Anxiety is Common to Us All

So what is anxiety, exactly? Who suffers from it?  And what’s the difference between that and panic attacks?

Excellent questions, everyone.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder is a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM 5) mental health diagnosis categorized by the duration, frequency and severity of particular symptoms.

Some symptoms are related to our bodies, and others are related to our thoughts and emotions. Symptoms include restlessness, being easily fatigued, having difficulty concentrating, irritability, muscle tension, and sleep disturbance. 3 out of the 6 of these symptoms need to be present more days than not for 6 months, and the individual needs to find it difficult to control the worry thoughts/feelings. And perhaps the most important criteria of all, the individual finds that there is impairment in daily functioning with school, work or relationships due to the symptoms experienced (as outlined in the DSM5).

LOTS of people suffer from anxiety. I would venture to say we all do, but that’s not quite true. Everyone experiences it, in various moments and at various intensities. But not everyone suffers from anxiety, as clinically defined when we diagnose someone with the disorder. The reality is that 28.8 percent of those living in the United States will suffer from one serious form of anxiety or another in their lifetime (Kessler et al. 2005). There is no exception for race, nationality, or age. The only differentiation is gender – women have a greater risk of anxiety than men (McLean et al. 2011).

WRITER’S NOTE:

I’m not very excited about labeling anyone, but diagnoses are helpful when categorizing what is considered above and beyond “typical” anxiety symptoms and experiences, since they are truly very common.

In sum, anxiety is an anticipatory worry about something in the future (real or perceived) that is frequently felt both emotionally and in our body that disturbs our regular life. It is related to fear, but clinicians categorize anxiety differently than fear. There are two main differences between anxiety and fear. Anxiety is longer in duration (+ 6 months) and less intense. Panic is vastly shorter in duration (minutes-hours), and acutely intense.

More on the specifics of Panic Disorder in my next post!