Tag Archives: anxiety

Anxiety disorder ruling your life?

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I’ve been living with the same girl for almost two years. We always knew she had anxiety and depression issues but it was just never diagnosed. At random times, normally after talking to a family member or being pushed into an unfamiliar social setting, my roommate would slowly start to freak out. It would start with her eyes darting around, her attention running in circles always back to the topic bothering her, and she would physically start to shake. We learned to keep her away from certain things or certain people that would trigger extreme fear that sometimes in rare instances she would start hyperventilating. It would then develop into a full blown panic attack.

It astounded me that someone could feel the flight-or-fight response so intensely when it was uncalled for. There was no life or death situation, no man threatening to kill you, so why the exaggerated response? Why is your brain telling your body to react this manner?

I learned in my psych 100 class that anxiety doesn’t necessarily have to come an extreme threatening situation. It can come from any event or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous. It is a feeling of fear, unease, and worry. The source doesn’t always have to be known. It can be something general like everything causes you excessive worry and you cannot pinpoint the actual trigger.

 

“American” Disorders & OCD

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While talking about disorders in class, one thing that struck me that I have seen in other articles is the statistical fact that in societies like America, it is much more common for people to become diagnosed with some kind of psychological disorder. Some worth mentioning may range from depression (which I feel that everyone knows someone who may be suffering from, whether it is mild or severe) to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). In addition, bulimia and anorexia are prime examples of culture-specific disorders that are often seen in American-like societies. In fact, I personally have friends who have serious issues related to every disorder I have previously listed that need to deal with their problem medically as well as psychologically. It is almost sad to see so many beautiful people attack such minor flaws of the self. I can only think of how much time and energy is used up, trying to make an effort to think a certain way or, in contrast, creating large pharmaceutical corporations that gain profit for disorders that shouldn’t exist because of how our society works. Nevertheless, sociologic issues have brought us back to identifying the many disorders we have in class today. One disorder I would like to mention in particular is OCD, or the persistence of unwanted thoughts and urges to engage in senseless rituals that cause distress. Although I only know of one friend in particular who is diagnosed with it, there are plenty of people, including myself, who I feel that have some degree of obsession (that I tend to blame on society but I won’t bother to explain at the moment). For me, I can’t help but crack my knuckles during certain, tense situations. There is no purpose to it but if I fail to crack them at a certain time, pressure to crack them builds up if I think about it too much – sometimes I will crack the same finger over and over until I crack it just right. In another case, my roommate will always check the door if it is locked. I personally think it is ridiculous because no matter how many times she will hear the click of the door lock, she will go back and turn the handle and pull on the door to double check that no one can get in. At this point, I have accepted that it comes with her overcautious personality and if she never felt safe, she would grow to have some form of anxiety disorder. However, she is definitely not the most severe case of OCD I have come across. I’m sure everyone has that one friend who is so meticulously neat, but to have that one friend who notices when one little detail is out of place is a true sign of OCD. Although it is unimportant (and unrelated to psychology), here is why I blame society: first, we are too untrustworthy. Unless you live in a small community where you know virtually everyone since pre-school and the biggest grocery store is locally owned and a 10 minute walk from your house, American towns, like people, put walls and locks up to protect themselves because only a handful of people are worth trusting and for some reason, everyone else is the enemy. Secondly, we have some irrational need for everything to be perfect. With these two ideas in mind, how could we not develop so many disorders?

Anxiety

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Anxiety

            In class we learned about anxiety, the feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease.  I have someone in my family who is very close to me that suffers with anxiety.  She is a lovable, old-fashion Italian, my grandma.  Always being around her growing up, I have noticed that her anxiety is getting worst.  It was very subtle to begin with only small situations bothered her but now its getting a little out of control.

Getting back to her being an old-fashion Italian. My grandma would have us over for Sunday dinner every week.  She would have the typical, huge bowl of spaghetti and meatballs, chicken, vegetables, salad.  She always over did it.  When we started noticing her anxiety was when she started having more than just my family over. The more people that were coming, the more nervous she got.  She would ask the same questions over and over again, about if the house was clean enough, or if she made enough food for everyone.  She also would pace back and forth; scratching her arms hundreds of times.

As years went on, the worrying kept getting worst.  Now, if she would have my parents and I over for dinner, there would be enough left over food to be eaten for the next week.  It’s not just the food she goes overboard with, but she has developed a cough when she starts getting nervous.  If my family brings up any news to her, it can be about anything, she starts getting nervous about what other people will think of the news and starts coughing.  The coughing is not a few coughs then she stops, she keeps going for five to ten minute periods.