Chronic anxiety syndrome
Chronic anxiety syndrome – a long-term condition characterized by excessive, persistent, and uncontrollable worry about various aspects of daily life. People with chronic anxiety often experience overwhelming feelings of fear or dread, even in situations that don't typically warrant such intense reactions.
Several different types of anxiety disorders can cause chronic anxiety. They include:
1. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
2. Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
3. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
4. Social anxiety disorder (SAD).
5. Panic disorder.
Symptoms: feeling nervous, restless or tense, having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom, having an increased heart rate, breathing rapidly (hyperventilation), sweating, trembling, feeling weak or tired, trouble concentrating or thinking about anything other than the present worry, having trouble sleeping, experiencing gastrointestinal (GI) problems, having difficulty controlling worry, having the urge to avoid things that trigger anxiety.
Chronic anxiety is generally not something that goes away on its own. Anxiety can change your brain. It alters thought patterns and makes you more prone to negative thinking, catastrophic thinking, over-sensitivity to health and physical sensations, and more. The longer you live with anxiety, the more anxiety may consume your thoughts.
There are a lot of strategies people use to combat anxiety. The more common include: therapy, medications, herbs, exercise.
There are several "alternative" therapies and anxiety reduction techniques as well. Some work better than others, and some people find that they have more success with one than others will. For any treatment to work, it needs to be based on your symptoms, and it needs to involve proven strategies that will help you cope with anxiety over the remainder of your life - not simply dull it away and prevent you from learning to cope on your own.
Sanjana Gupta. (2023). What Is Chronic Anxiety? Retrieved from: https://shorturl.at/MSNLZ.
Mayo Clinic Staff. (2018). Anxiety disorders. Retrieved from: https://shorturl.at/RL3qG.
Micah Abraham. (2020). Chronic Anxiety - Causes and Options for Treatment. Retrieved from: https://shorturl.at/gxd15.