Increased heart rate. Heavy breathing. Maybe even sweating hands.
These can be symptoms of the fight-or-flight response, your body’s physiological reaction to perceived physical or mental threats. Generally speaking, these are signs of anxiety , your body’s reaction to stress. This type of anxiety is normal and can be expected to hit during certain life events and can last for brief periods of time. However, individuals with anxiety disorders often experience these intense emotions for prolonged periods of time, which can impact their day-to-day living. There are several types of anxiety disorders , including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder and phobia-related disorders, like social anxiety disorder.
Talking to your GP about anxiety
Is feeling nervous, anxious or worried a problem for you? does it stop you from doing things you need or want to do?
if you answered yes to both of these questions, it's worth seeking help. As a first step, see your gp (family doctor). A gp can assess your symptoms and refer you to see a psychiatrist or psychologist if you need it.
Anxiety disorders don't usually go away by themselves. But effective treatments are available. Find out where to get help
a diagnosis is usually made by a gp, psychiatrist or psychologist. Diagnosis might involve:
while a neurologist (a specialist in conditions of the nervous system) is usually the one who diagnoses epilepsy, a mental health professional typically diagnoses anxiety. However, a neurologist may notice clinical signs of anxiety and provide a referral. The symptoms of the two are very different. Along with taking a medical and family history and doing a physical exam, the neurologist might: perform a neurological exam and ask questions to assess mental functions and test reflexes, muscles, and senses perform an electroencephalogram (eeg) to look for changes in brain electrical patterns related to seizures order brain scans like computed tomography (ct) scans or magnetic resonance imaging (mri) to detect changes in the brain that might lead to seizures.