Occasional emotion is the expected thing of life. You might feel uneasy when confronted with the questions at work, before taking the test, or before making an important decision. But emotion disorders require more than temporary worry or anxiety. For a person with anxiety disorder, this emotion doesn't go off and will get worse at times. These symptoms may interfere with everyday activities e.g., business performance. Education, work, and relationships. Nervousness problems and typical sensations of tension are two distinct things. At the point when sensations of dread or apprehension become unnecessary, hard to control, or meddle with everyday life, an uneasiness issue might be available. Uneasiness issues are among the most widely recognized mental issues in the United States.

First off Anxiety is a lot, it can do so much to you, your body, and your mental state. Anxiety can start off from nowhere and progressively build up to the point where you can no longer go back. For example, a big event or a buildup of smaller stressful life situations may be the cause or may trigger excessive anxiety. It’s not just about being anxious, it’s about how you feel when you think of something that could be causing your anxiety. It is normal to feel anxious, worried, or even fearful of things, that feeling is our body's natural way of the ‘fight or flight response’. It’s either to perceive dangerous or risky situations. So what is Anxiety? Anxiety is an emotion that is characterized by feelings. That can be from tension, worried thoughts, physical changes, and more. Anxiety can produce recurring intrusive thoughts and concerns. All this can lead to a feeling of apprehension, fear, mostly characterized by physical symptoms such as palpitations, sweating, and feelings of stress. Some may have nausea, stomach upset, dizziness, dry mouth, and tension. Occasional anxiety can occur to everyone, shape or form, but an anxiety disorder is characterized as a mental illness. It is okay if you have those feelings occasionally but it isn't okay if it happens a lot in a day, if that continues without proper care, a feeling of anxiety may impact your ability to carry out life as normal. 

Many disorders that are mental illnesses are linked to anxiety. The most common type of anxiety disorder is called Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD). The main symptom of GAD is excessive worrying about different activities and events, during this time you may feel anxious a lot of times. It is very common for people to have conditions such as depression or other anxiety disorders if they are diagnosed with GAD.  Having GAD will create a big impact on your daily life, from your ability to work or even just having the energy to get out of bed. GAD can also include physical symptoms, such as muscle tensions and sweating. Another Disorder that is linked to Anxiety is Panic Disorder. Panic disorder is having regular panic attacks with no particular trigger. It can happen suddenly and feel very intense and frightening. During a panic attack, it is common for a person to feel detached from their own body, that is called dissociation. After having such a fear you may also feel so fearful that you never want to have that attack happen in the future again. That is very bad because having fear of certain situations will lead you to have panic attacks. Some symptoms of panic disorder are chest pain or having a sensation that your heart is beating irregularly, having the feeling that you might be dying or having a heart attack, numbers, etc. Now having all of these may not mean you have a panic disorder, so don’t get ahead of yourself. The next disorder is Social Anxiety Disorder, also known as Social phobia. Now it is normal to have a little worry about social situations, having a lot of it may be a different story. Social phobia is when you have an intense fear or dread of social situations, this normally happens when before or after events, or other situations such as speaking in front of a group, meeting new people, and even dating. Having social anxiety won’t make anything easier for you, if it does build up in you, it may make you act a certain way that is embarrassing to others. Another common disorder is called Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). With OCD you will develop obsessions, obsessions is a repeated unwelcome thought or image in your mind. Your thoughts can be very disturbing especially because it is so hard to ignore. This can lead to you feeling distressed, anxious, and exhausted. You can also develop compulsions, that is when you think of something or do it repeatedly to help relieve your anxiety. Saying phrases in your head over and over can help you calm yourself down. Making sure the front door is locked repeatedly is an example. If you don’t do such a thing your mind will come up with an idea that something bad will happen to you or even your family. So you do end up doing it, because of the control from your head. Some small disorders are Agoraphobia, which is when you have a fear of being in a situation where escape might be difficult. Skin-picking, also known as dermatillomania, is an impulse control disorder where you regularly pick at your skin for no reason. Hair pulling or trichotillomania is also a disorder. It is an impulse control disorder, having the urge to pull out your hair and find it difficult to stop yourself from doing it. In addition to that, there is Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is caused by your past, mostly from treating situations that have happened to you. It is something that you keep on replaying in your mind. Some symptoms of PTSD are flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety. 

As different as we all are, there isn’t one cause of anxiety disorders that can just say you have anxiety. An anxiety condition isn’t developed or caused by a single factor but a combination of many things. There are many things that could contribute to developing the disorders. Life experience is very important when it comes to causes of anxiety. Life experiences such as abuse or bereavements, also big life changes such as having a baby, moving somewhere new, or even losing a job can cause anxiety. The topic of Drugs can also be a cause for anxiety, drugs including caffeine and alcohol on the body can make some people feel anxious. Other drugs such as illegal drugs can also have and will have effects on your mental health. The most uncommon cause can come from genetics, some people are born more anxious than others. Other conditions such as mental conditions, and physical conditions may also interfere with your anxiety. There are also some common external factors that cause anxiety such as, stress at work, stress from school, financial stress, stress from an emotional trauma such as the death of a loved one, stress from a serious medical illness, etc. Stress can definitely bring a change in our mental health. With all of these symptoms and causes that anxiety causes, your doctor will definitely have a hard task determining what type of anxiety you have or even if you have anxiety.  Just remember everyone is different and it's often a combination of different factors that can contribute to developing an anxiety condition. It is also important to remember that you can’t always identify the cause of anxiety, it is just important to recognize the signs and symptoms and seek advice and support once you experience any. 

Wherever your journey to getting help may take it is very important to know it is okay to get help. That is something I struggled with recently not knowing that it is okay to get help, that it is okay to not be okay in situations where everyone seems to have everything and you not having anything. After being diagnosed with anxiety or any other disorders it is very common for people to not get help as soon as possible, to be in a stage where you don’t feel like you need help. This may be because of fear of getting help or seeing a doctor. If that’s the case then there are some alternatives to it, such as self-care. There are a lot of self-care methods that you can do at home, often based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), this can help you to rethink negative thoughts and behaviors you have. Other self-cares such as Non-facilitated self-care can help, using information online at home provided by the NHS will help you help yourself. Medications or taking treatments are also included as self-care. Doing relaxing things such as relaxing tasks may help, eating healthy can also improve your health.  It is important to know and learn and find out what is right for your body. Things won’t change overnight, but over time you may notice your symptoms improving. 

Talking therapy is also an option for getting help out of anxiety. Psychotherapy or psychological counseling is a treatment for mental health problems. It involves working with a therapist to reduce your disorder symptoms. You will learn more about the disorder that you are diagnosed with, which can help you to understand what you are dealing with. The most effective psychotherapy for anxiety is called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). It is very short-term and works effectively. CBT focuses on teaching you specific skills to improve your symptoms and gradually return to the activities you’ve avoided because of anxiety. During CBT you will need to get out of your comfort zone and face the things that trigger you or your anxiety the most. 

Anxiety is something I am very well aware of. This past year I was actually diagnosed with Irritable bowel syndrome (IBD), which correlates to anxiety. Out of everything I have come to conclusion with this was probably one of the most shocking events I went through. Being thought that your mind really does play a big role in everything that you do really blew me away. Who knew that having this worry ness or fear can disrupt your stomach. It took a while for me to understand and cope with the information the doctor gave me but I learned that it was important for me to take care of myself. Especially now that I know that I am actually the main cause of my own pain. Realizing that change wasn't going to be easy and alone really did help me through this process.