subject: Anxiety Attacks and The Charles Linden Review [print this page] Anxiety Attacks and The Charles Linden Review
Man by nature has the option for "fight or flight". This means that without much thought a person can instinctively pick what options to take. Fight means taking the challenge head on like when in the face of danger to his life he faces the threat and physically battle it out. Flight on the other hand means when in the face of danger and sensing that he cannot match the strength of the danger he runs away for safety.
In fact this option to choose between to fight o flight has given man the advantage over other creatures of this world. Man is gifted with intelligence that is why he can discern and readily understand if he can compete or just run away in the face of danger.
In both instances to fight or just run away, the adrenaline rush is present. If man decides to fight the adrenaline rush makes him stronger and agile while if he chose to run away the adrenaline also serves him pretty well. With this characteristic he can easily climb a tree because his hands excrete sweat to make it grip the tree more and stay out of harm's way.
This natural impulse is a very beneficial reaction to dangerous situations. This has kept man alive for thousands of years already. And most importantly this ability to react is still with us even at this stage of our evolution.
This can especially be felt whenever we are tasked to deliver a presentation in front of large audience or whenever we are being called to the office of the company president over something we did. In both cases we can either accept the invitation and face our fear or just decline and run away and hide. This is just natural for us to experience.
This becomes not normal when we experience this too often and when the fear becomes excessive or unreasonable and persists even in the absence of an obvious trigger then it is time to consult our doctor and immediately seek treatment for the anxiety attacks.
When a person is experiencing anxiety attacks it is usually characterized by repeated episodes of sudden or intense and unwarranted bouts of fear and terror. An example is when a person suffers from recurrent panic attack this can often lead to agoraphobia or fear of the crowd. And this will naturally result to the person fearful of leaving his house.
The so-called generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) can be persistent when it occurs and can exist for months or even years. Other chronic anxiety disorders include a long term psychological distress usually after experiencing a traumatic event or natural catastrophes. While obsessive compulsive disorders are characterized by recurring and disabling thoughts. To a normal person this may look like very irrational and unreasonable but to the sufferer this is very real. An example is the repeated washing of hands even if it is clean already. The charles linden review can point this out immediately.
Some researchers are not yet certain why some individuals are susceptible to stress and anxiety attacks while others not. But some research says that it may be due to genetics or the person was already exposed to anxiety at an early age thus it manifested when the person grew into adulthood.
Still, another cause for anxiety attacks is when the person took various drugs and chemical substances. An example is the excessive intake of caffeine, high doses of non-prescription cold remedies as well as inhalation of asthma medications. Withdrawal from tobacco, narcotics, alcohol and other addictive substances can also cause anxiety attacks.
The treatment of anxiety attacks can take many forms. Psychotherapy is one such treatment available to sufferers these days. In the same manner, psychotherapy is also used to treat other mental disorders like phobia, severe depression and obsessive compulsive disorders.
By medical practice, psychotherapy works best if it is complemented by medication for anxiety attacks. This could include a short-term therapy using benzodiazepine tranquilizers. This is the primary component for the treatment of milder forms of anxiety.
