Los anxiety disorders They are one of the most common reasons why people come to seek psychological care. It is not for less; the people who live with them are well aware to what extent they can interfere with the course of daily life.
There are many anxiety disorders with different characteristics, and each of them presents its own challenges on a day-to-day basis. One of the most common is generalized anxietyin which more than intense punctual panic attacks there is a tension or concern that persists and that colors everything.
“In the end, it drifts into sadness”
“It’s very difficult. I can’t live with uncertainty, because I’m thinking about the future all the time; you can’t plan anything, organize yourself or study for the constant worry“, illustrates Gabriela (fictitious name), a young woman who suffers from this disorder.
“I live with daily tachycardia, and although the medication helps, as the next day I have something that is out of my comfort zone, I am unable to sleep,” he adds. “Many times, you are not able to think. Your head goes blank, as if unable to do things,” he says.
“On a day-to-day basis, it paralyzes you a lot. You can spend three hours in front of the computer thinking that you have to do something, but it gives you anxiety and you try to avoid it. And then you spend all the time thinking that you have to do it,” he continues. “In the end, drift into sadnessyou break down crying and the only way to calm down is with an anxiolytic,” he says.
“It is not being able to live in the present. It means live waitingnervous about what could happen and afraid of anything that will change your plans,” she sums up.
“It’s not nonsense, it can make you sick”
Patients with generalized anxiety often have a long way to go when it comes to find an appropriate treatmentsince the answer of each person can be very different.
“I was diagnosed three years ago, when I started therapy, but I started to take it more seriously when my third psychologist told me. When you have tachycardia every day, you may think it is due to external problems or something in your environment but there comes a time when you realize it’s not normal. That is why it has been this year when I have begun to take it as something that is within me, something that is a trait of mine”, he narrates.
“I have been receiving psychotherapy in two associations, and I have gone to the Social Security psychiatrist. At first he did not want to prescribe me medication, but I asked him for it and it is very useful for me. It also helps me a lot to do something that I like every day, if possible at the beginning of the day. That takes away a lot of anxiety,” he explains.
“In general, my time at Social Security has been ineffective. The psychologist saw me once a month, sent me a book, treated me as if my problem didn’t matter… And the psychiatrist did the same. She said that the problem was my environmentbut that didn’t help me,” he reflects.
Precisely, Gabriela denounces that this is one of the big problems that people with this disorder encounter: “Generalized anxiety is almost always linked to other things. Psychiatric care for anxiety should improve: it is not nonsense, the anxiety can make you sick are estrés”.
“There are days when you cannot work, even if you have no other choice”
As is logical, the symptoms of generalized anxiety affect many spheres of life, from relationships to the workplace. This is how Gabriela reflects it: “You make a lot of movies, and you have to differentiate what is real and what is the product of thinking too much. In social situations, you can feel that others treat you like a child, for example, and you become obsessed. It can make you very irritable.”
“It paralyzes you a lot, you lose a lot of time and you have to be very strong. You are blank, you forget things… they are telling you, for example, that you have an appointment tomorrow and while you’re pointing it, you’ve forgotten it”, account.
“Also,” he admits, “You somatize a lot. You get dizzy, you have nausea for days, you vomit just because of anxiety, you tremble, you get sick to your stomach… There are days you can’t work, although you have no other choice.”
“It’s weird and it’s hard, but it’s what you have to learn to live with. When you have it, I guess what you have to do is find methods to work better“, he thinks.
“People are not fortune tellers, you have to explain it”
As with most mental health disorders, anxiety disorders are covered by a veil of misunderstanding, which can further hinder social and labor integration of the people who suffer from them.
“no patience with us. Sometimes your own friends may not care; They tell you ‘anxiety, like everyone else, right?’ Few people know it, take it into account or give it importance, “laments Gabriela.”
“But also, people are not fortune tellersyou have to explain it to him. That it is something with its symptoms, its causes, its treatment… And if your environment doesn’t help you, it makes things much more difficult for you,” he advises. “Maybe you can’t do it with everyone, and there are going to be people who don’t give it importance, but maybe you can reach agreements”, he says.
“There are ways to make everything better”
To anyone who receives a diagnosis of a generalized anxiety disorder for the first time, this young woman recommends “doing things that you like, ask what you need from othersbecause it’s not bad, and be patient with yourself”.
“It’s tough. Anxiety can be a state or a trait, and when they tell you it’s a personality trait, that it’s going to be with you forever and all you can do is try to control it… But there are ways to that everything is going to get better and not everything will always be the same. There will be days when you don’t have anxiety, and sometimes surely you even forget”he concludes.