Anxiety in small amounts is common in everybody.
Nervousness before an important event or feeling worried about an important presentation at office the next day is normal for most people.
However, when anxiety threatens to disrupt normal life activities or starts to hamper quality of living it is time to seek medical intervention.
What it is Anxiety is the body's natural instinct to prepare us for danger.
Whenever the body feels threatened by something, anxiety sets in and this is part of normal physiology as well as behavior.
However, when anxiety starts assuming a routine presence in daily life or is always present, it threatens to hamper activities and relationships.
This is when the person has moved on from feeling generic nervousness to feeling a state of anxious disorder.
Common Symptoms There are many symptoms associated with anxiety ranging from feeling continually on edge, worried and tense to experiencing irrational fears, which the person cannot shake off easily.
If the symptoms of anxiety start to hamper school, work or familial responsibilities, it is time to consider psychiatric treatment.
Very often, obsessive compulsive disorders and other forms of behavioral problems stem from extreme anxiety.
If a person is used to feeling in control all the time, a slight disruption in schedule or any change in their lifestyle can throw them off gear completely, resulting in anxiety as well.
Persons used to following particular methods of doing something will often experience anxiety when the same thing is done differently, because they are no longer as much in control as they used to be.
Sometimes, the person with anxiety might even want to avoid daily activities and experiences since they might trigger the condition even more.
Persons with panic attacks are also prone to anxiety.
These persons will experience sudden rises in heart rates and pounding, which is because of anxiety.
Medical therapists realize that symptoms of anxiety are very different and cannot be classified as originating from a single disorder.
While some people with anxiety will experience panic at socializing events, others might experience panic attacks without prior warning.
They might sweat profusely and experience rapid rise in heart beats without reason.
While in the same situations, normal persons would never feel threat, persons with anxiety will experience extreme threat and feel worry or fear due to this reason.
Persons with anxiety will experience restlessness, irritability, difficulty concentrating as well as anticipate worst case scenarios in perfectly normal situations.
Treatment Options There are several alternatives when it comes to treatment for anxiety.
The two biggest and most successful methods are exposure therapy and cognitive therapy.
Exposure therapy involves helping the person to confront their fears and root causes of anxiety.
By exposing the patient to the cause of fear, he or she is able to experience more control of the trigger.
Once the person realizes that they can face up to their fears without feeling anxious, they begin to feel less threatened.
Cognitive behavioral therapy emphasizes on cognition or thought.
This kind of treatment helps patients of anxiety to recognize their thought processes as well as triggers, which are instigating the anxiety attacks.