What is anxiety disorder?

All people know the feeling of anxiety.
Sometimes anxiety is the result of us looking forward to something or being excited about something that will happen to us.
For example, this can be an examination or a sports event we have been looking forward to.
It can also be a date that makes our stomach flutter.

So it is completely normal for us that in various situations we experience this feeling which we call anxiety.
The feeling of anxiety is often temporarily unpleasant.
We can feel the anxiety in our body, for example through tenseness, palpitations, rapid breathing, the feeling of shaking and uneasiness in the arms and legs, sweaty palms and dryness in the mouth.

Sometimes there is a good reason for feeling anxiety, for example if we are experiencing a specific danger when crossing the road or we are about to be attacked.
This natural anxiety is necessary for putting our bodies in a state of alertness.
Then we are ready to flee or take up the fight against the danger that is threatening us.
When the danger is over, the body and heart quickly relax again.

We can also call this type of anxiety fear, because we know what triggers the reaction, and we expect that the anxiety disappears when the situation is over.
Other times, the anxiety is experienced without there really being a reason for it, or perhaps it is triggered in some specific situations which we know from daily life.
It just happens.

You can experience it as completely unreasonable or flat-out embarrassing, because it is only you who experiences it.
Others who are present are perhaps unaffected by the same situation.
The anxiety can be so bad that you have to withdraw from these situations or avoid coming into them completely.
This can mean that there may be situations or activities which you cannot participate in any longer.

The anxiety begins to have a life of its own and can result in you walking around in constant discomfort or always looking for ways to avoid the situations that trigger the anxiety.
It will rob you of your self-confidence and it can affect your working life.
It can affect your family life and it can affect your desire for an active life with leisure activities.

It can also result in you sleeping poorly, so you are tired the next day or have difficulties taking care of your job or your school.
There are also those who try to drink the anxiety away with alcohol.
This may help briefly, but can cause a number of new problems in the long term both at work and in leisure.

If you have lived with such anxiety for a number of years, you will typically have developed a wide variety of strategies to avoid the anxiety.
Perhaps you do not apply for a job or an education which you are qualified for, because you do not dare go to the job interview or you do not dare be in the classroom with the others.
In this way you can hide your anxiety for years and perhaps believe that you are the only one who feels this way, but you are not.

This actually happens to close to a fifth of the population, that they at some time or another have symptoms of anxiety to a degree that can be categorised as an illness.
For some people, it more or less goes away over time, but there are many who walk around and endure the symptoms for many years, perhaps without seeking help or telling anyone about it, not even the closest people.

There are many different types of anxiety, and we know today that they all require their own special treatment.
We also know that the treatment is generally very effective.
So there is no reason to let the anxiety control your life.

Our treatment is about removing the anxiety or at least alleviating it so much that you can live with it and lead a normal life.
The most widespread form of treatment is cognitive behavioural therapy.
This means that you participate in a number treatment sessions in which you and your therapist and perhaps others with similar symptoms find out why you have anxiety and what triggers the anxiety.

Then you discover which thoughts and response patterns maintain the anxiety.
You get to know your reactions, over time you learn to control your anxiety, and after a while, it will decrease in strength and no longer dominate your daily life.
I believe that you will experience it as a great relief to gain control over your life again when the anxiety has disappeared or reduced in intensity.

From time to time, one can also use medication to help the anxiety symptoms.
As a rule, this will be for a limited period while waiting for treatment.
It may be medication you take alone or as a supplement to the cognitive behavioural therapy which I have mentioned.

If you suffer from anxiety, you should contact your own doctor.
He or she can advise you on the treatment which would be best for you and your kind of anxiety.
Just get started.