{"id":4678,"date":"2019-01-09T19:22:53","date_gmt":"2019-01-10T00:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/?p=4678"},"modified":"2019-01-09T19:56:06","modified_gmt":"2019-01-10T00:56:06","slug":"stress-fear-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/mental-health-nursing\/stress-fear-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"Stress, Fear &#038; Anxiety\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Fear- <\/strong>A state where a person feels a strong sense of dread towards a specific object\/event<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stress- <\/strong>Physical, emotional, psychological, social or spiritual reaction from a situation\/event\/condition stimulated in a person<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Depression &amp; anxiety\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Close association<\/li>\n<li>Presence of both is often associated with reduced efficacy of treatment<\/li>\n<li>Presence of both associated with higher rates of suicide<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Anxiety<\/h3>\n<p>\u2212 A state where a person feels a strong sense of dread, without having a specific reason<\/p>\n<p>\u2212 A state in which a person has feelings of uneasiness<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Signs &amp; Symptoms <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Autonomic Symptoms\u00a0 Physical Symptoms\u00a0 Psychological Symptoms\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Tachycardia\u00a0 Tremor\u00a0 Insomnia<\/p>\n<p>Sweating\u00a0 Muscular aches Irritability<\/p>\n<p>Dizziness\u00a0 Difficulty swallowing\u00a0 rasily startled<\/p>\n<p>Hot\/cold spells\u00a0 &#8216;Lump&#8217; in throat Inability to relax<\/p>\n<p>Frequency of micturition\u00a0 Restlessness\u00a0 Poor concentration<\/p>\n<p>Diarrhoea\/nausea\u00a0 Fatigue\u00a0 Feeling tense<\/p>\n<p>Paraesthesia (pins &amp; needles) Distractibility\u00a0 Reduced sense of humour<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Generalised Anxiety Disorder <\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>A condition where people tend to worry about many things over long periods of time<\/li>\n<li>Associated with physical symptoms: muscle tension, sleeplessness, irritability, restlessness \u00a0 Diagnosis requires 6 months of symptoms most days<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Treatments-\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2212 Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)<\/p>\n<p>\u2212 Relaxation therapy and deep breathing exercises<\/p>\n<p>\u2212 Self-help groups, journaling and healthy living<\/p>\n<p>\u2212 Medication- short term during high periods of stress: o Anti-depressants most common<\/p>\n<p>o Anxiolytics- short term relief from physical symptoms<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Panic Attacks\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Sudden, severe, uncontrollable anxiety<\/li>\n<li>Thoughts of dread and fear<\/li>\n<li>Symptoms include: palpitations, chest pain, tachycardia, sweats, shakes, difficulty breathing, nausea, dizziness, depersonalisation, derealisation, fear of losing control, weakness\/tingling in limbs, chills <strong>Treatments- <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u2212 Avoid recreational drugs<\/p>\n<p>\u2212 Psychological treatments most effective: o Psychoeducation about anxiety\u00a0 o Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)\u00a0 o Relaxation and slow breathing training\u00a0 o rxposure therapy<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Phobias\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Irrational fear that&#8217;s out of proportion to actual threat<\/li>\n<li>3 main types:\n<ul>\n<li>Agoraphobia (e.g. not wanting to leave the house, being scared of confined spaces)<\/li>\n<li>Social phobia (e.g. not wanting to leave the house, not wanting to interact with others) \u00d8 Specific phobias (e.g. fear of spiders, snakes, moths, heights etc)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Generally anxiety and fearfulness only occurs in presence of object of fear<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Treatments- <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2212 Usually given by specialists<\/p>\n<p>\u2212 Cognitive behaviour therapy and\/or psychotherapy to re-structure habitual thinking patterns<\/p>\n<p>\u2212 Gradual supported exposure to the object of fear \u2212 Antidepressants are used<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) <\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Obsessive thoughts that cause anxiety and distress<\/li>\n<li>Distress is &#8216;managed&#8217; or responded to with rituals\/behaviours (compulsions)<\/li>\n<li>Inability to carry out behaviour\/ritual, increases person&#8217;s anxiety<\/li>\n<li>Person recognises rituals as inappropriate or excessive- (they&#8217;re aware and acknowledge their illness)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Treatments-\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2212 Reassurance very important- people often express concerns &#8216;they&#8217;re going crazy&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>\u2212 Specialist treatment- from clinical psychologists<\/p>\n<p>\u2212 Antidepressant medication used- especially when co-morbid depression is present<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Acute Stress Reaction &amp; Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) <\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Acute stress disorder is normally time-limited and resolves without intervention (hours or days)<\/li>\n<li>PTSD is emotional stress as a result from a near death experience or surviving types of trauma<\/li>\n<li>rxperience of feeling dazed, reduced level of consciousness, agitation, withdrawal and anxiety symptoms<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>PTSD prevalence is 6.4%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Treatments- <\/strong>\u2212 Specialist treatment <strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2212 Psycho-therapy <strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2212 Occasional medications <strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2212 Focus on resolving thoughts and emotions triggers by the trauma <strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2212 rxploration of trauma &amp; guilt, self-blame, coping mechanisms <strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2212 CBT, desensitisation, family therapy<\/p>\n<p>\u2212 Medications- antidepressants<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fear- A state where a person feels a strong sense of dread towards a specific object\/event Stress- Physical, emotional, psychological, social or spiritual reaction from a situation\/event\/condition stimulated in&hellip; <a class=\"continue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/mental-health-nursing\/stress-fear-anxiety\/\">Continue Reading<span> Stress, Fear &#038; Anxiety\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[121],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4678"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4678\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}