Its fundamental characteristic is a generalized and persistent anxiety, which is not restricted, even in terms of any strong predominance, to any particular environmental circumstance (i.e., the anxiety is "free-floating"). The main symptoms are variable, but include complaints of permanent nervousness, tremor, muscular tensions, sweating, lightheadedness, palpitations, vertigo and epigastric discomfort. Patients often express fears of an impending illness or accident, which they or one of their relatives will soon suffer (ICD, 2008, 323).
People with this disorder may manifest the following symptoms, although for its diagnosis it is necessary to review the time ranges of evaluation and appearance of the first symptom according to the manuals.
- Motor tension (tremor, restlessness, startling, muscular tension and pain, fatigue). 2. Autonomic hyperactivity (palpitations, precordial tightness, dyspnea, nausea, pollakiuria, dizziness, sweating, abdominal pain, cold and clammy hands, diarrhea, difficulty in swallowing, hot flushes or chills). 3. Apprehensive expectation (internal restlessness, uneasiness, threatening experiences, diffuse fears, insecurity, presentiment of nothingness and dissolution of the ego). Vigilance and alertness (nervousness, impatience, irritability, lack of attention and concentration, hypervigilance, first half insomnia, poor sleep quality, nightmares) (Vallejo, 2015, p. 403) (Vallejo, 2015, p. 403).
As we can read in the definitions, this disorder causes significant discomfort and disrupts the daily development of people in social areas, preventing them from performing in their work, school and family life. This disorder has a lifetime prevalence of 9.0% in people and its risk factors like other neurotic disorders are associated with temperament, environment and quality of life, and genetics.
It is important to point out that these types of disorders depend a lot on the cultural climate in each region, beyond the diagnostic criteria, not everywhere a psychic symptomatology is the same as in others, especially because of the lifestyles that each person has, including their social status.
There is considerable cultural variation in the expression of generalized anxiety disorder. For example, in some cultures somatic symptoms predominate in the expression of the disorder, whereas in other cultures cognitive symptoms tend to predominate. This difference may be more evident at initial presentation than later as individuals present with more symptoms over time. There is no information as to whether the propensity for excessive worry has cultural influences, although the issue of worry may be culture-specific. It is important to consider social and cultural context when assessing whether or not worries about certain situations are excessive (APA, 2015, p. 224).
Anxiety is naturally fluctuating due to the response to stimuli that represent a real threat or not to the individual from childhood development to maturity in adolescence, and depending on how this path has been, much depends on how anxiety will manifest itself in the individual, which is why it is also important to have a good knowledge of the mental health of infants for the proper development of their psychic functions when they begin to take relevance in adulthood.
Another cultural point that greatly influences the collective anxiety is the quality of life that individuals have, social status apart from differentiating each citizen according to economic status or real estate, also differentiates their mental health and how to cope with anxiety or how it manifests itself, a person who can barely maintain the basics you need to live and according to the work that this has, will be different from another person who satisfies the basics with different circumstances, resources and opportunities. Although this is only the tip of the Iceberg, it is necessary that in every government policy in the aspects that go directly to the citizenship, mental health and the prevention of mental illnesses that derive from anxiety are included in the quality of life.
And well my readers of this community, thank you for coming here and reading me, I hope you liked the content, any comment or opinion about it I will be happy to read it in the comments.
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