Understanding and measuring anxiety disorder

Life can be stressful, and various stressors can cause anyone to feel occasional anxiety – these are normal parts of everyday life. However, clinical anxiety disorder is a mood disorder, a mental illness characterized by feelings of anxiety with no specific stressor behind the sensation, or feelings of stress and anxiety that are out of proportion to the stressor being experienced. In short, anxiety refers to a mental illness that leaves a person feeling excessive negative emotions such as stress, fear, worry, hopelessness and apprehension for no logical reason.

Signs of Anxiety

Anxiety is a mental illness that has psychological and physical components to both the problem and the symptoms. It is believed that in some people hormonal or chemical imbalances can cause over exaggerated anxiety. Some researchers also believe that a problem with the neural pathways of the brain may be at the root of this mental illness. Whether caused by chemical imbalance or electrical problems, this anxiety manifests itself with emotional issues, physical ailments and eventually behavioral concerns. Anxiety can cause physical responses including heart palpitations, chest pain, nausea, fatigue, shortness of breath and headaches. When a person with anxiety disorder is experiencing extreme anxiety they may show sweating, shaking, paleness and dilated pupils.

Measuring Anxiety

In order to help diagnose patients with this mental illness clinicians often measure a patient’s anxiety according to an accepted scale; with anxiety, the most common measuring tool is the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA). This scale rates the severity of anxiety symptoms on a scale from 0 to 5. There are 14 specific aspects or symptoms of anxiety rated by this scale and they include: Anxious mood, tension, fear, insomnia, gastrointestinal symptoms and respiratory issues.

Another popular measurement of anxiety mental illness is the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). This scale uses 20 questions, scored from 1-4, to help a patient self-access their own level of anxiety. Other scales exist as well, including the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) and software based scales such as the Mehrabian Trait Anxiety and Depression Scales. Understanding the severity of a patient’s anxiety helps a clinician to better determine what treatments are most appropriate.

 Acute Anxiety Causes Panic Attacks

When the mental illness of anxiety becomes acutely severe, it is said to be called a panic attack. Not every person with anxiety disorder experiences panic attacks, but those who do can be nearly crippled by the anxiety such attacks bring on. Panic attacks can come at any time, often without notice; often the attacks are out of proportion to the stimulus that brought them on.

Successfully Treating Anxiety

 Anxiety is a mental illness that can often be treated with counseling and therapy. Sometimes, however, this mental illness is believed to have a biological root cause and thus medications are often combined with therapy to combat anxiety. Sometimes, medication alone can be used to treat both acute and chronic anxiety. This mental illness is treated with both anti-anxiety medication and anti-depressant medication. Among the more popular drugs for treating this mental illness are BuSpar, Prozac, Xanax and Zoloft. While such medication can be effective for controlling generalized anxiety, persons who have anxiety attacks usually need in-depth counseling in order to deal with the underlying emotional issues that are causing the acute anxiety.