August 3rd, 2011 by admin

Summary: Anxiety disorder has physical and emotional symptoms. Heart problems, fatigue, dizziness, feelings of loss of control and the most common, irrational and uncontrollable fear are some of them.

Anxiety is disorder that is characterized by extreme feelings of fear, nervousness, apprehension and worrying. This disorder can have a huge impact on our lives and affects everything from the way we think to the way we behave.  In this article we shall look at the symptoms that can be used for recognising anxiety and its manifestation as GAD or generalised anxiety disorder.

As mentioned earlier, anxiety is not just a specific disorder but a blanket term used to describe multiple problems. Thus, the symptoms can differ greatly. The manifestation of these symptoms can also vary, where some people must live with a constant sense of foreboding and fear, others may only find it manifest when one is performing a specific task like driving. With others, the thought of socializing may cause a sudden feeling of panic. There are also those who find these attacks come suddenly and leave just as suddenly with no warning. Despite this, all forms of anxiety share one common symptom; an incessant and irrational fear or apprehension that exceeds normalcy.

Anxiety’s symptoms manifest in two forms. The symptoms can be emotional or physical. The common emotional symptoms persons suffering from anxiety disorder often face include, a feeling of dread and apprehension or irritability or restlessness or inability to concentrate or tension or a felling like one’s mind has gone blank.  These feelings can appear together or serperately. Dread and fear that makes you immobile and unable to think are especially common. The fear one feels in these situations is excessive and can often take a person over completely. People who suffer from advanced stages of anxiety disorder also feel paranoia and can tend to constantly look for danger everywhere.

Anxiety can also manifest in a physical form. As mentioned earlier, anxiety affects not just how you feel but how you function. Thus GAD patients can often find that there are things wrong with them physically too. This is due to the body’s natural fight or flight response.  Many of these symptoms can be indicative of something else as well and thus people often tend to run to the hospital expecting this to be an actual illness. Some of the more popular physical symptoms are heart pounding, sweating, muscles tensing up, headaches, sudden twitches and tremors, fatigue, insomnia, breathlessness, frequent need to go to the toilet and stomach problems.

Episodes of anxiety that come suddenly and have a negative effect on you are known as panic attacks or anxiety attacks. The causes for these attacks are many. They have certain symptoms of their own. The symptoms of anxiety attacks include a surge of unbearable panic, a case of the trembles, nausea, dizziness, chest pains and heart palpitations, feelings of absolute loss of control, hot flashes or chills etc

If you or anyone you know has been showing these signs it is important you check with a qualified professional who can diagnose what’s happening and recommend solutions before the situation gets worse.