Mental Health Care

The disorder presents itself through both physical and psychological symptoms. People with generalized anxiety disorder often find that the worries interfere with their ability to work or concentrate. Physical symptoms include rapid heartbeat, fast breathing, disturbed sleep, muscle aches, tightness of chest, and easy fatigability experienced continuously for at least six months. The symptoms can vary between individuals, but typically they are related to the muscles and involuntary actions and the performance of mind.

These symptoms are typically physical in nature, and people suffering from anxiety disorder often get directed to a family physician, cardiologist or pulmonary specialist rather than a psychiatrist.

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In psychological parlance, anxiety is a mental response to an unknown, internal, vague, or conflictual threat which is felt, but hard to define. An event may be perceived as a threat, depending on the nature of the event and on the assets, defences, and the coping mechanisms of the individual mind. All this involves the ego, a collective abstraction that refers to the processes by which a person perceives, thinks, and acts on external events or internal drives. A person whose ego is functioning properly is in adaptive balance with both the outer and inner worlds; if it is not functioning properly and the imbalance lingers, he or she may become a candidate for chronic anxiety or generalized anxiety disorder.

These imbalances, or conflicts, can be of two kinds: external, between the pressures of the outside world and the person’s ego; and internal, between the person’s impulses and conscience. In both situations, if there are too many conflicts, or the inner self cannot resolve them, a situation comes to pass when they begin to upset the involuntary nervous system and activate the stress chemistry of the body.

Community surveys suggest that a person who experiences several negative life-events has a greatly increased likelihood of developing this disorder. Prolonged insecurity during the early formative years can be a major culprit. A child may feel unloved when the parents are overburdened, a sibling seems to receive preferential treatment, or a mother has her own exaggerated anxieties. This can lead to excessive timidity in the child, and undermine the child’s psychological defence. As a consequence, the disorder may appear at a later stage.

Still, these psychoanalytical formulations do not quite explain why people in similar taxing circumstances differ in their response. It is in this context that the biological theories and genes come into play. It is believed that human brain produces a natural substance which curbs anxiety. The happy go lucky people probably have plenty of this natural substance, but those who are in short supply of it fall easy victims to this disorder.

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Millions of people living on this planet make our wonderful habitat so riveting. All these humans are so much alike, yet so different from each other! Their bodies vary in shape and size and colour, and so do their minds, in their productivities, disposition, and coping abilities. Some can stay calm and happy in all circumstances, while some never stop worrying. They fret and fret and pluck at the thorny bushes of anxiety and uneasiness even when the quality of their lives is first-rate. Quite a few may realize the truth of the maxim-worry is

like the interest paid on the troubles yet to come-and recognize that the anxiety is unwarranted, but are unable to cap it. The fault lies with their mind machine. It is wired that way.

If you find yourself in such a chronic nervous state for six months or more, and in spite of recognizing that the anxiety is phoney or that you cannot switch off the anxiety-button, you definitely have a problem. Clinically, it is termed ‘generalized anxiety disorder’.

Who Gets Affected?

Generalized anxiety disorder affects three per cent of the population. The ratio of afflicted women to men is approximately 2:1. The disorder most often develops in one’s twenties, although people in other age groups can also be affected. Strangely, children also suffer from this disorder. They could be at the top of the class and still agonize over their academic performance. Genetic studies indicate that the disorder may in part be inherited. Approximately 25 per cent of the first-degree relatives are affected-women more than men. In identical twins, if one twin is affected, then the other may also get affected in 50 per cent cases. The hypothesis that the disorder may be related to stresses of modern life-style seems attractive, but there is little evidence to support it; the disorder is also discerned in those who live far away from the stresses and strains of modern civilization.

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