What is anxiety disorder? It is not just an another name or a label we carry, most of the times we losely use this word anxiety without knowing the actual repercussions of the term anxiety disorder, as its a deep rooted issue, which we need to understand to seek proper care and attention.

As many of you know that I write and speak a lot about Mental Health. In lieu of spreading mental health awareness I have come up with this new series of blogs, named “MEntal Wellness begins with ME”.

As I belong to a completely different field, I have been educating myself and learning about Mental Illnes, it’s symptoms, real meaning behind those technical jargons, trust me the process is lengthy and I have a long way to go.

But yes, with my passion driven intent, I aim to break the stigmas attached to mental illness worldwide and will enable you to make mental health your priority. I will be sharing what all I have learned and discovered, through my upcoming blogs.

What is Anxiety Disorder?

Anxiety disroder is not a single term, it covers various conditions, like generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and specific phobias. Let us understand all the forms of anxiety disorders in detail here:

What is Generalised Anxiety Disorder or GAD?

It is your response to things in the form of unrealistic and unnecessary worries, tension and agitation. You become too anxious about things with little or no reason.

What is Panic Disorder?

During a panic attack, we feel sweaty, might have chest pain, feel palpitations (irregular heartbeats). One might also feel that he/she is choking or going to have a heart attack.

What is Social Anxiety Disorder?

Social anxiety disorder is also known as social phobia, wherein a person is presumed to be shy or an introvert but it is a condition in which you feel overwhelming worry and fear about socailizing in your day to day life. You fixate about others judging you or being humiliated by others.

What could be specific phobias?

Specific phobias give you anxiety in specific situations like you fear heights, water or an object. The fear is such that you totally avoid such ordinary situations where you can face your phobias.

What cause Anxiety Disorder?

As per researchers, it is belived that anxiety stems from a combination of the things, including changes in your neurological area, environmental stress and it could be even geneticly tranformed to an individual.

What could be the general symptoms?

• Not being able to stay calm and still/ restlessness
• Sleep problems
• Panic, fear about everything
• Heart palpitations
• Nausea
• Tense Muscles
• Dizziniess
• Low energy

Some preventive measures

Few tips which could help you to control or lessen down the symptoms:

• Caffeine is a mood-altering drug and it may make the symptoms even worse, so cut down on coffee, tea, cola or energy drinks.
• Eat right, a well-balanced diet is a must.
• Get good sleep, give rest to your mind.
• Exercise and meditate for atleast 30 minutes daily, without fail.
• Do not self-diagnose yourself and if the condition starts hampering you, immediately see a doctor.
• Always seek medical help when the going gets tough. 

There is nothing wrong in taking medical help in mental illness conditions, it is a matter of stigma and a taboo topic for the society, not for the individual who is going through it. Be little gentle towards yourself and take care of your mental health.

Why Mental Health Awareness Series again?

Yes, again! I have been running a mental health awareness series on my YouTube Channel (Virtual Siyahi). Name of the initiative is “Humanity ki chain”, I intend to do 11 epsidoes for the first series and I have successfully reached till the seventh episode of the series. 

The aim of the series was to join with other like-minded people who believe in spreading mental well-being, physchologist and people who have suffered mental illness and come out of it by taking medical help or by talk therapies.

I loved doing the video series and it only made me more aware about my surroundings, hence I felt the need of going one more step deeper in this, and with this blog series, I will be covering almost all the mental disorder we have heard or we are completely unaaware of.

I hope while educating myself , I will be able to educate my readers about mental health conditons in a very basic language, so that atleast we will be aware about our surrounding, and be able to help someone in need.

MEntal Wellness beigns with ME. Take care and be aware.

Much love and gratitude

Priyanka