Author: Charles Frank

Women and Anxiety Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA

While anxiety and depression can occur separately, it’s not unusual for mental health disorders to happen together. Medications typically used to treat anxiety include benzodiazepines for short-term symptom relief, but they’re avoided if possible due to the high risk of dependence. Other antianxiety or antidepressant medications such as escitalopram effectively alter your brain chemistry to improve mood and reduce stress. Your anxiety, worry or physical symptoms cause you significant distress in social, work or other areas of your life. Worries can shift from one concern to another and may change with time and age.

How are anxiety disorders diagnosed?

But in most cases, anxiety occurs when a perceived threat triggers these symptoms for a prolonged period of time and disrupt your daily life. You can experience physical signs of anxiety or mental and emotional signs of anxiety, and sometimes, even all of them at once. Characterized by an intense fear of social situations, women with social anxiety disorder may struggle with feelings of inadequacy, self-consciousness, and the fear of being judged. This can significantly impact their ability to engage in social, academic, or professional environments.

Related Articles About Anxiety Disorder

Doctors commonly use medication and talk therapy to treat anxiety. But lifestyle changes, such as getting enough sleep and regular exercise, can also help. In addition, some research suggests the foods you eat may have a beneficial impact on your brain if you frequently experience anxiety.

1. Anxiety disorders are real, serious medical conditions – just as real and serious as physical disorders such as heart disease or diabetes.
2. These include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), acute stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
3. Your healthcare provider will work with you to find the right medication combination and dosage.
4. Lifestyle changes can effectively relieve some of the stress and anxiety you may cope with every day.
5. If you have an anxiety disorder, you may respond to certain things and situations with fear and dread.

Several anxiety tests and scales are also used to help a doctor assess the level of anxiety you’re experiencing. Constant anxiety also increases your risk of cardiac events, like a heart attack. Your worries are unlikely to simply go away on their own, and they may actually get worse over time.

Although highly effective treatments for anxiety disorders exist, only about 1 in 4 people in need (27.6%) receive any treatment (2). If you notice symptoms of an anxiety disorder, talk to a healthcare provider. It’s best to get diagnosed and treated as soon as possible.

It’s important to understand that anxiety disorders can be treated, even in severe cases. Although anxiety usually doesn’t go away, you can learn to manage it and live a happy, healthy life. In addition, in cases of children and teens experiencing anxiety in response to something happening within their family or in their home, it’s a good idea to get family therapy. This is important especially because children and teens may not find it so easy to talk about their feelings or be aware of their anxiety.

Effective and affordable mental health treatment

Some behaviors linked to anxiety manifest differently across genders, reflecting broader societal influences. For example, there are societal and cultural factors that pressure men to repress their emotions. On the other hand, there is little pressure for women to hide their emotions.

Can foods treat anxiety?

Sometimes anxiety results from a medical condition that needs treatment. They all involve a fear and dread about things that may happen now or in the future. Anxiety disorders, like other mental health conditions, result from a complex interaction of social, psychological and biological factors. Anyone can have an anxiety disorder, but people who have lived through abuse, severe losses or other adverse experiences are more likely to develop one.

Who is at risk of anxiety disorders?

Try to seek professional help before your anxiety becomes severe — it may be easier to treat early on. The drive for perfectionism and the pressure to perform flawlessly in all life roles can lead to significant anxiety in women. This is often tied to the desire to meet unattainably high societal standards in both personal and professional spheres.

Care at Mayo Clinic

The two main treatments for anxiety disorders are psychotherapy and medications. It may take some trial and error to discover which treatments work best for you. If you feel like treatment for an anxiety disorder isn’t working or have questions about your medication, contact your provider. Women can have certain experiences that cause stress and contribute to the development of excessive anxiety or an anxiety disorder.