Dealing with Stress, Anxiety and Anxiety Disorder III

In the last two posts that could be found here and here stress and anxiety were discussed to some extent. From the first part of the article, stress was explained to be a means by which you respond to an emergency situation at hand. It is not really as bad as it was been portray by the majority. As a matter of fact, it helps to overcome danger and deal with an emergency situation at hand. The way the body responds to stress involves amygdala ( a part of the brain) which send an impulse to the HPA (hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis) axis (Extensively discussed in the first part). Stress hormone called cortisol is then released alongside adrenalin(sitting on the kidney) which then prepare you to take action needed to overcome the situation on ground. We could say that stress helps you get job done instantly because what you couldn't get done ordinarily is achieved within a short time with your muscles gaining impetus. However, anxiety is not the same. One can say stress is a means of dealing with a physically evident condition that requires prompt action, on the other hand, anxiety is not the same. Anxiety may result from fear of the unknown, becoming apprehensive over everything. In fact, feeling fearful over everything. When you begin to imagine unimaginable, creating an unnecessary picture in your mind probably that something you are doing will not work out, then one can really say that you are becoming anxious. In other word, anxiety come from inside the mind, one can even say that you are been tortured by your mind as a lot of conflicting thoughts that are racing through your head. In the previous post, solution to anxiety was discussed, so you can just click on the link above to get them. Let's get down the line with anxiety disorder.

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Anxiety disorder

Most times, many people fail to realise that they are suffering from anxiety disorder. This is because its symptoms are similar to normal anxiety. Anxiety disorder is said to affect almost 30% of adults, but most affected do not know that they are suffering from it because they either underestimate the symptoms or their doctor could not establish it due to inadequate testing procedure.

This disorder is a condition that resulted from the interaction between biological characteristics mainly genes which are the basic unit of hereditary, behavioural factors (one lifestyle, health beliefs and stress) and finally social factors(family relationship, cultural beliefs). It's a mental disorder, that affects both genders, but two times more prevalent among female than male.

Anxiety disorder differences in males and female.

It's an interesting thing to know that sexual dimorphism is not only related to physical differences between males and females. Research as documented it that there are differences in the brain regions of male and female which is responsible for memory, cognition( mental process of attaining and knowledge, processing and understanding) and effect.

![Rotating_brain_colored.gif](

^{CC BY-SA 2.1 Rotating_brain_colored showing Hypothalamus(Red) Amygdala(Lemon) Hippocampus and fornix (Blue) Pons(Yellow) Pituitary gland(Purple)}

The sexual dimorphism is responsible for the higher record of anxiety disorder in females more than males. This is because there is a difference in the structural as well function of brain parts which are linked to anxiety and this involves brain part such as Hippocampus( this brain region is responsible to take information from the short-term-memory to long-term-memory), prefrontal cortex, as well as amygdala which triggers a response from the brain to the HPA axis. Because of sex dimorphism in the brain, females tend to be in an anxious state than men. Literature laid it bare that female pulse and blood pressure are more reactive to stress and anxiety when compared to males. The reasons for these differences could not be separated from gonadal hormones.

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commons.wikimediaOwn work, CC BY 3.0, Hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal_axis

The major female sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone have been connected to have an impact on the function of neurotransmitter system that is connected to anxiety whereas, in male, the sex hormone testosterone has been reported to be able to suppress anxiety, one of the major reason male are less affected by anxiety disorder. The testosterone reduces the response of male to stress as a result of limiting the activity of the HPA axis. One can say this is why men tend to face difficult challenges fearlessly whereas women easily throw in the towel, their sex hormone place both on a different side of the coin as regard to anxiety. During the menstrual cycle of female, there are fluctuations in the level of oestrogen which is responsible for thickening the uterus and progesterone which helps to maintain the uterus lining. This fluctuation affects the reactivity of the HPA axis, the feedback sensitivity of the axis and brain GABA connection ( GABA means "gamma-aminobutyric acid" which is a neurotransmitter that reduces the firing action of neuron in the central nervous system) which all make the body ways of regulating its internal environment to be less stable in females rather than males. This fluctuation may not be unconnected with mood swing in females making them less stable and as such make them show more anxiety symptoms. For those taking contraceptive pills for a long period of time, they are manipulating those gonadal hormones and this alters how HPA axis reacts to psychological stress which can lead to more anxiety symptoms showing forth in females.

Risk factors for Anxiety disorder

Anxiety disorder can not be specifically attached to a single cause, however, there are some risk factors that could be traced to it. Some of them are discussed here.

Trauma. Someone who has in the past experienced violence maybe as a child or as adult are at great risk of developing an anxiety disorder. This is because the picture of the event already stored in the long-term memory might just be hunting them leading to emotional instability.
Stress buildup. A stressful life can build-up anxiety disorder. Probably losing a member of the family, work stress, tasks yet to be accomplished, bill yet to be paid etc.
Stress as a result of sickness. Stress as a result of sickness or life-threatening health challenges can be a great threat to sound mental health. There could anxiety as a result of uncertainty about the cure for the sickness.
Drugs or alcohol. Those abusing drugs or alcohol may develop an anxiety disorder as a result of drug abuse or when they withdraw from it.
Family history. Although, one could develop anxiety disorder without a family history, however, if one person in the family has it, there is a tendency to also developed it because several cases like that have been recorded.
Other mental disorder. Those suffering from mental conditions such as depression can develop the condition.

Summary

Anxiety disorder is a mental disorder which is as a result of interaction between biological characteristics, behavioural factors and social factors. It is difficult to easily say that a particular factor is responsible because anxiety disorder is a collection of several mental illnesses that makes one to excessively be anxious or uncontrollably be in fear. The excessive fear can make the person suffering to avoid everything he judged to be dangerous when such is not even dangerous at all. Also, females are more prone to anxiety disorder due to gonad hormones oestrogen and progesterone, while male are less affected due to testosterone hormone which suppresses the activity of HPA axis

In the next part of the article, I will be discussing the symptoms, classification of anxiety disorder and treatment. Thanks for coming around.