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Lexi Thompson

Professor Charles Freeland

English 1201

1 May 2022

Anxiety

Anxiety is a complex topic that often has been looked over from how common it is

nowadays. It is important to know how anxiety affects a person’s life in order to know how to

manage it. How anxiety can be identified and its symptoms will also be key aspects to bringing

awareness to the disorder. Anxiety is not just one topic but can be broken down into many

different kinds of anxiety. The different kinds of anxiety will be recognized along with

descriptions of each. Anxiety disrupts daily activities due to different panic triggers caused by it;

therefore knowing how to manage it, such as through medicine, therapy, or exercise, would be

beneficial for everyday life.

The 19th century going into the 20th is when the term for anxiety was first founded. It is

more of a newer topic since not many people understood or knew a lot about the topic. The

article “The history of generalized anxiety disorder as a diagnostic category,” written by

Marc-Antoine Crocq, talks about where anxiety started and what it was first known as. What

anxiety is was not originally called ‘anxiety,’ and the term was founded further on. The article

states that when looking to diagnose a patient for generalized anxiety, the terms “pantophobia ''

and “anxiety neurosis,” are often looked at, (Crocq). These two terms were caused by panic
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attacks which is what associated them with anxiety. Panic attacks are what anxiety was most

identified as. Generalized anxiety was at first recognized as one symptom of neurasthenia and

then it was split into two groups of GAD and panic disorder. It can be hard to identify the major

differences between GAD and personality disorders, other anxiety disorders, and non-bipolar

depression, (Crocq). Anxiety was often overlooked or looped into other illnesses due to the

amount of overlap between them. It was hard for people to understand anxiety since it was so

closely related to other mental disorders.

Since the 19th century, there has been a lot of developing research done that has

broadened the understanding of anxiety. It started becoming its own illness rather than being

grouped into other illnesses. “The National Institute of Mental Health has recently proposed the

“Research Domain Criteria,” (Crocq). The Research Domain Criteria or the RDoC has said that

generalized anxiety was studied as “anxious apprehension” that fits into the territory called

“negative valence systems” and more specifically was given the title of a “potential threat,”

(Crocq). By way of explanation, anxiety is looked at as a negative condition and can even be

dangerous if not handled or maintained. Anxiety is more associated now with being anxious and

fearful of certain events. Since scientists are now understanding anxiety more, it has become

more popular due to people realizing how harmful it really is.

The term anxiety is associated with panic and stress that interfere with daily activities.

These emotions can be hard to control and out of proportion, which can be dangerous. The Mayo

Clinic Staff wrote an article called “Anxiety disorders,” which states that an episode of anxiety

may have frequent feelings of sudden fear that can become worse every minute, (Staff). The

feelings are not controllable and can happen out of nowhere. Having this feeling can cause

people to start avoiding the things that cause triggers such as going outside if someone has social
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anxiety. Anxiety is not necessarily a bad thing and people often feel anxiety in daily life. But

people with anxiety disorders will blow this out of proportion which causes “intense, excessive

and persistent fear and worry” in an everyday activity, (Staff). When a person is constantly

anxious about something that they may not even be able to control, this is no longer normal

anxiety. Once the anxiety is constant and feels like nothing can help, it can now be diagnosed as

a disorder. It is important to know the distinction between everyday anxiety and a disorder.

I did an interview with my sister, Brooke Thompson, who has been diagnosed with

anxiety. Through this interview, I was able to find out from a first-person perspective, what it is

like to experience anxiety. She described to me that when feeling anxiety “it feels like your chest

is tightening and you get a sudden urge to cry. Your breathing starts growing faster and faster

until it feels like no oxygen is going to your lungs.” She has told me that her anxiety triggers are

tests and some social aspects. She personally takes medicine to help her with anxiety. Thompson

also stated that “not everyone feels anxiety the same way and some can handle it better than

others,” (Thompson). Panic attacks can also be a side effect of anxiety which can hurt the way

someone lives their daily life. These attacks can happen anywhere and be triggered by anything,

it all depends on the person. Having frequent panic attacks was the reason Thompson knew she

needed to go to the doctor, (Thompson).

Thompson first realized she may have anxiety sophomore year of high school when she

started skipping school to avoid tests. No matter how much she studied she felt like she never

was prepared enough for the test. She would cry and beg to not go to school from how scared she

was of failing the test. Thompson has said that she “would have panic attacks the night before

and the day of the test” which finally made her realize that she may have anxiety, (Thompson).

When she finally saw a doctor about her constant test anxiety, she was diagnosed with
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generalized anxiety disorder. Since her diagnosis, she has been prescribed Zoloft (an

antidepressant) to help manage her anxiety. After being prescribed medication, Thompson felt

more relaxed when it came to taking the test. Although she still felt a normal amount of anxiety

that most people do when taking tests, she no longer had panic attacks over it. Finding a

treatment that worked for her helped her with daily life immensely. She didn’t feel like anxiety

was holding her back anymore, (Thompson).

It can be easy to identify if someone has an anxiety disorder based on if they have

symptoms. Symptoms may vary from person to person, anxiety is experienced in different ways.

Symptoms can include the following: “feeling nervous, restless or tense,” (Staff). A person can

feel like there is “an impending sense of danger, panic or doom,” (Staff). These are symptoms

that can be harder to see since they happen within a person. It is important to take note of these

symptoms since only the person feeling them knows it's happening. Physical symptoms can also

be seen such as “increased heart rate, hyperventilation, sweating, and trembling,” (Staff).

Anxiety can also affect sleep by making concentration difficult. Lack of sleep can also affect a

person's physical health on top of other problems caused by anxiety. A person who does not

sleep enough from anxiety may struggle with feeling anything but worry which can make the

person feel tired, along with different gastrointestinal issues, (Staff). In general, someone who

may have anxiety would have difficulty being in control of worry and will have the urge to avoid

things that set off anxiety, (Staff). Knowing the symptoms of anxiety can help with managing

anxiety and diagnosing it in the first place so that the person can get the help needed. If a person

feels they have many of these symptoms then it is best to seek medical help rather than

self-diagnosing.
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Anxiety disorders in young children's mental health have been recently brought up as a

common problem. Adolescent's anxiety is often overlooked since so many changes are going on

in early life. Anxiety at a young age has been so normalized that it can become dangerous for the

child's mental health. The article written by Altanzul Narmandakh, “Psychosocial and biological

risk factors of anxiety disorders in adolescents: a TRAILS report,” talks about anxiety in

adolescents and its importance for diagnosing at a young age. The article talked about who is the

most likely to have anxiety and the cause of it. Potential risk factors were estimated at ages

“10-12 and along with sociodemographic, familial, psychosocial, and biological variables,”

(Narmandakh). It is important to understand who anxiety is most common in, in order to give a

proper diagnosis. It is also important so that people who fit this description can look out for any

symptoms. For example, the article states that anxiety disorders are more likely to happen in girls

which can be two times more likely to develop them, (Narmandakh). Young girls should be more

aware of anxiety since they are more at risk to them. The reason it is so important to diagnose

young is that it becomes harder to recognize the symptoms as a person gets older. Studies have

been found that most teenagers with any type of an anxiety disorder do not get to experience the

mental health treatments for their symptoms, (Narmandakh). This can make it hard for a child to

feel normal and complete daily activities. When a person gets older, the symptoms of anxiety

may become normal to them since they experience them so often. The article also talks about

what the body does that causes anxiety. Stress exposure “results in the secretion of cortisol by the

adrenal cortex,” (Narmandakh). Repeated cortisol production due to anxiety and stress has been

found to be linked to developing an anxiety disorder, (Narmandakh). The secretion of cortisol is

what causes anxiety and having a significant amount or secreting frequently can cause the

anxiety to become a disorder. Regulating cortisol levels can help reduce a person's anxiety. It is
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significant for people with anxiety to know what actually causes anxiety so that they can learn

how to avoid it.

Anxiety can have a negative effect on a person's health if it is not properly treated.

Medical problems that are often connected to the development of anxiety include “thyroid issues,

diabetes, respiratory disorders, heart disease, drug use, alcohol use, medications, IBS, and rare

tumors,” (Staff). Anxiety can also cause “chronic pain, poor quality of life, depression, insomnia,

substance misuse, headaches, digestive and/or bowel problems, problems functioning in social

situations, and suicide,” (Staff). Anxiety can be detrimental to living a healthy life. Physical and

mental health can be harmed due to a result of an anxiety attack. Living with constant anxiety

causes many problems. Risk factors of an anxiety disorder can include “other mental health

disorders, stress due to an illness, trauma, personality, stress buildup, and blood relatives with an

anxiety disorder,” (Staff). It is important for a person to know the problems caused by anxiety so

that they are able to prevent them from happening. If a person is starting to feel depressed from

constantly being stressed, it might be from having bad anxiety.

Anxiety is often called an umbrella term since it has many different types within it. An

example of the different types is agoraphobia which is a type of disorder associated with anxiety

in which a person fears feeling trapped and helpless. The most common two anxiety disorders

are generalized anxiety and social anxiety. Generalized anxiety disorder shows excessive and

repetitive worrying about activities while social anxiety disorder is strong levels of fear and

avoidance of social environments. There are also anxiety disorders due to a medical condition

that can be caused by intense panic from a physical health problem. Panic disorder is often

commonly mistaken for generalized anxiety and it is repeated episodes of feeling intense anxiety.

These are constant panic attacks that can lead to worrying about when a panic attack will happen
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next. Another anxiety disorder is selective mutism and it's when people fail to speak in social

situations while being able to speak in others such as at home. Similarly, separation anxiety is

anxiety from being separated from a person, usually people of parental roles. This disorder can

be classified as a childhood disorder since it usually develops from early childhood trauma.

Anxiety can also be produced from actions a person takes rather than someone being born with

it. For example, substance-induced anxiety is from symptoms of panic as a result of misusing

medications and along with other drugs, and withdrawal. Even specific phobias can be placed

under anxiety due to the panic attacks provoked by them. There are also other disorders that

don’t necessarily fit into an anxiety or phobia category but still disrupt daily life, (Staff).

In order to treat anxiety, sometimes a person needs to learn how to prevent it. Getting

help early on can help with learning to manage anxiety and incorporating it into daily life.

Staying active also helps with preventing anxiety. People doing activities that they love and

enjoy will make them feel good and lessen their worries. Avoiding alcohol and drug use can also

help since these things often worsen a person's anxiety (Staff). When a person is diagnosed with

anxiety disorder they are given the option to take medicine and/or go to therapy to help lessen

the stress. There are many different options when it comes to medicine and therapy and it is best

to find which works the best with a person's lifestyle, (Thompson).

Exercise is one of the most effective types of anxiety prevention. Through much research,

exercise has become a beneficial coping mechanism for people with anxiety. “Exercise can ease

anxiety symptoms, study finds,” is an article written by A. Pawlowski. This article talks about

how exercise can help with anxiety along with a study behind it. One study showed that people

who worked out multiple times a week had their symptoms of anxiety improved in contrast to

people who didn’t exercise at all, (Pawlowski). In other words, exercise has been proven to
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decrease anxiety levels. The study also concluded that a combination of strength and cardio

training done three times or more per week for around 45-60 minutes, had the greatest benefit to

reducing symptoms of anxiety, (Pawlowski). Although this is the recommended amount of

exercise to see significant results in lowering anxiety levels, any sort of physical activity is

beneficial. Some people may not have the time or motivation to work out as frequently as

recommended. The science behind what happens to the brain when exercising is that the brain

changes when a person does physical activity, (Pawlowski). The brain's function will have

positive effects due to exercise and can increase cognition, (Pawlowski). Exercise has many

positive outcomes when it comes to mental health, the brain will become healthier from exercise

which results in helping with anxiety. In order for a person to be healthy, the brain must be

healthy. Training at regular times has stimulated the brain to help with healing and growing such

as forming new blood vessels and nerve cells, (Pawlowski). Exercise is very beneficial when it

comes to managing anxiety and will not only improve physical health but mentally as well. This

study has shown that exercise will increase brain activity and improve it greatly.

Some people may say that exercise has no correlation with anxiety and that working out

is a lost cause. However, it has been proven through research that the brain becomes happier

during exercise. Many studies have shown that the more a person exercises the more benefits

will be shown such as releasing hormones that enhances the mood of the individual exercising,

(Pawlowski). This quote is an example of how exercise can actually change a person's mood due

to the hormones released from exercising. Exercising can convince the brain to no longer be

anxious and will lessen the frequency of anxiety. Exercise may not make all anxiety disappear

but it can help decrease the amount and make having it become more manageable.
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In short, anxiety can be very dangerous to a person's health if it is not properly treated or

managed. Anxiety can cause not only mental health problems but also affect physical health. It is

important to be diagnosed young and notice the symptoms early on so it is easier for a person to

manage it. There are many different kinds of anxiety along with different kinds of treatments.

The treatments used to deal with anxiety are by taking medication, going to therapy, and

exercising. Anxiety can cause panic attacks which can make living a normal life very difficult,

which is why it is important for a person to learn proper coping mechanisms.

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Crocq, Marc-Antoine. “The history of generalized anxiety disorder as a diagnostic category.”

Dialogues in clinical neuroscience vol. 19,2 (2017): 107-116.

doi:10.31887/DCNS.2017.19.2/macrocq. Accessed 27 Mar. 2022.

Narmandakh, Altanzul, et al. “Psychosocial and Biological Risk Factors of Anxiety Disorders in

Adolescents: A TRAILS Report.” European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, vol. 30, no.

12, Dec. 2021, pp. 1969–82. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-020-01669-3.

Accessed 27 Mar. 2022.

Pawlowski, A. “Feeling Stressed about 2022? Exercise Can Help Beat Anxiety.” TODAY, Today

Show, 3 Jan. 2022,

https://www.today.com/health/mind-body/exercise-can-ease-anxiety-symptoms-study-fin

ds-rcna10734. Accessed 27 Mar. 2022.

Staff, Mayo Clinic. “Anxiety Disorders.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education

and Research, 4 May 2018,

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anxiety/symptoms-causes/syc-20350961.

Accessed 27 Mar. 2022.

Thompson, Brooke. Personal interview. 27 Mar. 2022.