Download to View a PowerPoint of Information about Anxiety and

GAD, Panic Attacks, Post Traumatic
Stress Syndrome
GAD
General Anxiety Disorder
• GAD is characterized by exaggerated
anxiety or worry about everyday life
Symptoms
•Symptoms of GAD include
•Excessive, ongoing worry about everyday
life
•An unrealistic view of problems
•Muscle tension
•Headaches
•Sweating etc.
Causes
• There is no definite cause to GAD but a number
of factors appear to trigger it.
• Genetics
• Brain chemistry
environmental stresses
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 cognitivebehavioral therapy.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Post Traumatic
Stress Syndrome
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.
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 person’s
response to the event or to the threat
involves intense fear, helplessness, and/or
horror.
Symptoms
• Re-experiencing the trauma
• Persistent avoidance
• Increased arousal
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.
Persistent Avoidance
• This refers to the person’s efforts to avoid traumarelated 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.
Increased arousal
• Such symptoms include sleep,
disturbances, irritability, outburst of
anger, difficulty concentrating,
increased vigilance, and an
exaggerated startle response when
shocked.
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.
How is it treated?
• Treatment options:
• Individual psychotherapy that is
targeted at symptom clusters
• Peer group support (highly
recommended for chronic PTSD)
• medication
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.
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.
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.
Sources
• http://www.medicinenet.com/anxiety/article.htm
• http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/posttraumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml
• http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/panicattacks/DS00338
• http://www.emedicinehealth.com/anxiety/article_
em.htm
http://www.adaa.org/GettingHelp/AnxietyDisorders/
Panicattack.asp
THE
END