GAD, Panic Attacks, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome

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GAD, Panic Attacks, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome
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GADGeneral Anxiety Disorder

• GAD is characterized by exaggerated anxiety or
  worry about everyday life

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Symptoms

• Symptoms of GAD include
• Excessive, ongoing worry about everyday life
• An unrealistic view of problems
• Muscle tension
• Headaches
• Sweating etc.

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Causes

• There is no definite cause to GAD but a number of
  factors appear to trigger it.
• Genetics
• Brain chemistryenvironmental stresses

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Genetics

• some research suggest that family history plays a
  part in the increasing the likelihood that a
  person will develop GAD. This means that the
  tendency to develop GAD may be passed on in
  families.

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Brain Chemistry

• GAD has been associated with abnormal levels of
  certain neurotransmitters in the brain.
  Neurotransmitters are special chemical messengers
  that help move information from nerve cell to
  nerve cell. If the neurotransmitters are out of
  balance, messages cannot get through the brain
  properly. This can alter the way the brain reacts
  in certain situations, leading to anxiety.

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Environmental factors

• Trauma and stressful events, such as abuse, the
  death of a loved one, divorce, changing jobs or
  schools, may lead to GAD. GAD also may become
  worse during the periods of stress. The use of
  and withdrawal from addictive substances,
  including alcohol, caffeine and nicotine, can
  also worsen anxiety.

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diagnosis

• If symptoms are present, the doctor will begin an
  evaluation by asking questions about your medical
  history and performing a physical examination.
  Although there are no laboratory tests to
  specifically diagnose anxiety disorders, the
  doctor may use various tests to look for physical
  illness as the cause of the symptoms.

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How is it treated?

• If there is no physical illness found, you may be
  referred to a psychiatrist or psychologist,
  mental health professionals who are specially
  trained to diagnose and treat mental illnesses.
  Treatment for GAD most often includes a
  combination of medication and cognitive-behavioral
  therapy.

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Other treatment options

• Medications are available to treat GAD and may be
  especially helpful for people whose anxiety is
  interfering with daily functioning. The
  medications most often used to treat GAD are from
  a class of drugs called benzodiazepines.

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Reactions

• Sometimes these medications are sometimes
  referred to as tranquilizers, because they
  leave you feeling calm and relaxed. They work by
  decreasing the physical symptoms of GAD, such as
  muscle tension and restlessness. Common
  medications include Xanax, Librium, Valium, and
  antivan, and BuSpar.

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BuSpar

• This drug may be used to treat chronic anxiety.
  BuSpar works by affecting activity of certain
  neurotransmitters, including serotonin. BuSpar
  does not cause sleepiness or lead to dependency.
  Antidepressants, such as Paxil and Effexor, are
  also being used to treat GAD.

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Panic Attacks

• Panic attacks are sudden feelings of terror that
  strike without warning. These episodes can occur
  at any time, even during sleep. A person
  experiencing a panic attack may believe that he
  or she is having a heart attack or that death is
  imminent. The fear and terror that a person is
  experiences during a panic attack are not in
  proportion to the true situation and may be
  unrelated to what is happening around them.

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Symptoms

• Most people with panic attacks experience several
  of the following symptoms
• racing heart
• Feeling weak, faint, or dizzy
• Tingling or numbness in the hand and fingers
• Sense of terror, or impending doom or death
• Etc.

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About Panic Attacks

• Panic attacks are generally brief, lasting less
  than 10 minutes, although some of the symptoms
  may persist for a longer time. People who have
  had one panic attack are at greater risk for
  having subsequent panic attacks than those who
  have never experienced a panic attack. When the
  attacks occur repeatedly, a person is considered
  to have a condition known as panic disorder.

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More

• People with panic disorder are very fearful,
  because they are enable to predict when the next
  episode will occur. Panic disorder is fairly
  common today, about 2.4 million people in the
  U.S., or 1.7 of the adult population between the
  ages of 18-54. Women are TWICE as likely as men
  to develop this condition, and the symptoms begin
  in early adulthood.

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Likelihoods

• People who suffer from depression, attempt
  suicide, or to abuse alcohol or drugs.
• BUT panic disorder is a treatable condition.
  Psychotherapy and medications have both been
  used, either singly or in combination.

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Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome
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What is it?

• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), has been a
  part of organized psychiatry for only the past
  twenty years. The concept of PTSD, however, has
  been well known for over a hundred years under a
  variety of different names.
• During world war I, PTSD was called shell shock,
  and during WW II, it was referred to as combat
  fatigue.

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How does it happen?

• Trauma occurs when a person has experienced,
  witnessed, or been confronted with a terrible
  event that is actual occurrence, or the person
  may have been threatened with a terrible event,
  perhaps injury (physical or psychological) or
  death to themselves or others. The persons
  response to the event or to the threat involves
  intense fear, helplessness, and/or horror.

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Symptoms

• Re-experiencing the trauma
• Persistent avoidance
• Increased arousal

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Re-experiencing the trauma

• The person may have a distressing recollection of
  the trauma
• For example the person may experience remembering
  the trauma, through a terrible dream, nightmares,
  or as daytime flashbacks of the event.
• When this happens it often makes the person
  sweat, and have a rapid heartbeat.

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Persistent Avoidance

• This refers to the persons efforts to avoid
  trauma-related thoughts or feelings and
  activities or situations that may trigger
  memories of the trauma. This emotionally caused
  loss of memory for the event can lead up to a
  variety of reactions.
• Like the patient may develop a diminished
  interest in activities that used to give
  pleasure, detachment from other people,
  restricted range of feelings, and a sad affect
  that leads to the view that the future will be
  shortened.

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Increased arousal

• Such symptoms include sleep, disturbances,
  irritability, outburst of anger, difficulty
  concentrating, increased vigilance, and an
  exaggerated startle response when shocked.

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diagnosis

• If symptoms last for more than one month then the
  diagnosis of PTSD can be made.
• If it last for more than three months then the
  diagnosis of PTSD is chronic (long duration.)
• Often symptoms last for six months
• Sometimes doctors prefer to contact the person
  right after the event to talk about it
• Studies have shown that that is the best way to
  take on post traumatic stress syndrome.

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How is it treated?

• Treatment options
• Individual psychotherapy that is targeted at
  symptom clusters
• Peer group support (highly recommended for
  chronic PTSD)
• medication

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What kind of psychotherapy?

• Psychodynamic psychotherapy-focuses on post
  traumas and how they are rekindled by the present
  experiences.
• Usually psychotherapy that focuses on the
  symptoms is what is recommended.

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Drug treatment

• Sometimes antidepressants are referred such drugs
  like impranmine and phenelzine that alter
  neurotransmitters such as serotonin,
  norepinephrine, dopamine, and acetylcholine have
  been found to do more than reduce flashbacks and
  the feelings of helplessness more than a placebo
  (a dummy pill.) unfortunately there are side
  affects.

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Getting Help

• Many people decide to go and get help from mental
  institutions
• You may be referred by a family doctor, mental
  health specialist, religious leaders etc.
• These institutes offer healthcare services,
  including medical and rehabilitative, in addition
  to readjustment counseling.

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Sources

• http//www.medicinenet.com/anxiety/article.htm
• http//www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumat
  ic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml
• http//www.mayoclinic.com/health/panic-attacks/DS0
  0338
• http//www.emedicinehealth.com/anxiety/article_em.
  htm
• http//www.adaa.org/GettingHelp/AnxietyDisorders/P
  anicattack.asp

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THE END