The paper “Anxiety”

Javierh Montero         

David Mount

Writing 123

June 5, 2008

Anxiety: The Silent Intruder

 Sometimes when we think we’re ready for the biggest event of our lives, the one that we have always prepared ourselves for, something inevitable happens. And it happens indeed, at the biggest event; it’s like a silent intruder that you don’t see coming until it’s too late. Nevertheless, at the random times when you do see it coming, there isn’t much that you can do except breathe. It happens when you meet your in-laws, at the wedding day, at your big surprise party, or perhaps at the day you know you’re about to receive a well deserved five cent raise from your job. Those are the times when you realize that your nerves are failing; you start to sweat, words don’t make sense and you worry, you panic and then you stress. Are you abnormal? Does this happen to everybody? Are you a loser? How can this happen to you on such an important occasion? Well, the answer will probably not surprise you, as it is very common, yet somewhat unknown.

Perhaps this type of weird emotions that frightens you and make you panic could also be compared to being in a race. Have you ever been in one? Or have you ever speak in public? I’m sure that you’ve probably done at least one of those, but the crucial question is: Does your heart rate and pulse go up whenever something big is about to happen? If this does happens to you every so often, or perhaps more often than you would like, congratulations, you are what scientists call: an animal, AKA, the human specie. What did you expect? Humans after all are very vulnerable and full of doubts and fears by nature.

Every year, during the rainy school days of winter, when I have to go to college and take the test that will define my future and determine whether or not my parents and whole family will be proud me, there is no fear, no tension, no pressure…to the cat. He is just laying there, not caring; he’s drinking milk, getting fatter by the minute and not even caring that he’s getting fat. Then he goes to sleep and pretends like everything is fine. All of a sudden,  I turn around, and to my surprise, I find out that he is not pretending at all, he actually believes that everything is fine; damn cat. I sit at the table, try to drink some coffee to calm my nerves, no, of course it doesn’t work. I try to eat some overly burned toasts and as I look out the window, I see a dog. Damn dog, he’s just enjoying being wet. I’m about to cry and I have no idea why. I sweat, yet I’m cold. The feeling could be described as having anxiety. However, regular fears and doubts are not the only things that can cause anxiety. According to Ebscohost, in an article titled: Generalized anxiety disorder “anxiety is also a common complication of substance misuse disorders, including alcohol misuse” (Tyrer, Peter). So anxiety is not only related to a natural state of mind, but it also refers to a state of mind in which your brain does not work properly. Other things that can cause, prolong, or give you anxiety are people.

My mom, for example, being the loquacious woman that she is, is not letting me hear my own thoughts. Suddenly, she pops a question: Do you want some orange juice? Yes- I replied- breakfast is good. She looks at me, laughs only a little, and moves on. Yes, I admit it, I am certainly guilty, and it’s all true: I have no idea what the poor woman is talking about! But the truth is that I’m too nervous to care on whether or not I should care; anxiety is getting the best of me.

Across the globe, in China, perhaps Korea, or maybe even Brazil, some woman is about to give birth to her fifth born. The woman and her partner are nervous, agitated and sweating of course. What would be of this world if people didn’t sweat for every single little thing that’s about to happen, right? The shy woman looks at the frightened guy, and shyly yells: You freaking do this to me! Yes, it is indeed romantic. They’re both nervous even though nothing is happening yet. They’re scared, but it’s their fifth child. So why tension? Why the nerves? Why have both of their personalities changed? Anxiety has not forgiven them.

But enough about them, this paper is not about them, it’s not even about me, at least not entirely; this paper is somewhat about…the cat. The cat who would silently mock me while drinking MY milk; the same cat that I always allow to sleep on MY bed. Yes, the damn cat. As I get ready to leave for my class (the class that will determine my future and that I’m totally not nervous about), I see the cat going out. Silly cat-I say- he doesn’t know the dog is outside as well. The minute the dog sees my fluffy, funny looking cat, he chases it. Does he really want to eat that giant hair-ball? Probably not, but he chases it anyway. As my cat runs uncontrollably in desperation, I realize that he and I have something in common: we’re both panicking about something. Maybe my cat is afraid of dogs, aka, Cynophobia, and maybe I suffer from Testophobia, which is fear of taking tests. But why are we afraid? We both suffer from anxiety. Is that possible? Can animals suffer from anxiety too? According to an Ebscohost article, “anxiety is a normal human emotion that has analogues throughout the animal kingdom; to some degree, anxiety is probably of biological basis” (Tyrer, Peter). In this paper, I am going to be talking about the mental disorder that affects everyone, everywhere in different ways: anxiety. This is, however, by no means a medical paper, so I will not be going to be giving you cures, nor do I intend to prevent you from suffering anxiety. In these pages, however, the main focus point of study will be on human anxiety and not animals’ anxiety. We will revise some history, symptoms and how it affects people on a general basis so that we can answer a crucial question. Why does everybody in the world suffer from anxiety and is it always bad for us?

To begin our journey to understanding why people suffer from anxiety, we must first learn what anxiety is. According to Wikipedia, “anxiety is a physiological state characterized by cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral components. These components combine to create the feelings that we typically recognize as anger and known as fear, apprehension, or worry” (Anxiety Wikipedia), and, according to The Royal College of Psychiatrists, “Anxiety is a normal human feeling. We all experience it when faced with situations we find threatening or difficult” (Timms, Philip). In the article Fear Not from Ebscohost, it is claimed that “other than addictions, anxiety disorders are the most common of all mental problems. More than 10 percent of Americans and Europeans suffer from them” (Rudiger, Vaas). Anxiety, of course, is something that happens to all living creatures regardless of where they are and who they are. “There is a general consensus that anxiety sensitivity precedes the development of panic disorder” (Olatunji, Bunmi) and other anxiety-related disorders. We also must understand that anxiety disorders are precisely what they claim to be: disorders. In this case, these disorders would be associated with anxiety. “Phobias, OCD and PSST are examples of anxiety disorders” (Tyrer, Peter). Anxiety on its own, however, is something that according to the National Institute of Mental health “is a normal reaction to stress” (Anxiety Disorder). But how do we know if we have anxiety? Well, according to Medicinnet.com, some of the most recognizable symptoms are: “excessive, ongoing worry and tension, unrealistic view of problems, irritability, muscle tension, sweating, nausea and trembling” (Generalized anxiety). But that’s not all there is to anxiety. “When our anxiety is a result of a continuing problem, such as money difficulties, we call it worry, if it is a sudden response to an immediate threat, like looking over a cliff or being confronted with an angry dog, we call it fear” (Timms, Philip). As we all know, everybody around the world has suffered from stress, fears or worries through out history. Anxiety, nevertheless, is a relatively new concept that was not available fifty years ago.

Throughout the centuries, anxiety has had many different names, and possible “treatments.”  Humans from more primitive times than ours, and psychologists from more recent times around the world have studied and tried to understand anxiety for many years. Anxiety’s history is dated since the ancient time of prehistory where paintings and carvings from centuries ago lets us know of animals and humans alike who would run for their lives, hide and attack. Back in prehistory, phobias (which are a part of anxiety) were found in animals and humans alike. “Carving in walls of humans being attacked and animals running for their lives allows us to know that anxiety has been present in people and animals’ lives since the beginning of times” (Anderson Arthur). As stated in the website Anxiety-Panic.com/history, “Severe fears that cause acute problems are seen in animals as well as man; from mouse to elephant, any species can become ‘spooked.’ In the human family, every culture has reported individuals with phobias, throughout the centuries” (Anderson Arthur).

In more recent times, yet still long ago, in the 16th century, the word “hysteria is applied to anxiety and related disorders” (Anderson Arthur). Assumptions and lack of information were a cause for people to be diagnosed incorrectly in the past. Back in the 1600′s, for example, “hypochondriacs and people who suffered from phobias were seen as insane citizens” (Anderson Arthur). People who were seeing as crazy or that were believed to suffer from hysteria needed to be cured or were categorized as a menace to society. Medication and primitive ways of treatment were used, in many cases, leading to death. In the excerpt from Anxiety-Panic.com/history, in the heading titled: 1600, it states that “in the 1600′s, Edward Jorden was the first English physician who viewed the women who were accused of witchcraft as unfortunate persons suffering from some medical condition”(Anderson Arthur). Many patients back in old times were accused, in many cases, by their own physicians of being insane or possessed just because they suffered from something that was unknown.

Anxiety, as we now know, has been a type of disorder that has been studied for many years, and classified under many different categories. It wasn’t until this century, (over two decades ago) that psychologists first came up with the idea of anxiety. According to an article from Ebscohost, anxiety “before 1980 was subsumed under the label of anxiety neurosis, a disorder first delineated by Freud in 1894 and characterized by persistent feelings of unattached fearfulness described as free-floating anxiety” (Tyrer Peter). Also, according to the website on the history of anxiety, “American physicians were writing 10 million prescriptions a year for antidepressants alone, the great majority of them being tricyclics” (Anderson Arthur). And according to healthyplace.com, “before the 1980′s, anxiety disorders usually received a generic diagnosis of stress or nerves…very few people received effective treatment” (Panic and Anxiety). The lack of good treatment was due to the fact that there was minimal or almost no understanding of anxiety disorders by health professionals before the 80′s. In 1980, however, anxiety disorders were first recognized by the APA (American Psychiatric Association).

Some studies had been made before the 80′s, and it was made by non other than acclaimed psychologist, Sigmund Freud. Freud considered anxiety to be a “‘toxic transformation’ of undischarged libido…which led to the ‘psychoneuroses’ hysterias and obsession” (Anxiety, jrank).Years later, Freud revised his first impressions on anxiety and claimed that “repression caused anxiety.” However, Sigmund Freud’s theories are based way before the term anxiety and other terms were used, so his theories are outdated. In any case, detailed research and experiments to check on anxiety development began much later than Freud’s ideas. A place that is conducting a more updated type of research now a day, takes place in the northern suburbs of Cape Town, in the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, where they have a department specializing in anxiety. According to the South African Medical Research Council’s website, “The Research Unit on Anxiety and Stress Disorders was established by the MRC in 1997. The Unit is located at the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Stellenbosch…and researches the psychobiology and treatment of anxiety disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (and spectrum conditions), panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and social anxiety disorder” (Stein, Dan). In a study design, patients from different backgrounds, gender and age “received open-label Tiagabine for a period of 12 weeks. Patients who responded to Tiagabine were eligible to enter a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized-withdrawal relapse prevention phase of the study” (Wiley, John). To specify more on detailed studies that have been done to check on anxiety and on disorders associated with anxiety, in 1999, there was a “20-month prospective follow-up of survivors of a severe earthquake in Turkey in August 1999…three surveys were conducted in a suburb of Istanbul that was severely affected by the earthquake…the first cohort consisted of 9422 subjects” (Anxiety Disorders, Ebscohost). The results of both of these studies are not relevant since we’re not looking for an antidote or cure; the importance of this experiments lays in the fact that they were done with a well-designed data and patients selected at random, giving space to discovery as oppose to similarities.

In every study, in order for an experiment to work, there needs to be a factor that changes so that you can make comparisons. If a research is made to a group of seven people, all whom are blond and with freckles and you’re trying to find out why people with black hair don’t have freckles, how can you make a comparison if everything is the same? What many fail to notice is the group of people that was being studied. Freud, for example, made his career by studying upper class women and people who seemed a little “odd.” From this work, we can conclude that his conclusions would be based on the information that was presented to him from those people who somewhat suffered from the same disorder, but what about the males and people who didn’t seem odd? They might’ve had anxiety, but they were never studied by Freud, and since we know that everyone experiences anxiety at some point, wouldn’t it be important to study a more varied range of people? After all, anxiety includes many different types of feelings, disabilities and tensions. Fears, phobias, nervousness, irritation, bad humor, crying and laughing for no reason at all are all a part of human life and how humans feel. In past times, these emotions were categorized as something somewhat unnatural unless they had a clear reason to be. In this present time, when people suffer from a panic attack, which are “sudden, discrete periods of intense anxiety, mounting physiological arousal, fear, stomach problems and discomfort that are associated with a variety of somatic and cognitive symptomspanic attack”(Panic attack), they wouldn’t be put away in an asylum, they would just be categorized as someone who suffers from a form of anxiety.

In the survey that I made to people of various backgrounds, including African-Americans, Hispanics, Americans and people of different ages and sex, regarding what triggers anxiety and a time in their life when they have felt and dealt with anxiety, they replied that “you can experience anxiety anytime something stressful or overwhelming happens.” As far as how to deal with it, the more current answers were “talking to someone, being heard and relax in quiet place.” Classmates, such as Latisha Burley, suggested talking to a “psychology teacher,” in this case, Sandra Grossman, who is an instructor at Clackamas Community College. Jessica Simmons, on the other hand, a student who suffers from anxiety, says she “focuses on breathing exercises and praying to help her cope.” Jonathan Toral said he has seen people who have taken medication, such as Beta Blocker- a type of medicine that, according to Healthline.com, “affects the body’s response to certain nerve impulses” (Beta Blocker), and that is only available by prescription and is intended to treat high blood pressure to calm their nerves.

However, if you’re still unclear about anxiety, one theory that could help us understand anxiety better is: The Tipping Point theory. The Tipping Point theory is, according to an article in Wikipedia that refers to the book written by Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, “the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable” (Gladwell). Many desires or needs may become inevitable, unavoidable or unstoppable depending on the circumstances and strength of what is causing this behavior to happen. In the same article, it is stated that: “ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses do (Gladwell).” Malcolm Gladwell also describes “three rules of epidemics.” The first rule being The Law of the Few, which states that “the success of people depends on their involvement with a set of particular social skills…people we rely upon to connect us with new information” (Gladwell). These people are also described and have their own roles:

                 a.   Connectors, as the name states it, are those who connect others to the world. Those who have a “way of bringing the world together” (2).

                 b.   Mavens are people that others can rely on to connect them with new information, and third

                      c.    Salesmen, who are the persuaders and the one with good negotiation skills.

The second rule of epidemic is The Stickiness Factor. This discusses the message and its power of information that makes something memorable. The third and last epidemic refers to how the environment impacts human life; how time and place affect someone’s sensitiveness to a specific event; this is referred to as The Power of Context. The tipping point theory is relevant in this case because much like anxiety, it has ups and downs, kind of a like roller coaster where you start slowly until you get to the top, and then suddenly you fall very fast and keep going until the stop. Anxiety, however, can last much longer than a roller coaster, but it is similar in the sense that once you begin to experience anxiety, you get to the top and all you can do is wait for it to stop, so you can once again relax. As we were able to see based on some classmates responded, the methods by which you wait for anxiety to stop may differ from person to person and can depend on the severity of anxiety. Sometimes the fear of something that’s about to occur can become so great, that people can suffer from an anxiety attack and only be able to control it with medication, while others simply walk it off and wait for it to pass, which will normally pass after the event has passed.

But in what other way does the tipping point theory connect to anxiety? Well, much like Gladwells theory of The Law of the Few, we all need people to connect us back with the world; someone who would tell us that everything will be fine. When dealing with anxiety, we need support from someone who would make us in some way feel better and forget, for at least one second, the pressure of anguish that’s causing us to experience anxiety. When track-runners are getting ready before a race, if the anxiety has become too strong, more likely than not, they would need some sort of support, something or someone who would give them information such as: you’re the fastest runner, to keep them from focusing on their faults. But, why is it that most of the time we believe in the bad things that people tell us, but not in the good ones? Perhaps it’s because we, as humans, are vulnerable and tend to think the worst of the world. Because of this reality, we need people who would persuade us of the fact that we are indeed, good. As recently suggested, encouragement and perseverance are a good way to sometimes overcome anxiety, but another good way can be by having a simple good memory, a past victory or gratification can make people improve. If we go back to the race example, we can picture a runner who only has five seconds before the gun goes off. He can feel his hands sweating and his mind going blank. But all of a sudden, he remembers a victory, a past event that made him feel comfortable, and out of nowhere, he’s calmed down. That simple reminder makes the runner believe in himself once again, this would be attributed to Gladwells Stickiness Factor, which is the: “specific content of a message that makes it memorable and have impact (Gladwell). Those memories, however, can be affected by a time and place. The circumstances, in which an individual finds him or herself, can be a reason for anxiety as well as fear. In a social gathering, group A might feel extremely comfortable while group B wants to find excuses for not going or leave early. If we invert these scenarios, and we put group A all alone, the anxiety to find others or something to do will build up to the point that it goes from being bored, to shaking their legs, repeatedly signing their names or the usual things that people do when they’re bored. Group B on the other hand, is obviously not seeking others, so they’re fine and not anxious; they have no fear at this point. By now and based on surveys and research, we can begin to conclude, or at least think of the idea that every being who has reactions and feelings can suffer from anxiety eventually. Whether it’s a mild type of anxiety that only lasts for a minute before a race, or a fear that turns into a severe panic attack before your wedding day, humans and animals have to deal with it, but why?

According to psychology students from the University of Oregon, whom I found via myspace.com, while looking for psychology students online, and who were later interviewed through instant messenger, agreed that anxiety is “a disorder that affects the world population at different times and that it comes in different levels and styles.” These students also said that anxiety can be good in the sense that “it keeps your body and mind alert at times when the circumstances are unknown. It’s like it puts people and animals in an alert state, or yellow light if you will, in case something bad occurs…it gives them reaction time to be somewhat prepare.” Based on the surveys and answers, I’m inclined to believe that anxiety is not all that bad; it does prepare you for an outcome that you may not be totally ready for. Anxiety, however, when it becomes extreme, it can make your life uncomfortable and make it not function the way you would hope. According to the Fear Not article from Ebscohost “anxiety can dampen the joy of discovery, spoil the fun of games, inhibit initiative and creativity, and, in greater doses, ruin an individual’s health” (Vaas, Rudiger). But those are a few negative aspects of anxiety, but let’s look at a few good ones. In the article from National Institute of Mental Health, it says that anxiety “helps one deal with a tense situation in the office, study harder for an exam, keep focused on an important speech. In general, it helps one cope. But when anxiety becomes an excessive, irrational dread of everyday situations, it has become a disabling disorder” (Anxiety Disorder). On a different article form Ebscohost, Generalized anxiety disorder, it is suggested that “anxiety is a fundamental drive that has evolutionary value…intervention is appropiate only when symptoms interfere with normal social functions” (Tyrer, Peter). So anxiety is, much like calories, necessary in order for us to endure life, however, too much of it can be harmful and even dangerous.

In conclusion, anxiety affects humans and animals alike. It does not descriminate based on socioeconomics, race, gender or age. It starts when something unexpected and that we have no control over is about to happen. It can help us deal with an uncontrollable situation when we’re struggling with it and feel that we’re unsure how to deal with. Anxiety can help us be aware and prepare for a situation that requieres alertness. However, when too extreme, it can become a life problem. Medicine is available for those cases that are extreme; nevertheless, most people around the world don’t need more than just some minutes of relaxation time. In the future, perhaps, more researches will lead to more advanced ways to control, study and understand anxiety better, or maybe there will be some sort of way to make people feel better before it happens, but along those lines there will also need to be reasearches to find out if such a “solution” would really benefit us or if it will turn the human race into robots. Perhaps someday we will all understand that this uncomfortable disorder that affects people in different ways and magnitude can actually benefit us. Maybe eventually we’ll learn to make the best of it, because quite honestly, I don’t think it will ever go away; taking it away will be like taking away your right to freedom, it will taking away what makes someone a person. If they take away our nerves and emotions, we would no longer be an animal, aka, the human specie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

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Gladwell, Malcolm. “The Tipping Point .” Wikipedia. 12 May 2008. 24 May 2008 …….<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tipping_Point_(book)>.

Olatunji, Bunmi. “New Directions in Research on Health Anxiety and Hypocondriases.” ……..Springer Publishing Company 2008: 9. Ebscohost. Clackamas Community ……..College.lib., Oregon City, OR.  5 June 2008. <http://ebscohost.com>.

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Rudiger, Vaas. “Fear Not.”,Scientific American Special Edition Jan 2004: 7. Ebscohost. …….Clackamas Community College.lib., Oregon City, OR. 5 June 2008 …….<http://ebscohost.com>.

 

Stein, Dan. “Anxiety and Stress Disorders Research Unit.” South African Medical …….Research Council. 29 May 2008. 30 May 2008 ……<http://www.mrc.ac.za/anxiety/anxiety.htm>.

Timms, Philip. “Anxiety and Phobias.” The Royal College of Psychiatrists. July 2001. 15 May 2008 ………<http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/mentalhealthproblems/anxietyphobias/anxiety……….phobias.aspx>.

 

Tyrer, Peter and David Baldwin. “Generalised anxiety disorder.” Seminar 16 December ……..2006: 11. Ebscohost. Clackamas Community College.lib., Oregon City, OR.  2  June 2008. ……..<http://ebscohost.com>.

 

 

Wiley, John. “Tiagabine for social anxiety disorder.” Wiley InterScience 23 August 2006: ……..5. Ebscohost. Clackamas Community College.lib., Oregon City, OR.  2 June 2008. ……..<http://ebscohost.com>.