Anxiety is a psychic state, a signal that informs us of the presence of danger; below a certain level, anxiety is adaptive, defensive, functional and helps maintain high levels of concentration and task performance.
In cases where anxiety levels rise, we may see the emergence of pathological anxiety, which is a dysfunction that involves excessive activation of the body even in the presence of neutral stimuli. In pathological anxiety, anxiety levels may be so high as to force the discharge of excess anxiety; it may materialize in the activation of dysfunctional behaviours that can negatively impact the individual's quality of life (attack or escape reactions).
In these cases, psychotherapeutic intervention is necessary, which will help to manage anxiety and rebalance the natural mechanisms underlying its regulation.
Signs and symptoms of ANXIETY?
A person suffering from generalized anxiety disorder presents a state of restlessness, a feeling of being constantly "on edge," difficulty concentrating, a sense of terror, fast and irregular heartbeat, insomnia, headache, excessive sweating, shortness of breath, dizziness, irritability and changes in appetite.
Treatment
Treatment of anxiety focuses on identifying internal conflicts and sources of anxiety, then removing obstacles that prevent normal adaptive functioning. The goal is to achieve adequate maturation of the ego (organization), which occurs by developing the mediation between the id (instinctual desires), superego (critical and moral role) and reality. To achieve this, it becomes essential to work on building a solid self-image, integrating the pieces of one's history; improving one's capacity for spatial-temporal orientation; encouraging self-expression and the expansion of critical capacity; developing adaptive drive control, increasing the threshold of frustration tolerance and developing adequate management of internal conflicts.
This way, one will be able to bring the instances of needs and desires into dialogue, respecting one's own fulfilment, with the rules of the environment in which we live.
Other forms of anxiety-related disorders include panic attack, hypochondriasis, phobias, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, performance anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
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