Depression, Anxiety and Panic Attacks

In modern conditions the problem of social value of human goes in the first place, while health is an important objective conditions of life. Among the many factors determining efficiency and other characteristics of health psychological resistance to stressful situations plays a major role. The high level of mental resistance to stress is a guarantee of maintaining, developing and strengthening the health and professional longevity of the individual.

Formation of stress tolerance is the key to mental health of people and a prerequisite for social stability and predictability of the processes occurring in society. The mounting pressure including mental health on the nervous system of modern man leads to the formation of emotional stress, which acts as one of the main factors of development of various diseases. At present, concern for the preservation of mental health and the formation of stress tolerance of modern human comes to the fore. The path to mental health is the way to an integrated personality, which is not broken with conflict of motives and doubts. In this way it is important to know characteristics of ones mentality. It will not only prevent the occurrence of disease and improve health, but also will allow to improve oneself and our interaction with the outside world.

Social relationships can contribute to psychological and social adaptation. They help to assimilate forms of healthy behavior. Social relationships also influence the physiological indices of health.

The problem of anxiety is one of the most pressing problems in modern psychology. Among the negative experiences of human anxiety occupies a special place, often it leads to a decrease in efficiency, productivity activities, to difficulties in communication.

Subsequently, the man with the increased anxiety may encounter with various somatic diseases. To understand the phenomenon of anxiety, as well as the reasons for its occurrence is difficult. In a state of anxiety, we tend to experience more than one emotion, a certain combination of different emotions. Each of them has an impact on our social relationships, our somatic state, perception, thinking, behavior.

It should be borne in mind that the state of anxiety in different individuals may be caused by different emotions. The main emotion in the subjective experience of anxiety is fear.

We should distinguish between anxiety as a state and uneasiness as a property of the individual.

Anxiety is a reaction to impending danger: a real or imaginary. Anxiety is an emotional state of fear which is characterized by vague sense of threat (unlike fear, which is a reaction to a definite danger).

Uneasiness is an individual psychological features consisting in increased tendency to experience anxiety in different situations including those objective characteristics of which do not predispose to this.

Together with attempts to reach an agreed definition for describing the state of anxiety, researchers try to identify what are the real causes of this condition.

Possible reasons are:

• physiological characteristics (features of the nervous system – Increased sensitivity or sensory)
• individual characteristics
• relationships with peers and parents
• problems at school, and much more.

Many experts agree that among the causes of children’s anxiety in the first place there are improper upbringing and bad relationship with parents especially with mother.

Anxiety can be generated with a real personal troubles in the most significant areas of activity and communication. But it can also exist in spite of a satisfactory situation. Anxiety can be a consequence of certain personality conflicts, violations in the development of self-esteem, etc.

Uneasiness as the property of the individual determines the behavior of the subject. A certain level of uneasiness is a natural and necessary feature of personal activity. Each person has their optimal or desired level of uneasiness. This so-called useful uneasiness. Analysis of the mental state is an essential component for human self-control and self-education. However, the increased level of anxiety is a subjective manifestation of ill person.

In general, uneasiness is a subjective expression of personal distress. Uneasiness as an emotional experience discomfort and a presentiment of impending danger is an expression of dissatisfaction with significant human needs.

Therefore, uneasiness is a personality trait – readiness to fear. Since, the fear is the main component of uneasiness, it has its own peculiarities. Functionally, the fear is a warning of impending danger. Fear allows you to focus on its source, induces to look for ways to avoid it.

When fear reaches a strength of affect, it is able to impose behavioral patterns: flight, stupor, protective aggression. If the source of danger is not defined occurring condition is called anxiety.

Anxiety is an emotional state that arises in situations of uncertain danger. Anxiety manifests itself in anticipation of adverse developments.

Tags: anxiety, uneasiness, fear, danger, emotion

One of the factors of stress is emotional tension, which is physiologically expressed in changes of the endocrine system of human. Studies have shown that people who constantly are in a nervous tension suffer from viral infections longer.

The main features of mental stress:

• Stress is a state of the organism, its appearance suggests the interaction between the organism and the environment;
• stress is a more intense state than usual motivational one; for its existence it requires the perception of threat;
• manifestations of stress occur when the normal adaptive response is not sufficient.

Since stress arises precisely from the perception of threat, then its appearance in a certain situation can occur for subjective reasons related to the peculiarities of the individual.

Generally, as individuals are not alike, personality factors play an important role. For example, in the system “man-environment” a level of emotional tension increases with increasing of differences between conditions in which mechanisms of the subject have been formed and newly created environment.

Thus, certain conditions cause emotional stress, not because of their absolute rigidity, and as a result of inconsistency of the individual emotional mechanism to these conditions. Any imbalance in the system “man-environment”, lack of mental or physical resources of the individual to meet current needs are a source of anxiety.

Anxiety, denoted as

- Feeling uncertain threat;
- A sense of suspense;
- Vague uneasiness,

is a worst-acting mechanism of mental stress. This follows from the already mentioned perception of threat which is a central element of anxiety and determines its biological significance as a signal of trouble and danger.

Anxiety may play a protective and motivational role which is similar to the role of pain.

The emergence of anxiety is related with:

• increased behavioral activity
• behavioral change
• incorporation of intrapsychic adaptation mechanisms.

But anxiety can stimulate not only the activity but also contribute to the destruction not enough adaptive behaviors do to their replacement by more appropriate forms of behavior.

Unlike pain anxiety is a danger signal, which has not yet implemented. Anticipation of this situation is probabilistic in nature, and ultimately depends on the characteristics of the individual.

The personal factor often plays a decisive role. And in this case the intensity of anxiety reflects rather individual characteristics of the subject than the reality of the threat.

If intensity and duration of anxiety is not adequate for the situation, then it prevents formation of adaptive behavior, leads to disruption of behavioral integration, and general disorganization of human psyche. Thus, anxiety is the basis of any changes in mental status and behavior caused by mental stress.

Tags: Emotional Tension, anxiety, stress, individual, emotional, threat, mental, role, mechanism, behavior, tension