The Impacts of Anxiety

Kiara Bowman, Staff Writer

According to DoSomething.org, anxiety is a disorder that affects 10% of teens and 40% of adults in the United States.

There are many different forms of anxiety. Different forms of anxiety include social anxiety, panic disorder, PTSD, OCD, and many more. Although anxiety can be minor, it can also be chronic, which is what causes the most panic. Having anxiety can be crippling in all of its forms.

For instance, social anxiety causes those that have it, to have an irrational and extreme fear of any contact with strangers or even people they know in some cases. The reason that it’s impossible to completely cure anxiety is because it’s a mental disorder which means that it’s just something that you were born with or that your brain become wired to. Things like PTSD and OCD can be set on by a bad experience which is why many people in the military have PTSD.

“Treatments includes counseling or medications, including antidepressants,” said the Mayo Clinic.

There are side effects from taking prescription drugs specifically for GAD, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or any other type of anxiety.

NIMH, National Institutes of Health, states that: “The most common side effects listed by the FDA include: Nausea and vomiting, dizziness, weight gain, diarrhea, sleepiness, sexual problems.”

One of the other solutions for anxiety is going to therapy which is much better than ignoring it. Ignoring your anxiety has actually been known to backfire and make things even worse.

A form of psychotherapy known as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is highly effective at treating anxiety disorders. Through CBT, psychologists help patients learn to identify and manage the factors that contribute to their anxiety,” APA, American Psychological Association stated.

All in all anxiety is a serious disorder that shouldn’t be ignored and should have more awareness put towards it. Ignoring a situation or problem will most likely end up making the situation worse, so getting help would benefit you.