How anxiety disorders develop and what helps against it

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Every human being is afraid. When is she sick?

Katharina Domschke: When people in their profession and their private lives are massively impaired by the fear. For example, if a zookeeper is out of a cage for fear of spiders, because there might be some.

How do you develop such anxiety disorders?

From twin studies, we know that genetic predisposition accounts for 30 to 60 percent. There are real fear families. The tendency to ponder is also inherited. But environmental factors are also essential, such as chronic and acute stress. Some people develop a panic disorder after their marriage, the birth of their first child, or a promotion. Such events put people under pressure. In addition, thought patterns that may be learned in the family promote the development of morbid anxiety.

The professor works as managing senior physician and head of the special outpatient department for anxiety disorders at the University Clinic for Psychiatry in Würzburg.

Are women fundamentally more anxious than men?

Women are two to three times more likely to have anxiety disorders than men. To the reasons, there are different theories. So there are genes that are only associated with anxiety in women. One lies on the X chromosome, another interacts with hormones. Research is still in its infancy. Developmentally, women have different styles of thinking, men had to be more courageous; This can also be felt in the susceptibility to anxiety disorders. Last but not least, it is assumed that the number of unreported men is high.

Are people with anxiety disorders naturally particularly anxious?

No. Especially patients with a panic disorder usually handle their lives very well, they are extremely disciplined, but they are easily overwhelmed. Even people with specific fears are not necessarily more timid than others.

How are anxiety disorders treated?

Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps with specific phobias. You approach the spider so often, until you get used to it. All other pathological fears are most successfully treated with psychotherapy and medication. For example with the so-called serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which also help depressives. Such medications can make you nervous at first. This side effect disappears over time, however.

How anxiety disorders become noticeable

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders in Europe. 14 percent of people are affected at least once in their lives. Specialists distinguish five different types.

1. Specific phobias

Fears of things that you should normally have little or no fear of, such as spiders or cats, but also of height, blood, germs, deep water. They are very common, but do not affect the quality of life, as long as you can avoid the trigger.

2. Social phobia

The fear of being in the spotlight, being negatively evaluated by others. It manifests in heart racing, sweating, blushing and also meets successful, good-looking, eloquent people.

3. Agoraphobia

Fear of crowds and situations that you can not get away so quickly. Concerned in these moments fear a panic attack, a heart attack or shortness of breath. Two-thirds of panic patients also suffer from it.

4. Panic disorder

A panic attack is associated with severe anxiety, often with shortness of breath, palpitations, trembling, dizziness. It typically occurs without a reason, such as "out of the blue" on. The physical symptoms are misinterpreted by those affected: they believe that they are dying. An ongoing study indicates that these patients perceive their body particularly sensitively and, for example, feel a change in the heartbeat faster than healthy ones. It is important to exclude an overactive thyroid or heart disease; both can have similar symptoms.

5. Generalized anxiety disorder

Concerned people are always worried, especially about relatives, and can hardly control this feeling. They are always afraid and sometimes do not know what they are talking about. Physical symptoms include restlessness, trouble concentrating and sleeping, irritability, tension. It usually takes years for this anxiety disorder to be diagnosed.

More info

"Anxiety disorders - when anxiety suddenly makes you sick", Brochure of the Professional Association of German Psychologists. For free download here. To read more: "The girl in a pink dress" by Susanne Seethaler (144 p., 12,99 Euro, Nymphenburger 2013)