The relationship between anxiety, phobias, and obsessions.

These psychological phenomena are closely linked to each other, and anxiety gives way to the other two.

Anxiety is a psychological and physiological phenomenon that is at the basis of many mental disorders. In this article we will look at the relation between anxiety and phobias, obsessions and panic attacks..

What do we understand by anxiety?

Nowadays we hear the concepts "stress and anxiety" in many areas. But really... what is stress, what is anxiety and what can they trigger if not properly controlled?

In simple terms, stress can be understood as a reaction of a subject when confronted with an unknown situation, perceived as tense or dangerous, object/person or unpleasant situation.object/person or unpleasant situation. It can appear as:

• ResponseStimulus: the individual has complete control over it, since it has internal origin.
• Stimulusits origin is external and the subject has no control over it.
• Interactionis the relationship between the person and the context that he/she feels exceeds his/her resources and endangers his/her well-being.

Difference between anxious state and anxious trait

When this "normal" stress is not controlled correctly, it escalates to a certain degree and becomes anxiety; understanding this concept as a feeling of alarm with high intensity, long duration, of disruptive and incapacitating nature and with origin, normally, in trivial things. It is a universal emotion and serves as an adaptive response of an organism to stress. of an organism to stress.

The important thing is to differentiate between state and trait anxiety. The former is based on the fact of being anxious at a certain moment, as a reaction to some particular circumstance. The second is the tendency to remain anxious over a long period of time and is the usual way of coping with day-to-day circumstances.

When this anxiety is focused on specific objects or situations it is known as phobiaWhen it occurs in episodic attacks, it is called panic; or it may be more irregular, as in the case of obsessions.

Anxious symptoms

The main symptoms of anxiety fall into the following categories.

Somatic

• Palpitations.
• Difficulty in breathing.
• Dry mouth.
• Nausea and dizziness.
• Frequent urination.
• Muscle tension.
• Sweating.
• Tremors.

Psychic

• Feelings of dread and threat.
• Irritability.
• Panic.
• Intrinsic terror.
• Difficulty to concentrate.
• insomnia
• Inability to relax.

Syndromes associated with the anxious component

The 3 main anxiety syndromes are the following.

1. Generalized anxiety disorder

It is a preoccupation focused on day-to-day issues. The characteristic ideation components are issues of personal danger and physical harm..

2. Social anxiety and specific phobias

It is the disproportionate fear before a specific situation, object or person. They cannot be explained or reasoned away, are not under the voluntary control of the person and the fear leads to an avoidance of the feared situation. They can be both to external and internal stimuli.

3. Anxiety disorder

It shares the symptoms of generalized anxiety, there is an extreme sensation of fear and contains panic attacks.These appear suddenly and the average duration is between 10 and 20 minutes, time in which the symptoms are in a very high degree of intensity.

It can be divided into two types: respiratory type (with Pain and discomfort in the chest, search for air, paresthesias and choking sensation) or non-respiratory type.

Obsessions and compulsions

On the other hand, the obsessions and compulsions are thoughts, images, impulses, ruminations or fears and acts, rituals and behaviors, respectively.respectively. Something important to note is that the subject preserves his insight, knows that his obsessions are irrational, but still cannot avoid them.

The main elements that constitute an obsessive-compulsive experience are:

• The trigger that sets the obsession in motion.
• The obsession itself.
• Disconformity and guilt.
• Compulsive urgencyThe need to carry out a certain behavior.
• Fears of a disaster occurring.
• Exacerbated sense of responsibility.
• Security-seeking behaviors.
• Avoidance of stimuli or situations that could trigger the obsessions or compulsions.
• Interruption of social functioning.
• Resistance.

In these cases what can cause anxiety in these cases is both the loss of time invested in these obsessions and compulsions, as well as the physiological discomfort that this state of activation brings and the fact of looking bad in front of society and acting in a way that is different from the established or expected standards.

Concluding

Having hobbies, extracurricular activities, relaxation time and time for oneself are measures to prevent the development of some anxiety pathology.

Self-knowledge and self-observation are important to know how one reacts to stressful situations. and the coping skills we each have, so that we know if we still have areas of opportunity that we can work on or if we need to develop new strategies because the ones we have are no longer efficient. Mental health is just as important as physical health.