Everyone experiences anxiety at one time or another. It is a normal reaction to a stressful situation such as having to give a speech, first day on a new job, a performance review, wondering why a loved one isn’t home yet and so forth. In such cases, anxiety can even be helpful to spur us to solve a problem or take positive steps to be prepared. Anxiety like this usually resolves once the situation passes.
But sometimes anxiety becomes ongoing, excessive or severe. We become locked into concerns arising from the past or fears about the future. At this point anxiety becomes a problem that leaves us living with paralyzing doubts and fears that disrupt our everyday life.
This type of steady, all-over anxiety is called a Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Other anxiety-related problems include panic attacks, separation anxiety, social anxiety and post-traumatic stress that happen in response to specific triggers. Obsessive-compulsive disorder, another type of anxiety, is marked by persistent invasive thoughts or compulsions to carry out specific behaviors (such as hand-washing).  Frequently anxiety in any form is accompanied by depression.
Children, teens, and adults, including seniors, can suffer from anxiety, although sometimes it is easy to over look the symptoms as “moodiness” of a particular stage of life. Generally, the overwhelming, persistent types of anxiety first appear during childhood. Evidence suggests both biological and environmental factors contribute to their onset. Some people may have a genetic predisposition to anxiety or early traumatic experiences can reset the body’s normal fear-processing system to be hyper-reactive to stress. Neither means anxiety is an inevitable condition, however.
If you believe you or a love one are suffering from chronic anxiety, ask for a short complimentary screening survey.