essay on anxiety

Essay on Anxiety Disorder

Introduction

In a world full of socialization and interaction, individuals are known to be affected by mental disorders resulting from environmental and genetic factors. These factors lead to a wide range of behavioral mental patterns, which affect the thinking and behavior of an individual. Therefore, anxiety disorder is a mental illness that accompanies extreme and persistent fear, worry, and anxiety that makes it difficult for an individual to perform their daily events. The challenge in accomplishing the daily events is associated with increased tension, making it hard for the individual to have a stable mental state. Besides, the common anxiety disorders are panic attacks and social phobia. Research shows that approximately 30% of the US population experience anxiety disorders, with women recording high figures. Moreover, scholars have noted that false alarms may be experienced frequently by people with anxiety disorders, causing their bodies to cultivate the flight-or-fight manner in an environment where there is no threat. Further, the false alarms result in uncued panic attack responses on the patients. Remarkably, the panic attack responses are initiated by life stressors such as pregnancy loss and loss or separation of a loved one.

Anxiety Disorder Symptoms

With proper medical attention and care, the devastating anxiety disorders can be managed. Therefore, individuals experiencing anxiety disorders show symptoms such as fatigue. Individuals experiencing the disorder often complain of feeling tired easily. The fatigue mostly happens due to the arousal or the hyperactivity associated with anxiety. However, the fatigue may be related to chronic hormonal effects of anxiety or be aftermath of other anxiety symptoms such as muscle tension or insomnia (Coon et al., 2018). Notably, fatigue is highly recognized to be an anxiety disorder when accompanied by extreme worrying. Secondly, excessive worrying is a significant symptom of anxiety disorder. In response to normal daily situations, hormones may trigger a worry inconsistent with the happening event increasing anxiety. The worrying is disturbing and severe, making it challenging for the affected individual to accomplish their daily tasks. Besides, excessive worrying is considered a symptom of anxiety disorder if it occurs almost daily for more than half a year.

Restlessness is another indicator commonly exhibited by people experiencing an anxiety disorder, and more so in teens and children. Besides, individuals experiencing the disorder may have recurring restlessness in at least six months, making it hard for them to desire to move. Remarkably, restlessness is the most looked at symptom by doctors when making anxiety disorder diagnoses. Moreover, circumventing social situations is evidence of anxiety disorder. For instance, approximately 12% of the adults in America have experienced social anxiety (Twenge et al., 2020). This symptom makes the affected individuals feel humiliated as they address or stand in front of other people, avoid social activities, worry about upcoming social events, and fear being judged by others in social situations. Moreover, individuals having social anxiety appear to be quiet and shy in a group of people and may have depression and low self-esteem.

Showing irrational fears is another anxiety disorder symptom. For instance, individuals express extreme fears towards certain things such as heights, some insects, injections, and closed places. This extreme fear prohibits an individual from functioning normally. Research shows that approximately 12.5% of the American population experience irrational fears in their lives. Lastly, individuals experiencing anxiety disorders show panic attacks (Twenge et al., 2020). The attacks accompany an intense fear, which results in shortness of breath, nausea, rapid heartbeat, trembling, and losing control. Besides, if panic attacks recur, they may be a good sign of anxiety disorder.

Anxiety Disorder Diagnosis

For the necessary medical care, medical practitioners can examine and diagnose the disorder in the affected person by conducting a physical exam. The test helps establish whether the person has anxiety signs, which may be associated with primary medical conditions, hormonal changes, and alcohol or coffee consumption. In addition, for the doctor to diagnose the mental illness, he or she can order urine or blood tests (McDowell et al., 2019). This happens only when a medical ailment is assumed. Therefore, medical professionals can use the blood and urine test to establish whether the patient has hypothyroidism, which may be associated with the displayed symptoms. Moreover, a doctor may ask comprehensive questions to the affected individual concerning their prevailing medical history as well as any symptoms they may be experiencing. Further, doctors can utilize the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) criteria to analyze and diagnose the disorder.

Notably, doctors might conduct a psychological assessment to diagnose any fundamental cause of the symptoms shown by the patient. In this diagnosis, a doctor inquires from the affected individual about the symptoms they are experiencing, when they began, what period they have lasted for, and whether they experienced similar symptoms before. The psychological questionnaire may as well ask the patient the ways in which the symptoms affect their day-to-day functioning and activities (McDowell et al., 2019). Besides, scales such as Hamilton Anxiety Scale, Social Phobia Inventory, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, and Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale are used to evaluate the patient’s anxiety level.

Treatment and Psychological theories

The anxiety disorder treatment entails a blending of behavioral therapy, psychotherapy, and medication (Bandelow et al., 2017). For instance, psychological therapy is a typical way of treating anxiety. Besides, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is highly advised in the treatment of anxiety disorder. The CBT comprises efforts to alter and modify the thinking patterns of the affected individual. For instance, CBT can be applied by the counselor, who advises and provides strategies in which the affected person can change their way of thinking, and the meaning they accord to certain events in their lives (Carl et al., 2020). Besides, CBT is applied when addressing panic attacks, depression, social phobia, insomnia, and chronic pains. Therefore, this helps the patient cease fearing that the worst may happen to them; delve into confronting their fears rather than dodging them, and understand, accept, and describe themselves instead of judging themselves. Further, CBT is highly employed where the patient is continually exposed to things that cause them fear, for modeling them.

In addition, behavior therapy can be employed in the treatment of anxiety disorder. The behavior therapy theory is used to model the affected individual’s new behaviors, which they can employ as they respond to their fears, worries, and emotions. This theory is applied by employing negative and positive reinforcement and negative and positive punishment to change the patient’s behavior (Hebert & Dugas, 2019). For instance, the patient is advised to replace maladaptive responses such as fear with adaptive behaviors such as confronting fears or showing courage to overcome. Additionally, the modeling technique employed in Behavior therapy helps individuals imitate the behavior of others facing similar situations as them. Therefore, Behavior therapy is successful as it helps individuals adopt positive responses to different situations.

Lastly, medication can be used to cure anxiety disorders. This may involve medication therapy, which may entail administering medicine such as benzodiazepines, beta-blockers, antidepressants, and tricyclics. Besides, this therapy ensures successful treatment of the disorder as it helps prevent some mental and physical symptoms of anxiety. For instance, antidepressants are useful in curing depression. Therefore, medication therapy treats anxiety disorder by providing medication necessary in countering the mental illness.

Summing up, anxiety disorder is associated with extreme and persistent fear, worry, and anxiety that limit the performance of daily activities of the affected individual. The disorder’s most common forms are panic attacks and social phobia, which have claimed approximately 30% of the American population. Besides, research shows that women are the most affected individuals of the disorder compared to men. Notably, the most common symptoms of anxiety disorders include fatigue, restlessness, circumventing social events, extreme worries, irrational fears, and panic attacks, among others. Remarkably, in diagnosing the disorder, strategies such as administration of the psychological assessment, conducting a physical exam, which entails urine and blood test by doctors, and utilizing the DSM-5. Furthermore, in treating the disorder, medication, behavioral therapy, and psychotherapy are utilized to ensure proper treatment. This leads to the employment of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Behavioral therapy theories to ensure modification and change in the behavior of the patient for their benefit. Therefore, these theories are highly recommended for positive changes in the patient’s conduct as well as their mental health.

Coon, D., Mitterer, J. O., & Martini, T. S. (2018).  Introduction to psychology: gateways to mind and behavior . Cengage Learning.

Carl, J. R., Miller, C. B., Henry, A. L., Davis, M. L., Stott, R., Smits, J. A., … & Espie, C. A. (2020). Efficacy of digital cognitive behavioral therapy for moderate‐to‐severe symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder: A randomized controlled trial.  Depression and anxiety ,  37 (12), 1168-1178.

Twenge, J. M., & Joiner, T. E. (2020). US Census Bureau assessed the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms in 2019 and during the 2020 COVID‐19 pandemic.  Depression and anxiety ,  37 (10), 954-956.

McDowell, C. P., Dishman, R. K., Gordon, B. R., & Herring, M. P. (2019). Physical activity and anxiety: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.  American journal of preventive medicine ,  57 (4), 545-556.

Bandelow, B., Michaelis, S., & Wedekind, D. (2017). Treatment of anxiety disorders.  Dialogues in clinical neuroscience ,  19 (2), 93.

Hebert, E. A., & Dugas, M. J. (2019). Behavioral experiments for intolerance of uncertainty: Challenging the unknown in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder.  Cognitive and Behavioral Practice ,  26 (2), 421-436.

Cite this page

Similar essay samples.

• Essay on Careers Around the World
• Essay on Rehabilitation
• Children’s development during infancy and childhood: a socio-cul...
• Essay on the Geography of Scotland
• Quantitative Article Review
• Strategic Analysis of Marks & Spencer Plc

Find anything you save across the site in your account

By Lauren Oyler

In her short story “Five Signs of Disturbance,” Lydia Davis writes of a woman who is “frightened”:

She cannot always decide whether what seems to her a sign of disturbance should be counted as such, since it is fairly normal for her, such as talking aloud to herself or eating too much, or whether it should be counted because to someone else it might seem at least somewhat abnormal, and so, after thinking of ten or eleven signs, she wavers between counting five and seven signs as real signs of disturbance and finally settles on five, partly because she cannot accept the idea that there could be as many as seven.

I would have thought it’s normal to be weird about a few things, but being confronted with such a perspective always makes me doubt myself. I, too, wonder constantly if the things I do and experience are normal. But I have many more signs of disturbance than ten or eleven. I think.

I could say I’m sleeping badly, but it’s worse than that—I’m sleeping incorrectly. When I lie down, I don’t actually rest my head on the pillow; instead, I hold it slightly aloft, so that it touches the pillow but, instead of sinking into the soft material, remains hovering above it. To an observer I would seem to be lying down normally. I tell myself to relax—among other issues, I’m worried I’ll develop a thick neck. When I do, I’m shocked at how much I had just moments before been not relaxing. This is sleep , I think. This is what going to sleep actually feels like . But soon I find my head has risen above the pillow again, and I must admit to myself that I don’t know what going to sleep actually feels like.

From this you’d think I have trouble falling asleep; not so. I’m usually exhausted. But I almost always wake up too soon. Sometimes for no reason; sometimes by a tingling in my ring and pinky fingers, which I experience because I hold my arms tense in sleep, often with my hands in fists so tight that they leave marks from my nails on my palm. I learned the tingling is caused by the ulnar nerve, from a masseuse who observed my posture; she also intuited that I had been born via C-section and was thus likely dealing with an original sense of having been forcibly removed from a place of safety. The clenching, broadly, leads me to grind my teeth, which I have done for at least ten years, and the grinding, probably, leads to the tinnitus, which is relatively new. One of these things might also be at fault for what’s known as exploding head syndrome: at night, I sometimes see flashes of light behind my closed eyes, as if there are fireworks outside my window, and hear mechanical sounds that aren’t there. Despite its spectacular name, the condition is “prognostically benign,” accompanied by no pain or immediate threat to health. The fear I experience along with these hallucinations inspires a series of logical justifications: it’s all in my head, which is, of course, exactly the problem.

Trouble sleeping is certainly normal, but it doesn’t help the project of being awake. While socializing, I am cheerful, gossipy, and quite fun until I’m sleepy, but sometimes I catch myself doing artistic things with my hands and posture—fidgeting, wringing, clenching—even as I engage charmingly (I hope) with my interlocutors. Other times, I will look down from a conversation and notice, Oh, the fist again; because I can laugh at myself, I hold it up to show my friend, as if it contains a surprise. I do not pick or bite my nails, but in groups or alone, at home or out, I cannot keep my shoulders down. (Large deltoids—almost as bad as a thick neck.) Twice now, at parties, men have come up behind me and attempted to physically correct my posture, followed by a little lecture. Never mind the cell-phone addiction, the laptop that sits on the table so that I must look down on it, the ambient tension of contemporary life, when I must be on guard against men who randomly correct my posture. The slouch, they say, is the result of my failure to accept myself as a tall woman.

I honestly don’t think that’s it, but should you really take my word for it? I sometimes feel strange pains in various parts of my body, just fleeting ones, which I then waste a lot of time thinking about. I have occasionally fainted for no reason, and more than once broken out in hives. I get sweaty, feel anxious about being sweaty—about the sweat becoming visible to others, disgusting them—and get sweatier. After I go in the sun, I experience what I call a sunburn neurosis, my skin burning and tingling, though I remain, owing to anxious sunscreen application, as white as a Victorian ghost; I haven’t had a sunburn since I was a teen-ager. Acid reflux can last for weeks. I often find it difficult to eat because I am nauseated due to stress.

I don’t have any phobias, but I do feel afraid. When I’m particularly stressed, I sense movement out of the corner of my eye and jump, like an animal preparing to fend off attack; there’s nothing there. I hold my breath, make little noises, sing little songs, shake. Sometimes I perform feats of what might look from the outside like symptoms of very mild obsessive-compulsive disorder: checking more than twice that the front door is locked; changing the combination on a locker at the gym or a museum multiple times, because I am afraid someone saw me set it. I am hesitant to even mention this one, knowing, because of my years-long Internet addiction—which I would attribute to, among other things, an attempt to escape my anxious, spiralling thoughts, or maybe to externalize them—that if someone claims they “are O.C.D.” about facts of life, such as cleaning the kitchen, people get mad: perfectionism, neuroticism, and thoroughness are not O.C.D. In my defense, I never clean the kitchen.

My work suffers, of course. How could it not? I’m sadly not a perfectionist but, rather, an avoider and a regretter. There are periods when I will respond to e-mails at a reasonable pace, and then there’s the e-mail about a potentially lucrative project that I ignored for months. I haven’t even opened it; I don’t know what it says. Since childhood, I’ve had versions of “the packing dream,” in which I am surrounded by clothes strewn chaotically around the room, and I cannot choose what to bring on a trip. I may have enough time to finish packing, or I may already be too late. Whatever the scenario, it’s never one of those dreams about physical impediments, in which you try to move but can’t; the obstacle is always only my own mind, my own incapability, and that is the torment—that I’ve done this to myself. (I have never actually missed a flight.) As for work, I always manage to “get it done,” though I don’t know how. It’s probably a reasonable enough fear of failure—or fear of failing to achieve the impossibly ambitious vision in my mind—that is my obstacle. Even worse is the possibility, floated by sanguine meditators and accepters of things-as-they-are, that I may need the anxiety, and the promise of eventual relief from it, to do anything at all.

What about panic attacks? I’ve never had the kind of panic attack that people mistake for a medical emergency, but sometimes I become very still, sort of unable to move, for, I don’t know, ten to twenty minutes to an hour, and my muscles are sore the next day. There are the usual racing thoughts: love, squandered potential, unlikely vanities, loss of income. Injustices committed against me; chores. Will I get cancer? Knowing that everyone worries they have cancer helps only a little bit. My ultimate anxiety is not that a certain fear will come true. Rather, I experience panic as mostly meta: the horror of being trapped, in this mind-set, for the rest of my life.

Naturally, I am not merely anxious; I am also very sad. The two are, for me, inextricable: I get anxious that I’ll get sad and sad that I’m so anxious. It’s harder to describe the depression, and the fear of it, because fewer physical symptoms are involved. Weeping, that telltale sign of sadness, is usually cathartic, a response to a specific buildup of identifiable issues, and thus not involved in what I can’t help but think of as the true suffering, which recedes and returns, recedes and returns. People often talk about being unable to get out of bed in the morning. What if you can get out of bed—after about an hour and a half of lying awake in it, thinking about how you should get out of bed? What if you can get out of bed but find it beckons you back throughout the day? What if you are, owing to your difficulty sleeping, just tired? Which comes first, exhaustion or depression? Does it matter?

Even knowing that “normal” is a nefarious construct, used to shame and control, there’s something about these symptoms that makes me want to know how many people have them; they mean nothing to me alone because none of them is so unusual as to cause alarm, or even merit comment, and so they might mean anything. Is it really such a big deal? I don’t know where to put the emphasis, how to tell it, and this is particularly disturbing because knowing where to put the emphasis is my vocation, which is also bound up with, I’ll admit, my “sense of self.” “You don’t seem anxious,” friends will say, surprised at my competent narration. This is not the response I want. How competent could it be if no one believes what I’m telling them?

I can shift the blame. As with anything that matters, the language we use to describe “mental illness” is all wrong. Mental illness is “real,” as real as a tumor, but not the same kind of real as a tumor. Its effects are measurable, in blood pressure or hours slept, or noticeable, in weird hand gestures or an erratic mode of speaking, but mental illness has no shape or volume; its size cannot be conveyed through comparisons to fruits and vegetables. It becomes real in the description of its effects, in the naming of everything around it, rather than in attempts to define it, though we have many words and phrases that approach the task. “Disturbance” is funny, and accurate, because it refers both to the internal condition and what it produces: behavior that might unsettle oneself or others. I become “nervous” in small-stakes situations of short or predetermined time frames; “nervousness” no longer describes the anxious disposition, as it did in the past, but the feeling of being anxious about a specific thing that is usually imminent. I’m “neurotic” because I know the basics of psychoanalysis and am a fast-talking big-city professional; I’m “neurasthenic” because I know the word. My mother used to call herself, as well as me, a “worrywart”; to “worry” is to fidget with something in the mind. “Panic” is acute, “attack” is very acute, and a “fit” is a cute version of a “panic attack”; “throwing a fit” is what children do and what adults do when they are “freaking out” while simultaneously making childish demands. Like “freaking out,” “going insane” is applicable as a joke in retrospect, though it became too popular on the Internet and lost its edge, particularly because the sort of people who said it were just the sort who ought to be arguing that the usage stigmatizes people with mental illnesses. I still indulge in “crazy,” which is classic, and permitted, I think, because I am. “Distressed” is the joke version of nervous, though someone “in distress” is being euphemized, as is someone “behaving erratically.” A “crisis” is both intense and prolonged; a “spiral” is a crisis about one issue, characterized by repetitive and catastrophic thinking, and “spiralling” may feature prominently in crises, but in a slightly funny way. I fear having a true “breakdown,” which suggests, to me, among other things, a failure of speech, but I also fantasize about having a true breakdown for the same reason. I am rarely, if ever, “hysterical”; that’s sexist. “Mentally ill” is, of course, insufficient, though when I have seen other people “in crisis” I have thought I actually understand the term. The concept of “mental health,” did you know, comes from Plato, who said that it could be cultivated through the elimination of passion by reason. Today, good mental health means something like the elimination of both passion and reason.

Unless I’m about to appear onstage, in which case I am “nervous,” I describe myself as “anxious” so that people know I’m serious: this is not a passing worry but a constant state, and if I were to seek a medical diagnosis I would get one, handily. The question “Why don’t you?” naturally arises. The answer is that I do not feel it would help, and might even create more problems than it solves. In medicine, the problem of language is a problem of classification; I do not seek a diagnosis, probably, because I do not want to be trapped in a single term. (I hate being trapped, you might have noticed.) Like everyone else’s, my mind dabbles in an array of mental illnesses to create a bespoke product, and I find all the terms I know either ludicrously broad or ludicrously specific. I learned from Scott Stossel’s upsettingly thorough 2014 book, “ My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind ,” that the term “generalized anxiety disorder” was conceived at a dinner party, in the nineteen-seventies, held among members of a task force working on the DSM-III . According to David Sheehan, a psychiatrist who was there, they were all drunk, wondering how to classify a colleague who “didn’t suffer from panic attacks but who worried all the time . . . just sort of generally anxious.” “For the next thirty years,” Sheehan continues, “the world collected data” on the group’s drunken musing. The point of this anecdote, Stossel establishes, is not to say that generalized anxiety disorder isn’t real but to demonstrate how somewhat arbitrary decisions made by powerful people can shape how we see ourselves. I also don’t mean to suggest that the ideas that we have while drunk are bad—more that drunkenness can give us an admirable economy and frankness, and encourage us to just pick something and go with it, something that some of us, sober, really struggle to do.

An essay like this is supposed to have a narrative. Where does my anxiety come from? Famously, it’s overdetermined. First, my parents: they passed down bad genes, and then they might not have raised me right. To go further I’d have to discuss the ways that they might not have been raised right, and then discuss the ways that they might not have raised me right. Although, like everyone, I have a list of these in the Notes app on my phone, and I update it every few days when a new injustice committed against my past innocence reveals itself, I am hesitant to go down this path, which narrows to a tunnel, which is eventually pitch-dark. The packing dream, a desire to escape my humble origins; the sunburn neurosis, from my mother’s warnings. I am the way I am because my father did this, or my mother didn’t do that. Not a very satisfying conclusion.

What about society? That’s what’s fucked up. In the early two-thousands, a group of academics in Chicago formed a collective called the Feel Tank—an alternative to the think tank, though of course they also opposed “the facile splitting of thinking and feeling.” According to their manifesto, they sought “to understand the economic and the nervous system of contemporary life” by being “interested in the potential for ‘bad feelings’ like hopelessness, apathy, anxiety, fear, numbness, despair and ambivalence to constitute and be constituted as forms of resistance.” One of their early slogans was “Depressed? . . . It might be political.”

Here the concept of normality truly collapses: what is normal—financial precarity, an inability to plan for the future, war—is not good at all. Feel Tank Chicago was established as part of the “affective turn” in the academic humanities, which began in the nineties; this approach to understanding emotions as shaped by power structures has become wildly influential, though it’s not new. For example: the concept of Americanitis, popularized by William James at the end of the nineteenth century, described “the high-strung, nervous, active temperament of the American people,” according to an 1898 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association . The causes—advances in technology and accompanying pressures of capitalism—were much the same as they are today. Wherever the contemporary occurs, anxiety and depression are seen as natural reactions to it, and performances of profound mental discord in response to the news will be familiar to anyone on social media.

If conventional understandings of mental illness tend to make it about you—the chemicals in your brain or the particular contours of your childhood—this conception wonders if you can harness its power to make things better for everyone. Nice. But there’s something a little simplistic about the way one can attribute all feelings of negativity, disconnection, or anxiety to what amounts to a higher power, as anyone who’s read those social-media laments will know. Doesn’t this encourage more bad feelings: solipsism, nihilism, futility? Looking for something to blame may feel better than beating oneself up, but it doesn’t feel good . In her 2012 book, “ Depression: A Public Feeling ,” Ann Cvetkovich describes the Public Feelings Project—Feel Tank Chicago described themselves as a “cell” of this larger group—as an attempt to “depathologize negative feelings so that they can be seen as a possible resource for political action,” but without suggesting “that depression is thereby converted into a positive experience.”

Indeed, the encouragement to understand our suffering as determined by external conditions does not seem to ease it. The comfort of believing you are normal is that you have company in misery and that your condition seems less likely to become worse. But if “normal” is, by definition, something that is getting worse all the time, then your condition is a form of solidarity—not necessarily a source of solace. (And if you derive solace from the solidarity, do you really want to sacrifice the quality that grants you access to it?) For my purposes—which are, I suppose, to understand whether and how I am abnormal without annoying the reader—stories that foreground their protagonists’ participation in public feeling tend to be unsatisfying. If my suffering has nothing do with me, if it’s the expression of social and political conditions, why should the reader, or well-meaning friend, care? This is why narratives that compete directly with the idea of collective feeling and collective resistance, conservative tales of bootstrapping and hard work, are so compelling: they make a lot more sense.

Until the revolution that would be our relief comes, we must “do the work” to get better ourselves. “Have you tried talking to someone?” people ask, when I mention my various issues. Are you that somebody? No: they mean that, in addition to the natural sleep aids, the regular exercise, the healthy diet, the cultivation of hobbies, the having of friends, the practicing of meditation, and the occasional massage, I should go to therapy.

I have tried talking to someone; it’s fine. The responses I get when I utter the magic words “my therapist” are more thought-provoking than any of the personal revelations I’ve uncovered with him so far, though the idea is that you need to do it for years for the benefits to accrue. “I’m proud of you,” friends say. As if it is so difficult to think seriously about myself for hours a day—as if that weren’t what I was doing with my anxiety anyway. These friends will talk about my problems with me endlessly, as long as I am “in therapy.” If I am not, or if I express my doubts about the possibility of transcending the workings of my own mind by paying someone to guide me through the process, the response is unanimous: I must find a new therapist, someone who is “right” for me. They wonder, gently, gently: Is it possible that I, so high-achieving, am unconsciously telling the therapist what I think he wants to hear—deceiving him by being adequately emotional, apparently reflective, in order to give true self-knowledge the slip? Should I not find someone meaner, nicer, female, more intellectual, less intellectual, someone who will not fall for my tricks?

Or: I must try a different therapeutic approach. A bit of research quickly reveals an expanse of options: somatic-experiencing therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, integrative therapy, gestalt therapy, humanistic therapy, psychodynamic therapy, exposure therapy, shock therapy, biofeedback, counselling, coaching, one of the innumerable schools of psychoanalysis. At a wedding, I was strongly recommended E.M.D.R., or “eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing” therapy, in which eye movement is stimulated in an attempt to retrain the brain to respond to trauma. Some of these styles of therapy are more or less the same thing, just with different names, but, given the nature of the enterprise, you have to assume that the selection of one name or another, or a combination of names, indicates subtle differences in method that surely multiply to create different outcomes. Whether you’re supposed to think about outcomes is a key differentiating factor in therapeutic approaches.

A psychiatrist might prescribe medication, a fraught topic. It’s hard to write about medication without having taken it oneself, which I have so far resisted. I’ve tried a couple of popular pharmaceuticals recreationally and find I am more afraid of them than I am of illegal club drugs; they really work. While I have no idea what it’s like to be on psychiatric medication long term, no one else can say what it’s like, either; the medications famously interact with each person differently, so there is no way to understand them as an experience except through trial and error. The possible side effects are sometimes just as bad as the symptoms they’re supposed to alleviate. The process of stopping these medications, which many patients want to do , is criminally under-studied and requires a painful period of weaning that comes with prohibitively bad side effects, too. (To start antidepressants is to sign up for some future moment when you won’t want to take them anymore, and to have to decide whether you want to experience “brain zaps” in order to stop.)

At the same time, they often help. Criticize what you believe to be the craven overprescription of psychiatric medication in the United States and someone on the Internet will take personal offense: Wellbutrin saved my life! At the end of Sheila Heti’s 2018 novel, “ Motherhood ,” the narrator begins taking antidepressants, and all her problems—primarily her vacillation about the question of whether to have a child, which constitutes the entire novel, along with a debilitating, weeping sadness around her period—are suddenly solved, with what the critic Willa Paskin called a “lexapro-ex-machina.” The abruptness of the ironic conclusion is itself a comment on the role that psychiatric medication plays in North American life, but this plot point, one of the book’s very few, also demonstrates the way philosophical searching ceases when the anguish that propels it is no longer there. Medication allows Heti’s narrator to ignore the upsetting reality that she could go on trying to decide, or regretting, forever. There is no arc, nor character development, nor point, without anticlimactic intervention.

I once attended a session of what I called jaw yoga, hoping to “manage” my bruxism. It was conducted by a Greek woman named Angela who described herself as a dancer, choreographer, and yoga coach; she was also, incredibly, an actual dentist. At the union of these disparate interests was a passionate belief that the jaw had been neglected in the world of dance and that the rest of the body had been neglected in the world of dentistry. “Once you are grinding and pressing the teeth, your cranium and shoulders, hips, knees and feet are reacting to this pressure,” her course description read, beneath a photo of her lying on her stomach, cupping her jaw in her hands. “Once the skeleton is affected, also the organs are reacting. A chain reaction of organs and emotions is put in motion.” She told us how to identify the various parts of the jaw and ended the class by singing along to a recording of “All You Need Is Love.” As we left, she passed out business cards that read “You are the point.”

It didn’t work, though maybe I should have attended more sessions. A resistance to helping oneself is often a simple denial of reality: I don’t want it to be true that I need help, not because I would like to imagine myself as strong and never in need—a common explanation—but because I do not want to have these problems that are notoriously difficult to solve, about which there is no professional agreement. I do not want to embark on a years-long project dedicated to my own mind. I have other things to think about.

A final worry: Am I being confessional? The great trick of declaring outsized anguish, of being publicly and clinically wrecked by one’s feelings, is that once you do it your feelings set the limits, and no one wants to hurt them. The confession is a simple form of writing. It does not contextualize, illuminate, or complicate. Its main purpose is not the creation of aesthetic beauty out of the materials at hand (life, pain) but selfishness: relieving the confessor’s desire to confess. The form travels in one direction, from me to you, offering no path to analysis, critique, or, God forbid, argument. If the feelings are unique, the confession is justified; if they’re normal, it is, too. One yearns for the breakthrough, the epiphany, the point, that will make sense of it all, and thus cure it. But catharsis for me is boring for you. ♦

This is drawn from “ No Judgment .”

New Yorker Favorites

They thought that they’d found the perfect apartment. They weren’t alone .

After high-school football stars were accused of rape, online vigilantes demanded that justice be served .

The world’s oldest temple and the dawn of civilization .

What happened to the whale from “Free Willy.”

It was one of the oldest buildings left downtown. Why not try to save it ?

The religious right’s leading ghostwriter .

A comic strip by Alison Bechdel: the seven-minute semi-sadistic workout .

Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker .

By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

By Jackson Arn

By Deborah Treisman

By André Alexis

By Wendi Aarons

Home — Essay Samples — Nursing & Health — Psychiatry & Mental Health — Anxiety

Essays About Anxiety

Anxiety essay topic examples, argumentative essays.

Argumentative essays on anxiety require you to take a stance on a specific aspect of anxiety and provide evidence to support your viewpoint. Consider these topic examples:

• 1. Argue for the importance of mental health education in schools, emphasizing the role it plays in reducing anxiety among students.
• 2. Debate whether the increased use of technology and social media contributes to rising levels of anxiety among young adults, considering the pros and cons of digital connectivity.

Example Introduction Paragraph for an Argumentative Anxiety Essay: Anxiety is a prevalent mental health concern that affects individuals of all ages. In this argumentative essay, we will explore the significance of introducing comprehensive mental health education in schools and its potential to alleviate anxiety among students.

Example Conclusion Paragraph for an Argumentative Anxiety Essay: In conclusion, the argument for incorporating mental health education in schools underscores the need to address anxiety and related issues at an early stage. As we advocate for change, we are reminded of the positive impact such initiatives can have on the well-being of future generations.

Compare and Contrast Essays

Compare and contrast essays on anxiety involve analyzing the similarities and differences between various aspects of anxiety, treatment approaches, or the impact of anxiety on different demographic groups. Consider these topics:

• 1. Compare and contrast the experiences and coping mechanisms of individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD), highlighting their unique challenges and commonalities.
• 2. Analyze the differences and similarities in the prevalence and impact of anxiety among different age groups, such as adolescents and older adults, considering the contributing factors and treatment options.

Example Introduction Paragraph for a Compare and Contrast Anxiety Essay: Anxiety manifests in various forms, affecting individuals differently. In this compare and contrast essay, we will examine the experiences and coping strategies of individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD), shedding light on the distinctions and shared aspects of their conditions.

Example Conclusion Paragraph for a Compare and Contrast Anxiety Essay: In conclusion, the comparison and contrast of GAD and SAD provide valuable insights into the diverse landscape of anxiety disorders. As we deepen our understanding, we can better tailor support and interventions for those grappling with these challenges.

Descriptive Essays

Descriptive essays on anxiety allow you to provide a detailed account of anxiety-related experiences, the impact of anxiety on daily life, or the portrayal of anxiety in literature and media. Here are some topic ideas:

• 1. Describe a personal experience of overcoming a major anxiety-related obstacle or fear, highlighting the emotions and strategies involved in the process.
• 2. Analyze the portrayal of anxiety and mental health in a specific novel, movie, or television series, discussing its accuracy and the messages it conveys to the audience.

Example Introduction Paragraph for a Descriptive Anxiety Essay: Anxiety can be a formidable adversary, but it is also a source of resilience and personal growth. In this descriptive essay, I will recount a deeply personal journey of overcoming a significant anxiety-related challenge, shedding light on the emotions and strategies that guided me along the way.

Example Conclusion Paragraph for a Descriptive Anxiety Essay: In conclusion, my personal narrative of conquering anxiety illustrates the transformative power of resilience and determination. As we share our stories, we inspire others to confront their fears and embrace the path to recovery.

Persuasive Essays

Persuasive essays on anxiety involve advocating for specific actions, policies, or changes related to anxiety awareness, treatment accessibility, or destigmatization. Consider these persuasive topics:

• 1. Persuade your audience of the importance of increasing mental health resources on college campuses, emphasizing the positive impact on students' well-being and academic performance.
• 2. Advocate for the destigmatization of anxiety and other mental health conditions in society, highlighting the role of media, education, and public discourse in reducing stereotypes and discrimination.

Example Introduction Paragraph for a Persuasive Anxiety Essay: Anxiety affects millions of individuals, yet stigma and limited resources often hinder access to necessary support. In this persuasive essay, I will make a compelling case for the expansion of mental health services on college campuses, emphasizing the benefits to students' overall well-being and academic success.

Example Conclusion Paragraph for a Persuasive Anxiety Essay: In conclusion, the persuasive argument for increased mental health resources on college campuses highlights the urgent need to prioritize students' mental well-being. As we advocate for these changes, we contribute to a more inclusive and supportive educational environment.

Narrative Essays

Narrative essays on anxiety allow you to share personal stories, experiences, or perspectives related to anxiety, your journey to understanding and managing it, or the impact of anxiety on your life. Explore these narrative essay topics:

• 1. Narrate a personal experience of a panic attack, describing the physical and emotional sensations, the circumstances, and the steps taken to cope and recover.
• 2. Share a story of your journey toward self-acceptance and resilience in the face of anxiety, emphasizing the strategies and support systems that have helped you navigate this mental health challenge.

Example Introduction Paragraph for a Narrative Anxiety Essay: Anxiety is a deeply personal experience that can profoundly impact one's life. In this narrative essay, I will take you through a vivid account of a panic attack I experienced, offering insights into the physical and emotional aspects of this anxiety-related event.

Example Conclusion Paragraph for a Narrative Anxiety Essay: In conclusion, the narrative of my panic attack experience underscores the importance of self-awareness and coping strategies in managing anxiety. As we share our stories, we foster understanding and support for those facing similar challenges.

Population Density and Mental Health

My autobiography of anxiety, made-to-order essay as fast as you need it.

Each essay is customized to cater to your unique preferences

+ experts online

Theme of Fear of Okonkwo

A study on anxiety disorders and its negative impact on people, anxiety: causes, symptoms and my personal experience, the problem of anxiety and stress and its treatment, let us write you an essay from scratch.

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

How to Overcome Anxiety Disorder

Social anxiety disorder: my experience, the effects of mental health on our life, lowdown on anxiety and how to cope with it better, get a personalized essay in under 3 hours.

Expert-written essays crafted with your exact needs in mind

The Issue of Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Cognitive behavioral theory application for anxiety disorder, the problem of social anxiety disorders of teenagers, anxiety disorder among children and ways to prevent it, research of social anxiety disorder: symptoms, causes, effects and treatments, what is generalized anxiety disorder (gad) and its treatment, anxiety, its development, effects, and treatments, how to overcome depression and anxiety, the importance of managing stress and anxiety in early age, potential causes of anxiety disorders, the problem of public speaking anxiety, the way teachers can help their students to overcome anxiety and depression, fear and anxiety in our lives and how to deal with it, the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (cbt) for treating individuals with depression and anxiety, reflection on how i fought my social anxiety with the help of family, the power of following your fear and anxiety, social anxiety disorder and its impacts on the lives of the americans, types and causes of social anxiety disorder, research of anxiety increasing in the united states, distress and demoralozation of nurses as a source of anxiety and job seniority.

Anxiety is a psychological and physiological response characterized by feelings of apprehension, fear, and unease. It is a natural human reaction to perceived threats or stressors, triggering a heightened state of arousal and activating the body's fight-or-flight response.

Excessive worrying: Individuals with anxiety often experience persistent and intrusive thoughts, excessive worrying, and an inability to control their anxious thoughts. Physical symptoms: Anxiety can manifest physically, leading to symptoms such as increased heart rate, rapid breathing, sweating, trembling, muscle tension, headaches, and gastrointestinal disturbances. Restlessness and irritability: Anxiety can cause a sense of restlessness and irritability, making it difficult for individuals to relax or concentrate on tasks. Sleep disruptions: Anxiety has the potential to interfere with sleep patterns, resulting in challenges when trying to initiate sleep, maintain it, or achieve a restorative sleep. Consequently, this can exacerbate feelings of fatigue and weariness. Avoidance behaviors: People with anxiety may engage in avoidance behaviors, such as avoiding certain situations or places that trigger their anxiety. This can restrict their daily activities and limit their quality of life.

Genetic predisposition: Research suggests that individuals with a family history of anxiety disorders may have a higher likelihood of developing anxiety themselves. Certain genetic variations and inherited traits can increase susceptibility to anxiety. Brain chemistry: Imbalances in neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, dopamine, and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), are thought to play a role in anxiety disorders. These chemical imbalances can affect the regulation of mood, emotions, and stress responses. Environmental factors: Traumatic life events, such as abuse, loss, or significant life changes, can trigger or exacerbate anxiety. Chronic stress, work pressure, and relationship difficulties can also contribute to the development of anxiety. Personality traits: Certain personality traits, such as being prone to perfectionism, having a negative outlook, or being highly self-critical, may increase the risk of developing anxiety disorders. Medical conditions: Certain medical conditions, such as thyroid disorders, cardiovascular issues, and respiratory problems, can be associated with anxiety symptoms.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): GAD is marked by excessive and uncontrollable worry about various aspects of life, including work, health, and everyday situations. Individuals with GAD often experience physical symptoms like restlessness, fatigue, muscle tension, and difficulty concentrating. Panic Disorder: Panic disorder involves recurrent and unexpected panic attacks, which are intense episodes of fear accompanied by physical symptoms like rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, chest pain, and dizziness. People with panic disorder often worry about future panic attacks and may develop agoraphobia, avoiding places or situations that they fear might trigger an attack. Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD): SAD is characterized by an intense fear of social situations and a persistent worry about being embarrassed, judged, or humiliated. People with SAD may experience extreme self-consciousness, avoidance of social interactions, and physical symptoms like blushing, trembling, or sweating. Specific Phobias: Common examples include phobias of heights, spiders, flying, or enclosed spaces. Exposure to the feared object or situation can trigger severe anxiety symptoms. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): OCD is characterized by intrusive and unwanted thoughts (obsessions) that lead to repetitive behaviors or mental acts (compulsions) aimed at reducing anxiety. Common obsessions include fears of contamination, doubts, and a need for symmetry, while common compulsions include excessive cleaning, checking, and arranging.

The treatment of anxiety typically involves a multi-faceted approach aimed at addressing the individual's specific needs. One common form of treatment is psychotherapy, which involves talking with a trained therapist to explore the underlying causes of anxiety and develop coping strategies. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is often employed to challenge negative thought patterns and behaviors associated with anxiety. In some cases, anti-anxiety medications, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or benzodiazepines, may be prescribed by a healthcare professional. These medications work to alleviate the intensity of anxiety symptoms and promote a sense of calm. Additionally, lifestyle modifications can play a significant role in anxiety management. Regular exercise, stress-reduction techniques like meditation or yoga, and maintaining a balanced diet can contribute to overall well-being and help alleviate anxiety symptoms.

1. Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent mental health conditions that affect a substantial number of individuals worldwide, impacting approximately 284 million people globally. 2. Research indicates that women have a higher likelihood of being diagnosed with anxiety disorders compared to men. Studies reveal that women are twice as likely to experience anxiety, with this gender difference emerging during adolescence and persisting into adulthood. 3. Anxiety disorders often coexist with other mental health issues. Extensive research has demonstrated a strong correlation between anxiety disorders and comorbidities such as depression, substance abuse, and eating disorders. These co-occurring conditions can significantly impact an individual's well-being and require comprehensive and integrated approaches to treatment.

Anxiety is an important topic to explore in an essay due to its widespread impact on individuals and society as a whole. Understanding and addressing anxiety is crucial for several reasons. Firstly, anxiety disorders are highly prevalent, affecting a significant portion of the population globally. This prevalence highlights the need for increased awareness, accurate information, and effective strategies for prevention and treatment. Secondly, anxiety can have profound effects on individuals' mental, emotional, and physical well-being. It can impair daily functioning, hinder relationships, and limit personal growth. By delving into this topic, one can examine the various factors contributing to anxiety, its symptoms, and the potential consequences on individuals' lives. Additionally, exploring anxiety can shed light on the complex interplay between biological, psychological, and social factors that contribute to its development and maintenance. This understanding can inform the development of targeted interventions and support systems for individuals experiencing anxiety.

1. Bandelow, B., & Michaelis, S. (2015). Epidemiology of anxiety disorders in the 21st century. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 17(3), 327-335. 2. Kessler, R. C., et al. (2005). Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of anxiety disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62(6), 593-602. 3. National Institute of Mental Health. (2018). Anxiety disorders. Retrieved from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/ 4. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing. 5. Craske, M. G., et al. (2017). Anxiety disorders. Nature Reviews Disease Primers, 3(1), 17024. 6. Hofmann, S. G., et al. (2012). The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 36(5), 427-440. 7. Roy-Byrne, P. P., et al. (2010). Treating generalized anxiety disorder with second-generation antidepressants: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 71(3), 306-317. 8. Etkin, A., et al. (2015). A cognitive-emotional biomarker for predicting remission with antidepressant medications: A report from the iSPOT-D trial. JAMA Psychiatry, 72(1), 14-22. 9. Heimberg, R. G., et al. (2014). Cognitive-behavioral therapy, imipramine, or their combination for panic disorder: A randomized controlled trial. JAMA, 293(23), 2884-2893. 10. Hofmann, S. G., et al. (2013). Efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder: A meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine, 43(05), 897-910.

Relevant topics

• Mental Health
• Eating Disorders
• Drug Addiction

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Dialogues Clin Neurosci
• v.19(2); 2017 Jun

Anxiety disorders: a review of current literature

Florence thibaut.

University Hospital Cochin (Site Tarnier), Faculty of Medicine Paris Descartes, INSERM U 894, CNP, Paris, France

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent psychiatric disorders. There is a high comorbidity between anxiety (especially generalized anxiety disorders or panic disorders) and depressive disorders or between anxiety disorders, which renders treatment more complex. Current guidelines do not recommend benzodiazepines as first-line treatments due to their potential side effects. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and selective serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors are recommended as first-line treatments. Psychotherapy, in association with pharmacotherapy, is associated with better efficacy. Finally, a bio-psycho-social model is hypothesized in anxiety disorders.

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent psychiatric disorders (with a current worldwide prevalence of 7.3% [4.8%-10.9%]—Stein et al, in this issue p 127). Among them, specific phobias are the most common, with a prevalence of 10.3%, then panic disorder (with or without agoraphobia) is the next most common with a prevalence of 6.0%, followed by social phobia (2.7%) and generalized anxiety disorder (2.2%). Evidence is lacking as to whether these disorders have become more prevalent in recent decades. Generally speaking, women are more prone to develop emotional disorders with an onset at adolescence; they are 1.5 to 2 times more likely than men to have an anxiety disorder (Bandelow et al. in this issue p 93). 1 , 2

There is a high comorbidity between anxiety (especially generalized anxiety disorders or panic disorders) and depressive disorders. Additionally, anxiety disorders are often associated, which renders treatment even more complex for nonspecialists. As a result, anxiety disorders often remain underdiagnosed and undertreated in primary care. 3

Both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy have been shown to be more effective than placebo or waiting lists in the treatment of anxiety disorders. In a meta-analysis published in 2015 by Bandelow et al, and based on 234 randomized controlled studies, medications were associated with a significantly higher average pre-post effect size (Cohen's d =2.02) than psychotherapies ( d =1.22; P <0.0001); somehow, patients included in psychotherapy studies were less severely ill. 4 This meta-analysis also showed that psychotherapy in association with pharmacotherapy had a relatively high effect size ( d =2,12). Due to their good benefit/risk balance, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and selective serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors were recommended as first-line treatments. Current guidelines do not recommend benzodiazepines as first-line treatments due to their potential side effects. In fact, Parsaik et al, in a 2016 meta-analysis, 5 have reported a higher mortality rate among benzodiazepines users compared with nonusers. Underlying mechanisms need to be further studied. In addition, the development of tolerance and an increased risk for dependence were also reported in association with long-term use of benzodiazepine (which generally means ≥6 months). An increased risk of dementia was also claimed by several authors in long-term benzodiazepine users (pooled adjusted risk ratio for dementia of 1.55) compared with never users (for review, see ref 6). Finally, benzodiazepines do not treat depression, which is a common comorbid condition in anxiety disorders, and benzodiazepines may be associated with a higher suicide risk in case of comorbidity between anxiety and depressive disorders. 7

The current conceptualization of the etiology of anxiety disorders includes an interaction of psychosocial factors such as childhood adversity or stressful events, and a genetic vulnerability. Until now, there are few biomarkers available. 4 Domschke et al (in this issue, p 159) will summarize recent data about the genetic factors involved in anxiety disorders. The serotonergic and catecholaminergic systems, and neurotrophic signaling, are promising candidate genes in generalized anxiety disorders, even if the genetic risk remains moderate (heritability of approximately 30%). In addition, gene-environment studies have highlighted the importance of early developmental trauma and recent stressful life events in interaction with molecular plasticity markers. Among socio-environmental factors, parenting behavior may also play a role in the prevention of anxiety disorders (Aktar et al, in this issue p 137).

• SUGGESTED TOPICS
• The Magazine
• Newsletters
• Managing Yourself
• Managing Teams
• Work-life Balance
• The Big Idea
• Data & Visuals
• Reading Lists
• Case Selections
• HBR Learning
• Topic Feeds
• Account Settings
• Email Preferences

How to Manage Your Anxiety

• Charlotte Lieberman

We can all be more compassionate with ourselves.

We all feel anxiety at times. It becomes problematic when it feels unmanageable, which means different things for different people.

• The key to managing anxiety is learning to identify it, understand it, and respond to it with self-compassion.
• Mindfulness techniques like breath work, meditation, and yoga can reduce anxiety and improve cognition.
• Routines help reduce general feelings of anxiety and are often effective antidotes for those with more serious mental health disorders.
• If your anxiety is holding you back, simply imagining success, and encouraging yourself as you would a friend, has also been correlated with motivation and the achievement of goals.

Where your work meets your life. See more from Ascend here .

When I was nine, I was diagnosed with anxiety disorder by my first-ever therapist. My parents dragged me into treatment after repeatedly catching me cleaning their bathroom. I didn’t mind, but I was confused. I didn’t see anything wrong with what I was doing: organizing their medicine cabinet by color and size, throwing out expired antibiotics and sticky bottles of cough syrup. My favorite part was wiping down the sink with warm water, feeling my worries wash away with stubble and soap scum. Cleaning gave me the sense that I could find inner order among the outer chaos — our cramped New York apartment, murmurs of my parents’ struggling marriage, the growing pains of adolescence.

• CL Charlotte Lieberman is a writer, marketing consultant, and certified life coach/hypnotist. You can find her work in The New York Times , The Harvard Business Review , Marie Claire , and elsewhere. Follow her on Twitter @clieberwoman.

Partner Center

• Dissertation
• PowerPoint Presentation
• Book Report/Review
• Research Proposal
• Math Problems
• Proofreading
• Movie Review
• Cover Letter Writing
• Personal Statement
• Nursing Paper
• Argumentative Essay
• Research Paper
• Discussion Board Post

Anxiety Essay: Simple Writing Guide for an A+ Result

Table of Contents

If you’re a Psychology department student, you’re sure to get an anxiety essay assignment one day. The reason for the popularity of this topic today is that people live in chronic stress conditions today, with numerous challenges and pressures surrounding them in daily routines.

In this article, we’ve tried to present a comprehensive guide on composing this type of assignment so that your work on it gets simpler and quicker.

Here you can find:

• Step-by-step instructions on writing essays about anxiety.
• The summary of challenges students face in the preparation of anxiety essay works and ways to deal with them.
• Types of assignments you may face on this topic.
• A list of bulletproof topics to pick when composing an anxiety essay.

How to Write a Thesis for an Essay on Anxiety

Composing a thesis statement is typically the most challenging task for students who are just starting. Your primary goal is to encapsulate your key message in that sentence and to clarify the major arguments you’ll use in the text.

So, here are some tips to make your thesis effective:

• Try to make it not too long and not too short. One-two sentences are enough to communicate the key idea of your paper.
• Focus on the arguments you’ve selected for the paper, and don’t go off-topic. Your readers will expect to read about what they learned from the thesis in the body of your assignment.
• Don’t sound opinionated, but make sure to voice your standpoint. The thesis is your guidance on the point you’ll argue; it’s also the readers’ roadmap through the website content.

With these tips, you’ll surely be much better positioned to complete an anxiety essay with ease. Still, there are some intricacies of the process to keep in mind. Here are our experts’ observations about the challenges you can come across in the process of its composition.

Essay on Anxiety Disorder: Key Difficulties & Differences

Anxiety disorder (AD) is a psychological condition that many people experience in different ways. It differs in manifestations, regularity of symptoms, and intensity. Living with AD is fine for some people as they constantly feel a bit overwhelmed with what’s around them. In contrast, others suffer a permanent disability because of intense worrying symptoms and the inability to concentrate on their work and social responsibilities.

Thus, when composing your anxiety essay, you should be delicate to this sensitive theme, knowing that AD causes real trouble to many people worldwide.

Second, you should be concrete about your selected population. Children, teens, and adults experience AD differently, so your analysis may be incorrect if you talk about children but select scholarly sources talking about adults.

Third, it’s vital to rely on viable clinical evidence when discussing AD. There are differing views on whether it is a severe clinical condition or not. Still, suppose you’re discussing people’s experiences with AD. In that case, it’s better to inform your argument, not by anecdotal evidence from blogs or social media, but to focus on the scholarly articles instead.

What Is a Panic Disorder Essay

A panic disorder essay is a piece of writing you dedicate to the analysis of this disorder. A panic disorder is a specific condition that manifests itself much more intensely than the typical worrying does. Overall, psychiatrists consider it a variety of AD, but this condition is characterized by sudden, intense attacks of panic or fear people experience because of specific triggers.

As a rule, you can diagnose a panic attack by the following symptoms:

• Hot flushes
• A feeling of choking
• Trembling extremities
• Sweating and nausea
• A sudden rise in the heartbeat rate
• Dryness in your mouth
• Ringing in your ears
• A sudden attack of fear of dying; a feeling that you are dying
• A feeling of psychological disconnection with your body (the body parts don’t obey you)

Panic attacks as such as not considered a severe clinical condition. Yet, if people experience them too often and are too concerned about repeated attacks, they should see a psychotherapist and get treatment. Treatment modalities typically include psychotherapy (e.g., talking therapies, CBT) or medications (e.g., antidepressants or SSRI).

Main Steps to Writing a Panic Disorder Essay

When you’re tasked with a panic disorder assignment, the main steps to take in its preparation are essentially similar to those you’ll take with any other anxiety essay:

• You formulate a debatable topic and a clear, informative thesis statement
• You find relevant evidence to support each of your arguments
• You organize your arguments and content into a coherent outline
• You draft the paper and edit it
• You compose a reference list to indicate all external sources and complete the final proofreading of the final draft.

What Is a Social Anxiety Disorder Essay

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is another form of worrying disorder that people are increasingly diagnosed with today. Clinicians have started taking this condition seriously only a couple of years ago after recognizing that much deeper psychological issues can stand behind what we are used to labeling as shyness. In its severe manifestations, SAD can take the form of a social phobia, which can significantly limit people’s functionality in society, causing problems with schooling, employment, and relationship building.

Still, after recognizing the real problem behind SAD, the psychological community has developed numerous therapeutic and pharmacological ways of dealing with it. So, at present, you can approach the SAD in your essay from numerous perspectives: analyze its symptomatology, the causes underlying SAD development, types of SAD experienced at different ages, and therapeutic approaches to its lifelong management.

Main Steps to Writing a Social Anxiety Disorder Essay

When approaching this type of academic task, you should answer a couple of crucial questions first. What do you know about this topic? Why is it significant? What needs to be clarified on this topic to help people suffering from this condition live better lives? Once you get clear on your writing goals on SAD, it will be much easier to formulate a workable, exciting thesis statement and elicit strong arguments.

Next, you need to research the subject. You’re sure to find much valuable information about SAD in academic sources. Sort the relevant sources out and categorize them by arguments to cite appropriate evidence in each paragraph.

Once you have all the needed sources collected and sorted by argument, you can proceed to the outline of your project. Set the general context in the introduction, define SAD, and clarify why researching this topic is significant. Next, shape all key arguments and develop topic sentences. After that, you can add the relevant evidence in the outline by indicating which source supports which argument.

The next step involves writing the paper’s draft. You should add “meat” to the “bones” of your outline by presenting the data coherently and systematically. Add transitions between paragraphs to enhance the overall flow of the content.

The final step is to edit and proofread the draft to make it look polished and fine-tuned.

20+ Anxiety Essay Topics for Engaging Writing

If you’re still unsure what to include in your essay and what subject to pick, here is a list of attention-grabbing, exciting anxiety essay topics for your use.

• Is anxiety a genetically inherited disorder?
• What environmental factors can cause the development of worries and panic?
• GAD symptoms you can detect in a child.
• What are the symptoms of excessive worrying that require medical assistance?
• Gender differences in the exposure to anxiety disorders.
• Types of clinically diagnosed anxiety disorders.
• Is excessive worrying a personality trait or a clinical condition?
• Are students more anxious and stressed than other population groups because of frequent testing?
• Diagnosis and treatment of AD.
• Does the manifestation of ADs different in children and adults?
• CBT therapy for overly anxious children.
• What is a social anxiety disorder, and how is it manifested in people’s behavior?
• Is feeling permanently anxious cause sleep disorders?
• Correlations between autism and social anxiety disorder.
• Is public speaking a good method to overcome anxiety?
• The therapeutic effects of positive self-talk.
• The social media body image and female teenager anxiety.
• How does low self-esteem reinforce the feeling of anxiety in teenagers?
• The phenomenon of language anxiety among immigrant students.
• The impact of child anxiety on academic attainment, dyslexia, and antisocial behavior.

We Are Here to Help You 24/7

Still, having problems with your essay on anxiety disorder? We have a solution that may interest you. Our experts have all the needed qualifications and experience in writing this type of academic paper, so they can quickly help you out with any topic and any task at hand.

Surprise your tutor with an ideally composed paper without investing a single extra minute into its writing! Contact our managers today to find out the terms, and you’ll soon receive an impeccably written document with credible sources and compelling arguments. Studying without hardships and challenges is a reality with our help.

How To Write Your Best Alcoholism Essay?

Definition of essay about culture

Essay on Anxiety Examples and Samples

• Essay on Industrial Revolution Examples and Samples
• Essay on Research Argument Examples and Samples
• Essay on Food Examples and Samples
• Essay on Great Depression Examples and Samples
• Essay on Self-Reflection Examples and Samples
• Essay on The Great Gatsby Examples and Samples
• Essay On What Does It Mean to Be American Examples and Samples
• Essay on World War 2 Examples and Samples
• Essay on Ethics Examples and Samples
• Essay on Concert Review Examples and Samples
• Essay on Fahrenheit 451 Examples and Samples
• Essay on Nursing Scholarship Examples and Samples
• Essay on Pro Choice Examples and Samples
• Essay on Process Analysis Examples and Samples
• Essay on Solar Energy Examples and Samples
• Essay on Personal Narrative Examples and Samples
• Essay on Hamlet Examples and Samples
• Essay on Civil Rights Examples and Samples
• Essay on Rhetoric Examples and Samples
• Essay on Martin Luther King Examples and Samples

Recent Articles

May 28 2023

How does outdoor exercises impact our health and well-being? Essay Sample, Example

Why Video Games are Good for the Brain. Essay Sample, Example

May 20 2023

Therapy for clients with personality disorders Essay Sample, Example

Sep 25 2018

Why Anger is Bad for Your Health Essay Sample, Example

Jun 11 2015

Causes of Social Anxiety Disorder Essay Sample, Example

Remember Me

What is your profession ? Student Teacher Writer Other

Forgotten Password?

Username or Email

Essay on Anxiety

Students are often asked to write an essay on Anxiety in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Anxiety

Understanding anxiety.

Anxiety is a normal emotion that everyone experiences. It’s like an alarm system in our bodies that alerts us to danger. But sometimes, this system can overreact, causing unnecessary worry and fear.

Types of Anxiety

There are several types of anxiety. Generalized Anxiety Disorder involves constant worry. Panic Disorder causes sudden fear, while Social Anxiety Disorder is fear of social situations.

Causes of Anxiety

Anxiety can be caused by stress, trauma, or certain medical conditions. It can also be genetic, meaning it runs in families.

Dealing with Anxiety

Anxiety can be managed with therapy, medication, and self-care practices like exercise and relaxation techniques.

Also check:

• Speech on Anxiety

250 Words Essay on Anxiety

Anxiety, a common human emotion, is characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes such as increased blood pressure. It is an adaptive response that can be beneficial in situations that require heightened alertness or caution. However, when anxiety becomes chronic, it can be debilitating.

The Science Behind Anxiety

Anxiety is a product of the brain’s complex biochemical processes. The amygdala, a small, almond-shaped structure in the brain, plays a key role in processing emotions, including fear. When a threat is perceived, the amygdala triggers a series of reactions, including the release of adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones prepare the body for a ‘fight or flight’ response, which can manifest as feelings of anxiety.

Anxiety Disorders

When anxiety becomes persistent and interferes with daily life, it is classified as an anxiety disorder. These disorders, which include Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, and Social Anxiety Disorder, are among the most common mental health conditions. They are often treated with a combination of psychotherapy and medication.

The Impact of Anxiety on Society

Anxiety disorders can have a profound impact on individuals and society. They can lead to reduced productivity, increased healthcare costs, and a lower quality of life. Furthermore, they can exacerbate other health conditions, such as heart disease and depression.

Understanding anxiety, its causes, and its impact is crucial for effective treatment and prevention. As we continue to explore the complexities of the human brain, we can hope to develop even more effective strategies for managing this common but often misunderstood condition.

500 Words Essay on Anxiety

Anxiety, a ubiquitous and complex phenomenon, is an integral part of the human experience. It is a psychological and physiological state characterized by cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral components. These elements combine to create feelings of fear, unease, and worry, often coupled with physical sensations such as palpitations, chest pain, and shortness of breath.

The Science of Anxiety

From a biological perspective, anxiety is closely linked to the body’s fight-or-flight response, an evolutionary adaptation designed to protect us from threats. When faced with danger, the body releases chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol, preparing us for immediate action. However, when this response is triggered excessively or inappropriately, it can result in anxiety disorders.

Neurologically, anxiety is associated with hyperactivity in the amygdala, the brain’s fear-processing center. This overactivity can lead to a constant state of alertness, resulting in chronic anxiety. Additionally, imbalances in neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine can contribute to anxiety disorders.

Anxiety disorders, a group of mental health conditions, are characterized by excessive and persistent worry, fear, and anxiety that interfere with daily activities. They include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, specific phobias, and others. These disorders are often debilitating, leading to a significant reduction in quality of life.

Treatment and Management

Treatment for anxiety disorders typically involves a combination of psychotherapy, behavioral therapies, and medication. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is particularly effective, helping individuals identify and change thought patterns that lead to anxiety. Medications, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and benzodiazepines, can help manage symptoms.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and other forms of meditation can also be beneficial. These practices help individuals focus their attention on the present moment, reducing the impact of anxiety-provoking thoughts.

While anxiety is a natural part of life, it becomes a problem when it interferes with daily functioning. Understanding the biological underpinnings and psychological aspects of anxiety is crucial for effective treatment. By addressing these factors and implementing appropriate therapeutic strategies, individuals suffering from anxiety disorders can regain control over their lives and live with less fear and worry.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Anne Frank
• Essay on Animal Testing
• Essay on Animal Farm

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Anxiety Disorders and Depression Essay (Critical Writing)

Introduction, description section, feelings section, action plan, reference list.

Human beings become anxious in different situations that are uncertain to them. Depression and anxiety occur at a similar time. Anxiety is caused due to an overwhelming fear of an expected occurrence of an event that is unclear to a person. More than 25 million people globally are affected by anxiety disorders. People feel anxious in moments such as when making important decisions, before facing an interview panel, and before taking tests. Anxiety disorders are normally brained reactions to stress as they alert a person of impending danger. Most people feel sad and low due to disappointments. Feelings normally overwhelm a person leading to depression, especially during sad moments such as losing a loved one or divorce. When people are depressed, they engage in reckless behaviors such as drug abuse that affect them physically and emotionally. However, depression manifests in different forms in both men and women. Research shows that more women are depressed compared to men. This essay reflects on anxiety disorders and depression regarding from a real-life experience extracted from a publication.

“Every year almost 20% of the general population suffers from a common mental disorder, such as depression or an anxiety disorder” (Cuijpers et al. 2016, p.245). I came across a publication by Madison Jo Sieminski available who was diagnosed with depression and anxiety disorders (Madison 2020). She explains how she was first diagnosed with anxiety disorders and depression and how it felt unreal at first. She further says that she developed the need to get a distraction that would keep her busy so that she won’t embrace her situation. In her case, anxiety made her feel that she needed to do more, and everything needed to be perfect.

Madison further said that the struggle with anxiety is that it never seemed to happen, but it happened eventually. She always felt a feeling of darkness and loneliness. She could barely stay awake for more than 30 minutes for many days. Anxiety and depression made her question herself if she was good enough, and this resulted in tears in her eyes due to the burning sensation and overwhelmed emotions. In her own words, she said, “Do I deserve to be here? What is my purpose?” (Madison 2020). Anxiety made her lose confidence in herself and lowered her self-esteem. She could lay in bed most of the time and could not take any meal most of the days.

Madison said that since the sophomore year of high school, all was not well, and she suddenly felt someone in her head telling her to constantly worry and hold back from everything. She could wake up days when she could try a marathon to keep her mind busy. However, she sought help on 1 January 2020, since she felt her mental health was important, and she needed to be strong. She was relieved from her biggest worries, and what she thought was failure turned into a biggest achievement. She realized that her health needed to be her priority. Even after being diagnosed with depression disorders, she wanted to feel normal and have a normal lifestyle like other people.

Madison was happy with her decision to seek medical help even though she had her doubts. She was happy that she finally took that step to see a doctor since she was suffering in silence. She noted that the background of her depression and anxiety disorders was her family. It was kind of genetic since her mom also struggled with depression and anxiety disorders. Her mom was always upset, and this broke her heart. She said it took her years to better herself, but she still had bad days. Madison decided to take the challenge regarding her mother’s experience. Also, Madison said she was struggling to get over depression since her childhood friends committed suicide, and it affected her deeply. She also told the doctor how she often thought of harming herself. The doctor advised her on the different ways she could overcome her situation after discovering she had severe depression and anxiety disorders.

After going through Madison’s story, I was hurt by the fact that he had to go through that for a long time, and something tragic could have happened if she had not resorted to medical help. I felt emotional by the fact that she constantly blamed herself due to her friends who committed suicide, and she decided to accumulate all the pain and worries. The fact that I have heard stories of how people commit suicide due to depression and anxiety disorders made me have a somber mood considering her case. In this case, you will never know what people are going through in their private lives until they decide to open up. We normally assume every person is okay, yet they fight their demons and struggle to look okay. Hence, it won’t cost any person to check up on other people, especially if they suddenly change their social characters.

Madison’s story stood out for me since she had struggled since childhood to deal with depression and anxiety disorders. In her case, she was unable to seek help first even when she knew that she was suffering in silence (Madison 2020). However, most people find it hard to admit they need help regardless of what they are going through, like Madison. People who are depressed cannot work as they lack the motivation to do anything. In my knowledge, depression affects people close to you, including your family and friends. Depression also hurts those who love someone suffering from it. Hence, it is complex to deal with. Madison’s situation stood out for me since her childhood friends committed suicide, and she wished silently she could be with them. Hence, this leads to her constant thoughts of harming herself. Childhood friends at one point can become your family even though you are not related by blood due to the memories you share.

Depression and Anxiety disorders have been common mental health concerns globally for a long time. Depression and anxiety disorders create the impression that social interactions are vague with no meaning. It is argued by Cuijpers (2016, p.245) that people who are depressed normally have personality difficulties as they find it hard to trust people around them, including themselves. In this case, Madison spent most of her time alone, sleeping, and could not find it necessary to hang around other people. Negativity is the order of the day as people depressed find everything around them not interesting.

People who are depressed find it easy to induce negativity in others. Hence, they end up being rejected. Besides, if someone is depressed and is in a relationship, he/she may be the reason for ending the relationship since they would constantly find everything offensive. Research shows that people who are clinically depressed, such as Madison, prefer sad facial expressions to happy facial expressions. Besides, most teenagers in the 21 st century are depressed, and few parents tend to notice that. Also, most teenagers lack parental love and care since their parents are busy with their job routines and have no time to engage their children. Research has shown that suicide is the second cause of death among teenagers aged between 15-24 years due to mental disorders such as suicide and anxiety disorders.

Despite depression being a major concern globally, it can be controlled and contained if specific actions are taken. Any person needs to prioritize their mental health to avoid occurrences of depression and anxiety orders. Emotional responses can be used to gauge if a person is undergoing anxiety and depression. The best efficient way to deal with depression and anxiety is to sensitize people about depression through different media platforms (Cuijpers et al. 2016). A day in a month should be set aside where students in colleges are sensitized on the symptoms of depression and how to cope up with the situation. Some of the basic things to do to avoid anxiety and depression include; talking to someone when you are low, welcoming humor, learning the cause of your anxiety, maintaining a positive attitude, exercising daily, and having enough sleep.

Depression and anxiety disorders are different forms among people, such as irritability and nervousness. Most people are diagnosed with depression as a psychiatric disorder. Technology has been a major catalyst in enabling depression among people as they are exposed to many negative experiences online. Besides, some people are always motivated by actions of other people who seem to have given up due to depression. Many people who develop depression normally have a history of anxiety disorders. Therefore, people with depression need to seek medical attention before they harm themselves or even commit suicide. Also, people need to speak out about what they are going through to either their friends or people they trust. Speaking out enables people to relieve their burden and hence it enhances peace.

Cuijpers, P., Cristea, I.A., Karyotaki, E., Reijnders, M. and Huibers, M.J., 2016. How effective are cognitive behavior therapies for major depression and anxiety disorders? A meta‐analytic update of the evidence . World Psychiatry 15(3), pp. 245-258.

Madison, J. 2020. Open Doors .

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2022, June 16). Anxiety Disorders and Depression. https://ivypanda.com/essays/anxiety-disorders-and-depression/

"Anxiety Disorders and Depression." IvyPanda , 16 June 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/anxiety-disorders-and-depression/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Anxiety Disorders and Depression'. 16 June.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Anxiety Disorders and Depression." June 16, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/anxiety-disorders-and-depression/.

1. IvyPanda . "Anxiety Disorders and Depression." June 16, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/anxiety-disorders-and-depression/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Anxiety Disorders and Depression." June 16, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/anxiety-disorders-and-depression/.

• Concept Care Plan Mapping: Eva Madison
• The United States Supreme Court: Marbury vs. Madison
• Federalist Paper Number 10
• Cerebral Palsy: Epidemiology and Etiology
• Neurological System Disorder of Falling Asleep
• Migraine Headache and Tension Headache Compared
• Neurodevelopmentally at‐Risk Infants
• Migraine Without Aura Treatment Plan

Why You Can’t Cope Your Way Out of Anxiety

How can using coping skills be short-sighted and perpetuate anxiety.

Posted May 4, 2024 | Reviewed by Ray Parker

• What Is Anxiety?
• Find a therapist to overcome anxiety
• Coping skills are helpful for temporarily managing symptoms of anxiety.
• Managing symptoms like taking painkillers after breaking a bone provides exclusively short-term relief.
• Avoidance of psychological distress perpetuates and often worsens anxiety.
• The only way "out of anxiety" is by confronting the "scary thing" head-on.

I’ll come right out and say it: I'm anti-coping skills. The phrase triggers me almost as much as the chronic overuse of the phrase “triggers me” to mean “I don’t like it.” Being anti-coping skills might be a controversial perspective. But it’s really just my mildly rebellious response to the overreliance on pathology-worsening avoidance tactics frequently prescribed during the course of psychotherapy .

It's one of my greatest pet peeves as a therapist when I ask a patient what they’ve done in previous therapy, and their answer is that they’ve been working on coping skills. I have a hard time understanding why that would take more than a session or two. Coping skills are pleasurable, relaxing behaviors we engage in to mitigate anxiety . Certainly not a long-term strategy for success in your battle with anxiety symptoms. There is a distinction between coping skills and risk-reduction behaviors (like calling a friend instead of relapsing into addiction or engaging in healthy exercise instead of self-harming), which I fully support.

I contend that you can’t cope your way out of anxiety because coping is anxiety avoidance, and anxiety itself is a symptom of avoidance. Like trying to put out a fire with matches. To be fair, I’ll admit that in high-pressure, time-limited situations, like before a job interview, we might all be wise to take a few deep breaths, go for a run, or remind ourselves that our success in the interview does not define our value as human beings (coping skills). But, if coping skills remain our approach to anxiety management after months (years?) of treatment, then we’re simply putting a band-aid on a wound that requires stitches.

So what’s to be done instead? Effective psychological treatment for anxiety can be accurately summarized as follows: clearly identify the scary thing, slowly and surely confront the scary thing, and continue to do so until the scary thing is not as scary. According to most empirical research, this roadmap is the core effective component of psychotherapy (Wampold & Imel, 2015; Ougrin, 2011, among many others). Whether it’s fear of spiders (understandable, if you ask me) and your psychologist recommends exposure with response prevention (ERP) or fear of crowds and your psychologist recommends cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for social anxiety or post- traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ) and your psychologist recommends narrative exposure therapy (NET), the core mechanism is shared: that the scary thing (spiders, crowds, or memories) must be confronted until it’s not so scary anymore. Good therapy enacts this process in a supportive, empathetic , and genuine context.

Instead, what would therapy that focused primarily on identifying and practicing coping skills be communicating? The way to improve your anxiety is by avoiding it. There are few (are there any?) aspects of life where the easy/pleasurable route is the most advisable. And this approach to therapy almost implies that there isn’t a clear solution. But there is. The only way out is through working with your therapist on facing the scary thing head-on. Slowly, yes, have a plan for confronting your fears. If coping skills must be used, ensure that they are only being used to help you confront the fear instead of to help you avoid the fear.

Perhaps we should define and contrast confrontation coping with avoidance coping. I can confront my anxiety about my upcoming work presentation by practicing and thinking back on all the good presentations I’ve given in the past. Or, I could listen to music, watch TV, and take a bath every time I think about my presentation to cope with the anxiety. The latter perpetuates the psychopathology of avoidance and, ironically, increases the likelihood of a sub-par presentation and future low self-efficacy beliefs about my ability to present.

As long as therapy is particularly careful not to enable avoidance, I might be willing to reconsider my anti-coping skill stance.

Ougrin, D. (2011). Efficacy of exposure versus cognitive therapy in anxiety disorders: Systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Psychiatry , 11 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244x-11-200

Wampold, B. E., & Imel, Z. E. (2015). The great psychotherapy debate: The evidence for what makes psychotherapy work . Routledge.

Daniel Flint, Ph.D. , is an assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine and a pediatric psychologist at Texas Children's Hospital, where he specializes in the treatment of child and adolescent eating disorders.

• Find a Therapist
• Find a Treatment Center
• Find a Psychiatrist
• Find a Support Group
• Find Online Therapy
• United States
• Brooklyn, NY
• Chicago, IL
• Houston, TX
• Los Angeles, CA
• New York, NY
• Portland, OR
• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Washington, DC
• Asperger's
• Bipolar Disorder
• Chronic Pain
• Eating Disorders
• Passive Aggression
• Personality
• Goal Setting
• Positive Psychology
• Stopping Smoking
• Low Sexual Desire
• Relationships
• Child Development
• Self Tests NEW
• Therapy Center
• Diagnosis Dictionary
• Types of Therapy

At any moment, someone’s aggravating behavior or our own bad luck can set us off on an emotional spiral that threatens to derail our entire day. Here’s how we can face our triggers with less reactivity so that we can get on with our lives.

• Emotional Intelligence
• Gaslighting
• Affective Forecasting
• Neuroscience

The Depths of Thalassophobia: Understanding Fear of the Ocean

This essay about thalassophobia, an intense fear of the ocean, explores its roots, manifestations, and coping strategies. Stemming from a primal fear of the unknown, thalassophobia manifests in various symptoms when confronted with the sea’s vastness. However, understanding its causes is key to overcoming it. The essay discusses exposure therapy, cognitive-behavioral techniques, and mindfulness practices as effective strategies for managing thalassophobia and reclaiming a sense of peace and wonder in the face of the ocean’s mysteries.

How it works

The vastness of the ocean has long captivated the human imagination, invoking feelings of awe and wonder. Yet, for some individuals, this seemingly boundless expanse evokes an overwhelming sense of dread and anxiety known as thalassophobia. While not officially recognized as a distinct phobia in diagnostic manuals, thalassophobia is a term commonly used to describe an intense fear of the ocean, its depths, and the creatures that inhabit it. In this post, we delve into the roots of thalassophobia, its manifestations, and potential coping strategies.

At its core, thalassophobia stems from a primal fear of the unknown. The ocean, with its murky depths and mysterious creatures, represents a realm beyond human comprehension. This fear is often exacerbated by the feeling of vulnerability when confronted with the vastness of the sea. The inability to see what lies beneath the surface triggers a deep-seated sense of unease, rooted in our evolutionary instinct to avoid potential threats.

Manifestations of thalassophobia vary from person to person but can include symptoms such as panic attacks, shortness of breath, sweating, and nausea when faced with the prospect of entering the ocean or even viewing images of it. For some individuals, the fear may be specific to certain aspects of the ocean, such as deep water, large marine creatures, or the open horizon. Others may experience a more generalized anxiety related to the ocean as a whole.

Understanding the underlying causes of thalassophobia is crucial in developing effective coping strategies. Exposure therapy, a common treatment for specific phobias, involves gradually exposing individuals to their fears in a controlled environment. This may include gradually increasing exposure to images or videos of the ocean, practicing relaxation techniques, and eventually, facing real-life scenarios under the guidance of a therapist.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can also be beneficial in addressing the irrational thoughts and beliefs that contribute to thalassophobia. By challenging negative thought patterns and replacing them with more rational ones, individuals can learn to reframe their perception of the ocean from one of fear to one of fascination and respect. Additionally, mindfulness techniques such as deep breathing and meditation can help individuals stay grounded and calm when confronted with their fears.

In conclusion, thalassophobia is a complex phenomenon that can have a significant impact on individuals’ lives. By understanding the underlying causes and manifestations of this fear, individuals can begin to take steps towards overcoming it. Whether through exposure therapy, cognitive-behavioral techniques, or mindfulness practices, there are effective strategies available for managing thalassophobia and reclaiming a sense of peace and wonder in the face of the ocean’s vastness.

Cite this page

The Depths of Thalassophobia: Understanding Fear of the Ocean. (2024, May 21). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/the-depths-of-thalassophobia-understanding-fear-of-the-ocean/

"The Depths of Thalassophobia: Understanding Fear of the Ocean." PapersOwl.com , 21 May 2024, https://papersowl.com/examples/the-depths-of-thalassophobia-understanding-fear-of-the-ocean/

PapersOwl.com. (2024). The Depths of Thalassophobia: Understanding Fear of the Ocean . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-depths-of-thalassophobia-understanding-fear-of-the-ocean/ [Accessed: 22 May. 2024]

"The Depths of Thalassophobia: Understanding Fear of the Ocean." PapersOwl.com, May 21, 2024. Accessed May 22, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/the-depths-of-thalassophobia-understanding-fear-of-the-ocean/

"The Depths of Thalassophobia: Understanding Fear of the Ocean," PapersOwl.com , 21-May-2024. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-depths-of-thalassophobia-understanding-fear-of-the-ocean/. [Accessed: 22-May-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2024). The Depths of Thalassophobia: Understanding Fear of the Ocean . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-depths-of-thalassophobia-understanding-fear-of-the-ocean/ [Accessed: 22-May-2024]

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Hire a writer to get a unique paper crafted to your needs.

Our writers will help you fix any mistakes and get an A+!

Please check your inbox.

You can order an original essay written according to your instructions.

Trusted by over 1 million students worldwide

1. Tell Us Your Requirements

2. Pick your perfect writer

3. Get Your Paper and Pay

Hi! I'm Amy, your personal assistant!

Don't know where to start? Give me your paper requirements and I connect you to an academic expert.

short deadlines

100% Plagiarism-Free

Certified writers

Why is a messy house such an anxiety trigger and what can you do about it?

D o you ever feel overwhelmed by the sight of clutter and mess in your home? Have you walked in the door only to feel overloaded by scattered papers, unwashed dishes and clothes in disarray? Maybe you’ve even had arguments because it bothers you more than it bothers you partner or housemates.

You’re not alone. Many people report a messy house can trigger feelings of stress and anxiety .

So why do clutter and chaos make some of us feel so overwhelmed? Here’s what the research says – and what you can do about it.

Cognitive overload

When we’re surrounded by distractions, our brains essentially become battlegrounds for attention. Everything competes for our focus.

But the brain, as it turns out, prefers order and “ singletasking ” over multitasking.

Order helps reduce the competition for our attention and reduces mental load. While some people might be better than others at ignoring distractions , distractable environments can overload our cognitive capabilities and memory.

Clutter, disorder and mess can affect more than just our cognitive resources. They’re also linked to our eating , productivity , mental health, parenting decisions and even our willingness to donate money .

Are women more affected than men?

Research suggests the detrimental effects of mess and clutter may be more pronounced in women than in men.

One study of 60 dual-income couples found women living in cluttered and stressful homes had higher levels of cortisol (a hormone associated with stress) and heightened depression symptoms.

These effects remained consistent even when factors like marital satisfaction and personality traits were taken into account. In contrast, the men in this study seemed largely unaffected by the state of their home environments.

The researchers theorised that women may feel a greater responsibility for maintaining the home. They also suggested the social aspect of the study (which involved giving home tours) may have induced more fear of judgement among women than men.

We will all live with clutter and disorganisation to some degree in our lives. Sometimes, however, significant clutter problems can be linked to underlying mental health conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder , hoarding disorder , major depressive disorder , attention deficit hyperactivity disorder , and anxiety disorders .

This raises a crucial question: which came first? For some, clutter is the source of anxiety and distress; for others, poor mental health is the source of disorganisation and clutter.

Not all mess is a problem

It’s important to remember clutter isn’t all bad, and we shouldn’t aim for perfection. Real homes don’t look like the ones in magazines.

In fact, disorganised spaces can result in increased creativity and elicit fresh insights.

Living in constant disorder isn’t productive, but striving for perfectionism in cleanliness can also be counterproductive. Perfectionism itself is associated with feeling overwhelmed, anxiety and poor mental health .

Mess makes me anxious so what can I do about it?

It’s important to remember you have some agency over what matters to you and how you want to prioritise your time.

One approach is to try to reduce the clutter. You might, for example, have a dedicated de-cluttering session every week. This may involve hiring a cleaner (if you can afford it) or playing some music or a podcast while tidying up for an hour with your other household members.

Establishing this routine can reduce clutter distractions, ease your overall mental load and alleviate worry that clutter will spiral out of control.

You can also try micro-tidying. If don’t have time for a complete cleanup, commit just five minutes to clearing one small space.

If the clutter is primarily caused by other household members, try to calmly discuss with them how this mess is affecting your mental health. See if your kids, your partner or housemates can negotiate some boundaries as a household over what level of mess is acceptable and how it will be handled if that threshold is exceeded.

It can also help to develop a self-compassionate mindset.

Mess doesn’t define whether you are a “good” or “bad” person and, at times, it may even stimulate your creativity . Remind yourself that you deserve success, meaningful relationships and happiness, whether or not your office, home or car is a mess.

Take comfort in research suggesting that while disorganised environments can make us susceptible to stress and poor decision-making, your mindset can buffer you against these vulnerabilities.

If clutter, perfectionism or anxiety has begun to seem unmanageable, talk with your GP about a referral to a psychologist . The right psychologist (and you may need to try a few before you find the right one) can help you cultivate a life driven by values that are important to you.

Clutter and mess are more than just visual nuisances. They can have a profound impact on mental wellbeing, productivity and our choices.

Understanding why clutter affects you can empower you to take control of your mindset, your living spaces and, in turn, your life.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Guest Essay

Let’s All Take a Deep Breath About China

By Rory Truex

Dr. Truex is an associate professor at Princeton University whose research focuses on Chinese authoritarianism.

The amygdala is a pair of neural clusters near the base of the brain that assesses danger and can help prompt a fight-or-flight response . A prolonged stress response may contribute to anxiety, which can cause people to perceive danger where there is none and obsess about worst-case scenarios.

America’s collective national body is suffering from a chronic case of China anxiety. Nearly anything with the word “Chinese” in front of it now triggers a fear response in our political system, muddling our ability to properly gauge and contextualize threats. This has led the U.S. government and American politicians to pursue policies grounded in repression and exclusion, mirroring the authoritarian system that they seek to combat.

Congress has moved to force the sale of TikTok , the Chinese-owned social media application; some states have sought restrictions on Chinese individuals or entities owning U.S. land and on Chinese researchers working in American universities ; and the federal government has barred certain Chinese technology firms from competing in our markets. These measures all have a national security rationale, and it is not my intention here to weigh the merits of every one. But collectively they are yielding a United States that is fundamentally more closed — and more like China in meaningful ways.

When you are constantly anxious, no threat is too small. In January, Rick Scott, a senator from Florida, introduced legislation that would ban imports of Chinese garlic, which he suggested could be a threat to U.S. national security , citing reports that it is fertilized with human sewage. In 2017, scientists at McGill University wrote there is no evidence that this is the case. Even if it was, it’s common practice to use human waste, known as “biosolids,” as fertilizer in many countries, including the United States.

More recently, Senator Tom Cotton and Representative Elise Stefanik introduced legislation that would bar the Department of Defense from contracting with Tutor.com, a U.S.-based tutoring company, on the grounds that it poses a threat to national security because it was purchased by Primavera Capital Group, an investment firm based in Hong Kong. Their argument is that this could give the Chinese government backdoor access to the tutoring sessions and personal information of American military personnel who use the firm’s service.

The legislation does not mention that Tutor.com’s student data is housed in the United States , that it volunteered for a security review by the federal Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and that it created additional levels of data security protection in coordination with the U.S. government. The bill also does not specify how exactly the Chinese government would get access to Tutor.com’s data or what use it would actually have for information on the tutoring sessions of U.S. military personnel.

Last summer, several Republican lawmakers cried foul over the “Barbie” movie because a world map briefly shown in the background of one scene included a dashed line. They took this as a reference to China’s “nine-dashed line,” which Beijing uses to buttress its disputed territorial claims in the South China Sea. According to Representative Jim Banks, this is “endangering our national security.” The map in the movie is clearly fantastical, had only eight dashes and bore no resemblance to China’s line. Even the Philippine government, which has for years been embroiled in territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea, dismissed the controversy and approved the movie’s domestic release.

Of course, the United States should actively confront President Xi Jinping of China about his repression at home and aggression abroad. As a scholar of China’s political system, I worry about how Mr. Xi has made his country even more authoritarian; about increasing human rights abuses in China, particularly those directed at the Uyghur population in Xinjiang ; about Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong, its threats toward Taiwan, its increasingly cozy relationship with Russia and its support for the war in Ukraine . America must remain alert to legitimate concerns about well-documented Chinese activities such as espionage and cyberattacks.

But should our policymakers really be focusing on Tutor.com, Chinese garlic or “Barbie”? Or should they concentrate on the more serious threats posed by China’s authoritarian system, or the many other issues that meaningfully affect the day-to-day lives of Americans?

Perhaps the most worrisome effect is that China anxiety is slowly creeping toward discrimination against Chinese Americans, a new “yellow peril.” We’ve already seen how an initiative begun during the Trump administration to target Chinese espionage led to unfair scrutiny of Chinese researchers and even Asian American government employees, leading to the program being terminated in 2022. And we saw how xenophobia during the pandemic triggered threats and attacks against Asian Americans. There also have been numerous reports of law enforcement officials interrogating Chinese students and researchers traveling to and from China on the grounds that they may be agents of the Chinese state. Again, this treatment — being brought in for questioning by the police or government officials — is something foreign scholars experience in China , where it is euphemistically referred to as “being invited for tea.”

Last year, state legislators in Texas proposed a bill that initially sought to prevent Chinese (as well as Iranian, North Korean and Russian) citizens and entities from buying land, homes or other real estate, citing concerns about the security of the food supply. Putting aside the fact that Chinese citizens are not the Chinese government, the actual amount of American farmland owned by Chinese entities is negligible — never exceeding 1 percent of farmland in any given American state as of 2021. The bill ultimately failed , but only after substantial pushback from the Chinese American community.

This China panic, also stirred up by both liberal and conservative U.S. media, may be influencing how average people perceive their fellow Americans of Chinese heritage. Michael Cerny, a fellow China researcher, and I recently surveyed over 2,500 Americans on the question of whether Chinese Americans who were born in the United States should be allowed to serve in the U.S. intelligence community. Roughly 27 percent said Chinese Americans’ access to classified information should be more limited than for other U.S. citizens, and 14 percent said they should be allowed no access at all.

This is overt racism, and while not the majority opinion, it is concerning that so many Americans are blurring the line between the Chinese government and people of Chinese ethnicity, mirroring the language of our politicians.

China is a formidable geopolitical rival. But there is no world in which garlic, “Barbie” or a tutoring site poses meaningful threats to American national security. Labeling them as such reveals a certain lack of seriousness in our policy discourse.

If the United States is to properly compete with China, it’s going to require healthy, balanced policymaking that protects U.S. national security without compromising core American values.

Let’s take a deep breath.

Rory Truex (@rorytruex) is an associate professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University, where he teaches courses on Chinese politics and authoritarian rule.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads .

Patient anxiety and satisfaction towards magnetic resonance imaging in Asir region, Saudi Arabia

• Alelyani, Magbool

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an important imaging modality for diagnosing various diseases. However, the closed MRI scanner is perceived as unpleasant, even though the examination is non-invasive. Providing patients with information about the MRI exam may improve patient anxiety before and after the test. This study aimed to determine patients' level of anxiety and satisfaction regarding information provided in MRI departments. This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted on 215 Saudi patients at three central MRI departments in Asir, Saudi Arabia. Data were collected using a questionnaire containing a visual analogue scale and Likert scale to assess anxiety and satisfaction before and after the MRI examination. The participants were divided into two groups to receive information explaining the MRI procedures; the intervention group received information about MRI before the examination, whereas the control group did not receive information. Appropriate statistical tests were used to analyse the data. A total of 215 patients responded to the questionnaire in the MRI departments. Overall, the mean levels of anxiety and satisfaction were 5 and 6.25 on a 10-point scale, respectively. The anxiety reported by patients who received information explaining the MRI procedure was significantly lower than the anxiety reported by patients who did not receive information (4.8 vs. 5.9, p = 0.024). Consequently, satisfaction was significantly higher among patients who received the information than those who did not (6.77 vs. 4.0, p < 0.001). Furthermore, there was an association between patient reassurance with the behaviour of the staff and having received information (p < 0.001). Most patients expressed an average level of anxiety and satisfaction regarding MRI. Anxiety among patients is a persistent issue in MRI departments. The provision of information has significant effects on decreasing the level of anxiety and improving patient satisfaction. The findings of this survey can be used as a benchmark to improve satisfaction and anxiety during MRI procedures in the Asir region of Saudi Arabia.

• Satisfaction;
• Examination;
• Level score