If you have someone in your life that is struggling with the
condition, it may be difficult to know what to do or how to assist them – and
sometimes you may resort to ‘quick cures’ that need you to pay up-front before
you receive help. When the condition is affecting your life or a loved one, you
are willing to try anything to help minimize the pain, but how do you know what
you can trust and what to leave? Here are some common myths about the
condition.
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| Anxiety is not a 'real' illness |
Everyone goes through anxious moments at certain points in
our lives, especially when something major is about to happen. In fact, some
anxiety can be helpful in some situations. However, anxiety disorder is much
more than that – it is an extreme form of anxiety that leaves you impaired, you
cannot function or go about your daily life because of it, and above all – it
is a real illness.
The problem with anxiety is that it is not very easy to
diagnose it, unlike conditions such as diabetes, cocaine abuse
and addiction, or cancer – but there are ways of spotting the condition, thanks
to its physical manifestations. Once it is diagnosed, it is easy to manage and
treat it afterwards.
Panic attacks will make you lose control and pass out
The truth – not really. The fainting that accompanies panic
or anxiety attacks usually occurs because of drops in blood pressure, but this
does not occur because of a panic attack.
In fact, the opposite usually happens when you have a panic
attack, at least most of the time. The attack will trigger your blood pressure
and heartbeat rate to increase, and that can only mean one thing – you do not
pass out, even if you wish you could. That does not make a panic attack less
dreadful, but fearing them tends to make the problem worse, and that should be
enough reason to get treatment for anxiety.
Many people have the perception that panic attacks will make
them lose control when doing something such as driving, but panic
attacks do not have that effect. Another interesting fact to note is that
not everyone who has panic attacks goes on to develop panic disorder. In fact,
out of 20 to 25 percent of people suffering panic attacks, only 3 percent
develop panic disorders.
Panic disorders are a moresevere form off the condition, as
they are a vicious cycle that result in anxiety about the chances of getting
more attacks in future. Sometimes treatment involves you riding out the storm
and remembering that nothing bad will happen – this will help you to break the
vicious cycle in future.
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If you have anxiety, avoid situations that may lead to stress
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Okay, two things – it is impossible to avoid stressful
situations completely. Second thing, you should not view yourself as a fragile
being, because this is counterproductive and just causes more anxiety. It is
important to keep in mind that you can be anxious and still accomplish what you
should do.
Stress avoidance might seem like a good method of managing
anxiety on the surface, but it is not as effective as you think. Life will
always present stressful situations that are mostly unexpected, and all of
these are capable of causing anxiety if you have anxiety disorders.
In addition, avoiding the triggers of stress like large
crowds and open spaces, will only serve to heighten the disorder. Anxiety
treatment that is effective will expose you to the anxiety trigger in safe
amounts and slow rates, until you can learn to cope with the problem, not
avoid it.
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Carrying a paper bag is useful in case you hyperventilate
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You have probably seen this in the movies or in popular
culture, where someone starts hyperventilating and they have a paper bag with
them. The thing is hyperventilating is not necessarily life threatening, but
carrying the paper bag every time will increase anxiety.
This is because carrying the bag is more of a safety
behavior than anything else. It reinforces the subconscious fear that something
bad will happen and you want to have a safety plan just in case. In addition,
hyperventilating feels uncomfortable for sure, even though it is not life threatening.
Safety behavior is another way of avoiding the problem
instead of facing the fear and getting to the root of the problem. They will
feed the anxiety cycle even more.
Anxiety disorders are not common
Anxiety is more common than you may think. In the United
States for instance, almost 18 percent of adults go through different varieties
of anxiety disorder in a certain year, according to statistics from the NIMH
(National Institute of Mental Health).
Even though millions of people live with different forms of
anxiety, a patient will be very surprised to discover they do not go through it
alone, once they are diagnosed with the condition. It is understandable though,
since there are certain types of anxiety disorders like social anxiety and OCD
that isolate people and make one feel embarrassed to seek treatment.
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| Anxiety will get better if you wait for it to go |
It will not, and it never does. This misconception has also
led to many cases being diagnosed late, with the average individual waiting for
up to ten years before they go to seek anxiety treatment.
When the person can function well enough, they often delay
the treatment process, and they hope it will go away on its own. Improvement
happens very rarely, and it actually gets worse with time, while other
conditions such as depression
develop.
Final thoughts
Anxiety is among the most misunderstood mental conditions,
so many myths surround it. These are just some of them, and it is important to
have adequate information about the condition to be able to deal with it early
and effectively.
