Anxiety is a normal human experience and occurs in stressful situations such as examinations, job interviews, performing musical recitals, playing competitive sports and COVID-19.
Some anxiety in certain situations can be beneficial to performance, however when anxiety persists or becomes excessive it can negatively impact our ability to function and perform everyday tasks.
Yerkes and Dodson have produced a Stress Performance Curve which compares performance to stress level which shows the human response to stress which ranges through Lame, Healthy, Peak Performance, Sick and Disease and observes once an optimal level of stress is surpassed, performance steadily declines.
Anxiety disorders are the most common class of mental health disorders in Australia, with one in seven adults experiencing an anxiety disorder in any year.
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Anxiety disorders are differentiated by the situations that trigger fear and avoidance behaviour. These may include separation anxiety, social anxiety disorder, specific phobias, panic disorder, agoraphobia (fear of open or crowded spaces), and Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD).
GAD is one of the most common disorders reported with a 2.7% prevalence in a 12 month period in Australia or a 6% prevalence over a lifetime, and is more common in females than males. GAD requires medical diagnosis which assesses intensity, duration and frequency of the anxiety.
The most common physical symptoms include muscle aches, poor sleep, sweating, headaches, dizziness, nausea and diarrhoea and may also occur in children.
Medicines and complementary medicines can be associated with anxiety and include caffeine, guarana, pseudoephedrine, salbutamol, Siberian ginseng, St John’s wort and a number of other prescribed medicines.
Treatment includes psychoeducation, lifestyle measures e.g. healthy balanced diet, regular exercise, sleep hygiene, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and medicine or some combination. CBT is a type of psychotherapy that involves recognition of worry habits, targeted reduction of symptoms, graded exposure to triggers and relapse prevention strategies.
Many people suffering anxiety disorders believe it is ‘normal’ and may find it difficult to seek medical help. If you think you get anxious, speak to a health professional you feel you can talk to, ideally your doctor or your pharmacist. Appropriate treatment can help.
Warren Blee OAM in an accredited consultant pharmacist on the Sunshine Coast
