Generalized Anxiety Disorder BEH/225 All of us worry about things occasionally. Financial stress, illness, or loss of a spouse can cause us to fear the unknown. There are aspects of life that we cannot always control, and that in itself can be a scary thought. Sometimes, it may feel like the “what ifs” of life, the things we cannot control, begin to consume our thoughts. Most of us may feel this way periodically, when the fear or worry is justified.
This type of stress releases chemicals such as cortisol, adrenaline, and norepinephrine that will escalate our motivation, and strengthen the body. In contrast the bad stress referred as distress is when we feel threaten either physically or emotionally. For the student’s brain this can be not being able to find the solution to the problem, not having enough resources to solve the problem or having prolonged stress over experiencing repeated situations. When the brain is in distress it loses its ability to process things correctly because it poses a physical or emotional danger themselves. The area of the brain most affected by high stress is the hippocampus, which is very sensitive to cortisol.
Stress comes from any situation in which we feel frustrated, angry or anxious. Anxiety, on the other hand, comes from apprehension or fear. Stress and Anxiety, in a nutshell, stem from our bodies reaction to fear or change. Those who suffer from stress can understand their condition and find resolution in the mediums of therapy or changing certain aspects to their daily lives. Anxiety on the other hand is not something that can be treated easily as there is the potential to have larger psychological or physicals reasons for its manifestation.
In other words, describe some of the symptoms of stress. Stress can affect people in many different ways either psychologically, emotionally, physically or with behavioural signs (usually with a mix of a few) .Each individual will react differently too. Some will feel they can’t “cope” with the slightest bit of pressure while others could “cope” very well to a lot some even thrive on pressure. When we feel stressed it can leave us with many symptoms and affect our mood (mood swings). We can get frustrated, angry and at times be extra sensitive to criticism which can make us become very defensive.
When deciding to take on the role of caretaker, certain problems have been known to arise. Assuming the role of caretaker can pose a threat physically and emotionally to a person. Caregivers suffer in the forms of “sleeplessness, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and impaired immunological responses that result in increased use of psychotropic drugs” (Marziali, Elsa, et al. 2005: 376). Author Jo Danna describes caretaker suffering to come in the forms of discouragement of being unable to stop the disease from progressing even with one on one care, resentment of the energy, time and money spent, self-loathing because of losing patience with an Alzheimer’s sufferer who means no intentional harm, frequent sicknesses such as colds or headaches, lack of time for oneself and the things one enjoys, cutting oneself off from friends and other family members to put the patient first, and severe depression due to a combination of these factors(90).
With this being the case, antipsychotic medications often have side effects that need to be monitored regularly by the health professionals (Young et al, 2011). Compliance is often a challenge with patients either because of the unmanageable side effects they experience or through limited insight. It is a role of the health professionals involved in the care to closely monitor this behaviour, as the effectiveness of the treatment may be affected (Young et al, 2011). Keller, Drexler &Lichtenberg (2009) discuss the benefits of treating paranoid schizophrenia with atypical antipsychotic medication clozapine and Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT). However both forms of treatment are linked with harsh side effects.
The autonomic system mainly controls functions that we have less conscious control over. These include the digestion of food, the blood pressure and the heart rate; these are split into two branches called the sympathetic and the parasympathetic branches. The sympathetic branch activates the glands and organs that defend the body against attack, when faced with a stressor the body releases more adrenaline and cortisol into the bloodstream drawing blood away from the stomach and extremities of the body and dilating the pupils of the eyes which initiates a 'fight' or 'flight' reaction, this prepares the body to deal with the stressor before returning to normal. When stress occurs regularly the body maintains this state instead of returning to normal causing
Stress and anger management is recommended because irritability, aggression, violence and anger are all very common symptoms of antisocial personality disorder. Skills will be built to cope with volatile emotions so that an individual will learn to control their behavior before it becomes harmful to themselves or others. Medications may be recommended to deal with some of the other symptoms which are associated with antisocial personality disorder. Antidepressants may be recommended if an individual has a depressed mood, anger, impulsivity, irritability or hopelessness. Mood stabilizing medications can be used to help even out mood swings and reduce irritability and aggression.
In order to understand these contributions to anxiety disorders one must be aware of how we define the factors that may contribute to anxiety such as Faulty Cognitions, in which the individual reveals habits that make them susceptible to fear. Individuals who suffer from a social phobia appear to intensify signs of danger and obsessively worry about different situations, so one must be able to relearn their thinking patterns (Huffman, Karen. pg. 502). Another contribution to anxiety disorders includes Maladaptive Learning, in which learning theorists say that they are the result from maladaptive conditioning and social learning.
In some cases tension headaches can be triggered by some type of environmental or internal stress. The most common sources of stress are family, relationships, friends, work, and school. (Glass, 2009) Some experts have discovered through research that tension headaches may also be caused by an interference involving nerve pathways in the brain, which is demonstrated by a heightened sensitivity to pain in people who have tension headaches. So the pain is caused as a result