Overview, Prevalence, and Symptoms of Anxiety Disorder
Introduction
Anxiety conditions are among the most prevalent cognitive disorders affecting the United Kingdom (UK). Characterized by excess worry, hyperarousal, and fear that is debilitating and counterproductive, an anxiety disorder can cause harm to the patient and their families. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report, over sixty million individuals are impacted by the diseases in the European Union every year. Equally, a study by the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) indicates that in the year 2010, anxiety condition led to more than twenty-six million adjusted lives (Remes et al., 2016). Different anxiety ailment exists, and they encompass general anxiety disorder, social phobia, and separation anxiety disorder. Some of the symptoms of anxiety disorder include but not limited to the feeling of nervousness, hyperventilation, increased heartbeat, restlessness, and gastrointestinal problems. Anxiety disorder is a common and disabling sickness in adults and can harm one’s social and occupational operations. Notably, investigations denote that various factors significantly impact the vulnerability of an individual to having the ailment. Elements such as genetics, environment, past childhood experience, and medical problems play a role in the occurrence of anxiety disorder (Haller et al., 2014). For instance, research posits that individuals with traumatizing childhood experience are likely to have anxiety disorder compared to other people. Therefore, it is critical to understand these aspects that increase a person’s likeliness of suffering from the illness.
Overview, Prevalence, and Symptoms of Anxiety Disorder
Over the past years, there has been a significant rise in the number of anxiety disorder cases across the globe, with the most affected region being the United Kingdom. This has led to questions concerning the early detection of possible risk elements, including the nature of sub-threshold areas. The different types of anxiety conditions include generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), specific phobia, and separation anxiety illness, with the most prevalent one being GAD. Notably, GAD refers to a chronic and relatively frequent disease with a lifetime occurrence level of 5-10%. The sickness surpasses major depression and is linked with increased disability suicide attempts, and mortality (Zhang et al., 2015). Studies denote that out of the anxiety conditions, GAD is known to have the most devastating impairment and is also associated with a high cortisol level. Despite having treatment for the disease, a minority of the affected populace rarely receive medication. The primary reason for undiagnosed cases is because anxiety disorder is mostly under-recognized and mishandled by practitioners in primary care.
World Health Organization states that over sixty million new cases are reported year in the European Union, with eight million incidences of the diseases occurring in the UK in 2013. According to McManus et al., the increase in symptoms of anxiety disorder is driven by a surge in the number of women in recent years (2016). Studies indicate that women are at a higher risk as they are twice likely to contract the illness compared to men. The prevalence of GAD in the UK poses a significant threat to the government since most of the funds are diverted to help provide medication to the victims. Some of the problems related to anxiety disorder encompass the danger of experiencing comorbid physical ill-health and the chances of being attacked by a chronic illness like cancer and heart failure (Remes et al., 2018). Symptoms of GAD comprise tiredness, feeling of nervousness, insomnia, trembling, having a challenge of controlling worry, gastrointestinal problems, and hyperventilation. Among the complications caused by anxiety disorder include drug abuse, insomnia, social isolation, suicide, digestive issues, chronic pains, and depression.
Why Some Individuals are at Risk of Developing Anxiety Disorder than others
In the development of anxiety disorder, there is a complicated relationship between biological and genetic vulnerabilities, age, gender, harmful environmental influences, parental psychopathology, and adverse childhood experiences. Therefore, the risk of an individual experiencing anxiety disorder varies among people. Generalized anxiety disorder and social phobia are the most prevalent forms of anxiety illness in the United Kingdom, with the most impacted being women.
Genetics and Brain Structure
Genetics plays a significant part in determining whether a person will contract or not develop a generalized anxiety disorder. Just like other cognitive illness, a person can be genetically predisposed to the disease. This is caused when either of the parents has anxiety ailment, which is then passed to the infant (Dabkowska & Dabkowska-Mika, 2015). Studies indicate that the RBFOX1 gene may make an individual develop symptoms of GAD; hence, a person with this gene is at a higher risk of suffering from generalized anxiety and social disorder.
Just like other forms of nervousness, generalized anxiety disorder is caused by an excessive triggering of brain mechanisms underlying fear and the fight reaction. The limbic system refers to a collection of brain structures involved in controlling most of the basic human responses. For instance, when a person is in a dangerous situation, two parts of the brain circuit becomes active and convey information about the threat to different regions of the brain. Notably, the amygdala is a brain component concerned with emotional processing, and it monitors the body’s response to external stimuli (Duval, Javanbakht & Liberzon, 2015). Studies indicate that the amygdala is activated before other brain circuits, and it relays information to the hypothalamus, which causes a quick release of hormones that increases heart rate and blood pressure. Therefore, individuals with sensitive amygdala have higher chances of contracting the generalized disorder.
Equally, grey matter is another element that significantly contributes to the development of generalized anxiety disorder in individuals. Studies postulate that a high volume of gray matter in some regions of the brain is found in patients diagnosed with GAD, making it a critical element among the risk factors associated with anxiety. Notably, the right putamen is one of the brain locations that mostly show an augmented volume of gray matter among people suffering from GAD (Duval, Javanbakht & Liberzon, 2015). Investigations indicate that childhood maltreatment is responsible for a significant concentration of gray matter in the brain. As such, people with childhood maltreatment experience are at a greater risk of experiencing a generalized anxiety disorder.
Life Experiences
Although genetic and biological elements contributing to the occurrence of GAD, a significant percentage of the risk lies in psychological, social, and environmental aspects. Notably, research indicates that individuals with past childhood traumas are likely to experience generalized anxiety and social phobia disorder (Maideen, Sidik, Rampal & Mukhtar, 2015). For instance, a person who underwent through painful experiences like physical and mental abuse, the demise of a loved one, divorce, neglect, or isolation have a significant chance of being diagnosed with GAD and social phobia conditions. These hard experiences mostly leave juveniles uncertain or apprehensive to believe others, something that can continue to adulthood.
Environmental and Learned Behaviors
The environment also plays a critical part in the development of GAD and social phobia since elements in the surrounding can enhance anxiety. Factors such as stress caused by the job, financial predicament, relationship, and school facilitate the manifestation of anxiety. Equally, features such as gender and age also contribute to the occurrence of the condition. According to Dabkowska & Dabkowska-Mika, women are more susceptible to the disease with studies indicating that they are two-timing likely to be diagnosed with the condition than men (2015). Social phobia is greatly influenced by age, with the most affected group being children. Investigation ascertains that incidences such as divorce, rape, and abandonment experienced by children contribute to the manifestation of the illness. Therefore, people who live in a hardship environment that is characterized by features like poverty are highly vulnerable to sickness.
Conclusion
Anxiety disorder is one of the major problems affecting the public health of the United Kingdom, with the most susceptible population being women. Health reports state that women are at a higher risk of contracting this disease compared to men. Generalized anxiety disorder and social phobia are some of the different types of anxiety conditions that are prevalent in the UK. Some of the symptoms of anxiety disorder include tiredness, nervousness, hyperventilation, and insomnia. Unlike other cognitive illnesses, the majority of the reported cases of anxiety disorder are always undiagnosed because of mishandling by practitioners at the point of primary care. Notably, various factors influence the vulnerability of a person to the sickness. Elements like age, gender, traumatic childhood experiences, brain structure, and environment contribute to the manifestation of the ailment. Individuals that went through a hardship environment, which was characterized by divorce, abandonment, and hunger, are likely to develop anxiety disorder, unlike others who did not experience such difficulties.