ANXIETY DISORDER feelings and experiences" but they are completely

different than suffering from any of the seven

It's a normal part of life to experience occasional
diagnosable disorders plus substance-induced anxiety,
anxiety.
obsessive-compulsive disorders, and trauma- or
But you may experience anxiety that is persistent, stressor-related disorders.
seemingly uncontrollable, and overwhelming. If it’s an
Positive thinking, practice, training, knowledge and
excessive, irrational dread of everyday situations, it can
talking to other people are all useful ways to help
be disabling. When anxiety interferes with daily
improve or boost
activities, you may have an anxiety disorder.
your confidence levels. Confidence comes from feelings
Anxiety disorders are real, serious medical conditions - of well-being, acceptance of your body and mind (self-
just as real and serious as physical disorders such as esteem) and belief in your own ability, skills and
heart disease or diabetes. Anxiety disorders are the experience.
most common and pervasive mental disorders in the
Why Do We Need Increased Anxiety
United States.
Awareness?
The term "anxiety disorder" refers to specific psychiatric There’s a need for increased anxiety awareness.
disorders that involve extreme fear or worry, and Uttered frequently and in frustration, this lament is
includes generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic common among people living with anxiety: “How can I
disorder and panic attacks, agoraphobia, social anxiety get others to understand?” Often, well-meaning
friends and family attempt to control someone’s
disorder, selective mutism, separation anxiety, and
anxiety with such grand proclamations as
specific phobias.

Occasional anxiety is a normal part of life. You might  It’s all in your head.
 Just don’t think about it so much.
feel anxious when faced with a problem at work, before
 Why can’t you just do X, Y, or Z without
taking a test, or making an important decision. But making such a big deal out of it.
anxiety disorders involve more than temporary worry or  Everyone is nervous sometimes. You’ll get
fear. For a person with an anxiety disorder, the anxiety over it.
does not go away and can get worse over time. The
feelings can interfere with daily activities such as job Facing naïve statements can make anxiety worse.
Comments like these are unhelpful in many ways:
performance, school work, and relationships. There are they minimize someone’s very real experience with
several different types of anxiety disorders. Examples anxiety; they can make someone feel guilty,
include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, incompetent, and increasingly isolated; and they keep
and social anxiety disorder. someone stuck rather than moving forward.
Increasing anxiety awareness will help change well-
Who do they affect? meaning but unhelpful comments (Stop Minimizing
Mental Illness: Worst Things to Say).
Anxiety disorders can affect anyone at any age, and
they are the most common mental health problem. Anxiety Awareness: Why is Anxiety a
Sometimes, anxiety disorders are triggered by a specific Mental Illness?
event or stressful life experience. Anxiety disorders may The term mental illness can be an intimidating one. (A
be more likely to occur when we have certain ways of a major reason we have Mental Illness Awareness
looking at things (like believing that everything must be Week is to remove the stigma surrounding the word,
perfect) or learn unhelpful coping strategies from concept, and people, and to allow for conversation
others. But sometimes there just doesn’t seem to be a and understanding.) Mental illness often raises
reason. horribly stereotypical and incorrect images. Certainly
anxiety isn’t a mental illness, right?

In an anxiety-related disorder, your fear or worry does Anxiety can absolutely be classified as a mental
not go away and can get worse over time. It can illness. Anxiety, with it’s accompanying fear and
worry, is a normal part of the human experience, and
influence your life to the extent that it can interfere everybody experiences anxiety from time to time.
with daily activities like school, work and/or Anxiety itself is not a mental illness.
relationships. Fear, stress, and anxiety are "normal
However, when anxiety reaches extreme levels, it Anxiety is
becomes classified as an anxiety disorder and is
considered a mental illness. According to the  the bully who beats you up and makes you
American Psychiatric Association’s official guide to hurt inside and out;
mental illnesses, the DSM-5, anxiety disorders involve
 the overprotective parent who incites fear and
levels of anxiety that are extraordinary measures of caution and
avoidance;
 excessive, out of proportion with what is a  the insecure, envious classmate who belittles
culturally appropriate response to a situation; you and tells you you’re never good enough;
 persistent, lasting at least six months (and  the boss who threatens to fire you for being
sometimes for years); you;
 pervasive, impacting all areas of life: thoughts,  the toxic partner who won’t let you think and
emotions, actions, and more.1 act for yourself.

So when someone asks if you’re making too big a Mental Illness Awareness Week exists to enlighten us
deal out of something, you can calmly respond that all and create deeper understanding and empathy.
yes, you are, because that’s what anxiety disorders When anxiety awareness increases, so does the type
do and that because you’re working on reducing of support that leads to healing.
anxiety, it won’t always control your reactions.
Sources:
Anxiety Awareness Reminds You That
You’re Not Alone 1
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). The
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
When you live with anxiety, it can feel like there’s Fifth Edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric
something wrong with you, that you’re the only one Publishing.
who struggles with anxiety. One of the goals of
increasing anxiety awareness during Mental Illness
Awareness Week is to let everyone see that no one is
alone. First Step to Beating Anxiety: Awareness
Together, anxiety disorders are the most common of Anyone suffering from anxiety knows how important it
all mental illnesses; 18 percent of adults in the US,
is to find a cure. But there are steps to curing your
approximately 20 million people, live with at least one
anxiety disorder at some point during their lifetime. 2 anxiety that go beyond simply finding something that
works. You need to commit to it, you need to plan your
If you’re human, you can experience anxiety
life around anxiety reduction, but perhaps most of all
disorders. People of all ages, ethnicities, nationalities,
genders, and socioeconomic classes can and do live you need to show awareness. Awareness is a skill that is
with anxiety disorders. That said, some groups are crucial for controlling anxiety. There are even
more prone to developing anxiety disorders than awareness exercises that can help you learn to control
others. your anxiety symptoms. Awareness starts with
knowledge, and uses mindfulness to provide you with
 Women are 50-60 percent more likely than
the upper hand in stopping your anxiety forever.
men to have an anxiety disorder.1,2
 Caucasians are more likely than African- Knowledge is the First Part of Awareness In order to
Americans and Latino/as to have an anxiety help improve your anxiety awareness, I developed a
disorder.2 free 7 minute anxiety test that will give you a complete
anxiety profile that you can use to cure your symptoms.
Anxiety Awareness: What IS Anxiety, Start the test here. Understanding Awareness.
Really? Awareness is more than simply recognizing you have an
The DSM-5 defines anxiety disorders as “…disorders anxiety disorder. That's more acceptance than
that share features of excessive fear and anxiety and awareness. Awareness is also noticing how that anxiety
related behavioral disturbances” (p. 189).1 While of disorder affects you and getting in touch with your body
course accurate, it falls a bit short in its ability to in such a way that you can control the extent of the
increase awareness of anxiety. The more people are
aware of what it’s like to live with anxiety, the more anxiety you experience. If you haven't taken my anxiety
they’ll be able to truly empathize and support. test yet, do so now. It'll help you understand the
different ways that anxiety affects different types of
anxiety disorders. Steps to Awareness. Awareness is a you're thinking. Once the reminder goes off, analyze
skill that takes time and practice. It starts from what you were doing, feeling, and thinking at the time
acceptance, of course, because if you're still allowing and see if they were fueled by anxiety. Another thing
yourself to think that your anxiety is something other you can do is simply learn. The more you know about
than anxiety, you're only going to hurt your ability to anxiety through this website and others, the more you'll
treat it in the long term. Once you've accepted that you get a better idea of what symptoms are anxiety related
have anxiety, the next step is to pay attention to all of and what types of behaviors may be fueled by that
the following: anxiousness. You'll be in a better position to identify
what the symptom are when they're occurring, and give
How You Feel Mentally
yourself valuable tools for combatting each one
You need to be able to identify when your thoughts or individually. Once you've learned awareness, you'll
feelings are related to your anxiety and when they're increase your likelihood of success when attempting
not. If you are avoiding something because you're some type of treatment. I've worked with many people
having worried thoughts about it that are unjustifiable, after they've become more aware of their anxiety and
you need to be able to stop yourself and notice that I've helped them to stop it forever with my free 7
your anxiety is causing you to feel that way. minute anxiety test. This test will provide you with
valuable insight based on your symptoms and
How You Feel Physically recommendations for long term treatments.
It's not just mentally either. Anxiety has plenty of
physical symptoms, and there are often times when you
experience these symptoms without noticing them. For No result verification in qualitative research
example, many of those that find driving stressful have
As qualitative research is mostly open-ended, the
a tendency to grip the steering wheel very hard while
participants have more control over the content of the
they drive, but have no idea they're doing it. Your ability
data collected. So the researcher is not able to verify
to identify when you're physically reacting to anxiety is
the results objectively against the scenarios stated by
important.
the respondents.
Your Behaviors and Anxiety
For example, quantitative data like salary/compensation
You'll also need to pay attention to what behaviors you and years of experience is verified from school records.
may be completing that could relate to anxiety. For However, it is difficult to verify qualitative information
example, if you refuse to go to a fun social event, are like teachers’ perception on interactive classroom
you avoiding it because you genuinely don't want to go session or its effects on teenage students.
or are you avoiding it because of your anxiety? The
Qualitative study requires thoughtful planning to ensure
more you can identify which are affected by anxiety and
the obtained results accurate. There is no way to
which are not, the better position you'll be in.The
analyze the qualitative data mathematically. This type
reason this identification is so important is because part
of research is based more on the opinion and judgment
of treating anxiety comes from taking those feelings and
rather than the results. All the qualitative studies are
behaviors and mentally choosing to overcome them.
unique in itself so it is difficult to replicate.
For example, if you realize that you're avoiding an event
because you're letting your anxiety take control, you The researcher's presence during data gathering, which
can essentially tell yourself that this is not acceptable, is often unavoidable in qualitative research, can affect
and fight through that anxiety to attend the event. the subjects' responses.
You'll also know when to utilize coping tools, and you'll
Usually fewer people studied: collection of qualitative
be more in touch with your emotions and how to
data is generally more time consuming that quantitative
regulate them. How to Gain This Awareness. Awareness
data collection and therefore unless time, staff and
is something that is often hard in the beginning, but you
budget allows it is generally necessary to include a
can learn it over time. One method is to set up a
smaller sample size.
reminder every hour or half hour on your phone or
clock to check to see how you're feeling and what Data rigidity is more difficult to assess and demonstrate.
Because individual perspectives are often the
foundation of the data that is gathered in qualitative
research, it is more difficult to prove that there is
rigidity in the information that is collective. The human
mind tends to remember things in the way it wants to
remember them. That is why memories are often
looked at fondly, even if the actual events that occurred
may have been somewhat disturbing at the time. This
innate desire to look at the good in things makes it
difficult for researchers to demonstrate data validity.
Data collection is usually time consuming