Lifeline Anxiety Disorder Newsletter |
A quarterly newsletter for people - and families of people - who suffer from the panic brought about by fears, anxieties and phobias. Disclaimer. Click |
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CURRENT ISSUEBullied children are at risk for anxiety disorders and depression in young adulthood.Bullied children are about three to five times more likely to have an anxiety or panic disorder or agoraphobia through their twenties. Duke University Medical Center reports that those who both bullied other children and were bullied themselves have the worst psychological consequences in young adulthood...read on Turning a relapse into a learning experience.You may know all there is to know about your anxiety disorder, have it entirely under control, you’ve not had a panic attack for years... Then, suddenly, it happens again. Why? You already know that your anxiety disorder is the result of various genes, brain chemistry, your environment, your beliefs and thinking, etc. and that it is most likely with you for life. So, it’s not really so surprising that it has happened again.... read on The dangers of benzodiazepine use both in and out of therapy for anxiety disordersBenzodiazepines – and Xanax, Ativan, Klonopinare are all benzodiazepines – are often prescribed by family physicians for patients with anxiety and panic symptoms. This is especially true in more elderly patients. Unfortunately, as time goes on, all the benzo does is to take the edge off the anxiety and when the relief quickly disappears, the patient pops another pill. Risky – especially for the elderly... read on |
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SHORT HISTORY OF ANXIETY DISORDERSUntil the late 1970s most regulatory bodies in the medical professsion grouped all anxiety and panic-related disorders loosely together as neuroses. Panic attacks had begun to be recognized, during the sixties, as being triggered by something other than general chronic anxiety, but panic disorder did not become recognized as a specific condition until 1980. Agoraphobia was not even considered as being linked to anxiety disorders until the late 1980s. Back in 1865 these conditions referred to, until then as nervous exhaustion, became classified as neurasthenia. By the end of the nineteenth century, Sigmund Freud was using the term anxiety neurosis but it was not until 1926 that he stopped attributing it to sexual repression, upon realization that anxiety was the cause of such repression rather than the result, and concluded that the various types of anxiety were all forms of separation anxiety and, as such, reproductions of the trauma of birth. Between then and the late 1970s, when fears and phobias finally began to be scrutinized more extensively, various theories were put forth. Alfred Adler attributed the cause of anxiety to feelings of insecurity, Abraham Maslow to a fixation on the need for safety which, in turn, prevented the achievement of selfhood, Carl Jung to fear of awareness of self. The Neo-Freudians were more introspective, citing internalized conflict and the subsequent failure of defence mechanisms. It was not until the 1990s that great advances were made, among them recognition of the fact that children have anxiety disorders. It was probably the original Freudian tradition of anxiety neurosis stemming from sexual tension that is the reason for children's anxiety problems being either trivialized as something-they-will-grow-out-of or hypothersized as being the result of parental abuse for so many years. Two discoveries ended all the psychological theorizing on the causes of anxiety disorders, and enabled us to better understand their origins, by proving them to be biologically based. Serotonin levels were proven to impact upon mood, and the amygdala, part of the limbic system of the brain, was shown to be the brain's fear conditioning centre. Today, cognitive-behavioural and exposure therapies, as well as medications, are continually being improved upon because brain chemistry, memory programming and the genetics involved in anxiety disorders are so much closer to being understood. Whether as an adult or as a child, being the victim of an anxiety disorder is hardly pleasant but the health professions are now on their way to being able to correctly diagnose treatable anxiety/panic/phobic conditions. We've come a long way in a short time from the inappropriate and exacerbating talk therapy of just a few years ago. GLOSSARYPanic Attacks -- isolated attacks of endogenous fear, anxiety and terror. Panic Disorder -- panic attacks which cause periods of apprehension and fear of subsequent attacks. Social Phobia (also called Social Anxiety Disorder) -- fear of humiliation and being scrutinized by other people which causes panic attacks, general anxiety disorder due to avoidance behaviour and devastating limits upon lifestyle. NIMH Pamphlet on Social Phobia. Simple Phobia -- fear of one object or situation which causes panic attacks when encountered and which may develop into generalized anxiety disorder due to the preoccupation with avoidance. Agoraphobia -- usually begins with a panic attack due to simple or social phobia or panic disorder and progresses to a lifestyle totally concerned with avoidance of the possibility of an attack. Generalized Anxiety Disorder -- fears become exaggerated when the body's natural anxiety response becomes heightened. While this is a condition in itself, it also develops out of - and becomes comorbid with - other disorders involving panic. NIMH Pamphlet on Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder -- the emotional re-living of a traumatic event and avoidance behaviour or emotional numbness subconsciously adopted to block it out. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder -- biological disorder, causing victims to behave ritualistically, which is thought to be due to abnormal energy flow in the part of the human brain corresponding to the area which controls ritual behaviour in an animals brain.
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