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Anxiety is diagnosed when normal, anxious feelings begin to occur with inappropriate intensity and regularity. This can happen for a wide variety of reasons and cause many different symptoms, which translates into many different types of anxiety disorders.
To be diagnosed with anxiety your health practitioner must:

Do a physical exam to look for signs that your anxiety might be linked to an underlying medical condition

Order blood or urine tests or other tests, if a medical condition is suspected

Ask detailed questions about your symptoms and medical history

Use psychological questionnaires to help determine a diagnosis

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Beyondblue.org.au. (2017). Anxiety. [online] Available at: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/anxiety [Accessed 28 Sep. 2017].

Beyondblue.org.au. (2017). Treatments for anxiety. [online] Available at:https://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/anxiety/treatments-for-anxiety [Accessed 28 Sep. 2017].

Blackdoginstitute.org.au. (2017). What is anxiety | Black Dog Institute. [online] Available at: https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/clinical-resources/anxiety/what-is-anxiety [Accessed 28 Sep. 2017].

Beyondblue.org.au. (2017). beyondblue. [online] Available at: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/anxiety/signs-and-symptoms [Accessed 5 Oct. 2017].

Health.com. (2017). 12 Signs You May Have an Anxiety Disorder. [online] Available at: http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20646990,00.html#self-doubt [Accessed 5 Oct. 2017].

Mayo Clinic. (2017). Generalized anxiety disorder. [online] Available at: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/generalized-anxiety-disorder/basics/tests-diagnosis/con-20024562 [Accessed 5 Oct. 2017].

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A range of services and health professionals offer useful support, information and treatments for anxiety conditions, as well as a number of things you can do to help yourself.
Psychological treatments:

Psychological treatments (also known as talking therapies) can help you change your thinking patterns so you're able to keep your anxiety under control and reduce any irrational worries that you may have.

There are several types of effective psychological treatments for anxiety, such as:

- Behaviour therapy
- Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)

- E - therapies

There are also different delivery options.  Some people get more out of a group environment, while some prefer to work one on one with a professional.

Medical treatments:

Some types of antidepressant medication can help people manage their anxiety, even if they do not show symptoms of depression.

Antidepressant medications are designed to correct the imbalance of chemical messages between the neurons in the brain.

Benzodiazepines (sometimes called minor tranquilizers and sleeping pills) are a class of drug commonly prescribed in the short term to help people cope with anxiety conditions, but are not to be used in the long term because they could cause other side effects.

Other sources of support:

Other than seek psychological or medical help, there are things that you can do yourself to recover and stay well.

Maintain a healthy lifestyle – eat a healthy, balanced diet; do some form of regular physical activity; and have a good night’s sleep.

It's important that you learn about your condition, making it easier to work out what's right for you.

Joining a support group can provide an opportunity to connect with others, share experiences and find new ways to deal with challenges from others who have experienced the same issues as you.

The people close to you can play an important role in your recovery by providing support, understanding, help, or just being there to listen.

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Anxiety is much than just feeling worried or stressed.

While anxious and stress feelings are a common response to a situation where we feel under pressure, they usually pass once the factor that is making you stressed is removed, or the stressful situation has passed.

We can become overly worried about perceived threats – bad things that may or may not happen.

According to the Beyond Blue website, 'anxiety is when these anxious feelings don't go away – when they're ongoing and happen without any particular reason or cause.

When your worries are persistent or out of proportion to the reality of the threat, and get in the way of you living your life, you may have an anxiety disorder.

It is a very serious condition that makes it extremely hard for a person to cope with in their everyday life.

Everyone has anxious feelings from time to time, but for someone suffering from anxiety, these feelings cannot be easily controlled.

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Headspace

Headspace is the National Youth Mental Health Foundation providing early intervention mental health service to 12 - 25 year olds.

It also provides assistance in promoting and raising awareness for the wellbeing of young people.

Headspace centres can be found in metropolitan, regional and rural areas. Services include online and in person counselling which are either free or at a low cost.

Kids helpline

Kids helpline is Australia's only national 24/7 telephone and online counselling and support service for young people.

For 25 years, kids helpline has been providing free counselling with specialised and professional counsellors to those who need it.

Some claim that using kids helpline has been a life saving experience, while others it's about practical help.

Either of these organisations can be contacted through calling directly, going to local centres or online chat forums and emails.

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Symptoms
There are 3 main symptoms of anxiety;

Physical: panic attacks, hot and cold flushes, racing heart, tightening of the chest, quick breathing, restlessness, or feeling tense, wound up and edgy

Psychological: excessive fear, worry, catastrophizing, or obsessive thinking

Behavioural: avoidance of situations that make you feel anxious which can impact on study, work or social life

These symptoms are shown in a variety of situations such as but are more prominent for people with an anxiety condition. This is because they experience these symptoms more frequently or persistent and are not always connected to an obvious challenge. It also impacts on their quality of life and day-to-day functioning.

Signs
Some signs of a not-so-normal anxiety are;
- Excessive worry
- Sleep problems
- Irrational fears
- Muscle tension
- Chronic indigestion
- Stage fright
- Self-consciousness
- Panic
- Flashbacks
- Perfectionism
-Compulsive behaviors
-Self doubt

If any of these are excessive and/or happen very frequently you should go see someone so that you can be assessed and diagnosed.

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Anxiety is said to be the most common mental health condition experienced by Australians as more people than ever are suffering from it.

On average this condition affects 1 in 4 people – 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men

In a 12 month period over 2 million Australians will experience anxiety.

Gender and age

Females experience a much higher rate of anxiety disorders compared to males (17.9% and 10.8%).

The prevalence of anxiety disorders was related to age

For females aged 16-54 years the prevalence was very similar,

The prevalence then declined for females 55 years and over.

For males, the prevalence peaked in the 35-44 year age group and then declined with increasing age.

Prevalence of 12 month anxiety disorders

Posttraumatic stress disorder (6.4%)

Social phobia (4.7%)

Interference with life

Generalized anxiety disorder was associated with the highest level of interference

Generally, social life was the area in which most people experienced severe or very severe interference due to their anxiety disorder

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Anxiety disorders may be caused by medical factors, brain chemistry, substance abuse, environmental factors, genetics, or a combination of these. It is most commonly triggered due to stress in everyday life.

Anxiety is connected with medical factors such as anemia, asthma, infections, and several heart conditions. Some medically-related causes of anxiety include:

Stress from a serious medical illness

Side effects of medication

Symptoms of a medical illness

Lack of oxygen from emphysema, or pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in the lung)

Because of substance use and abuse about half of patients who utilize mental health servic

Brain chemistry can also affect people with anxiety. People with abnormal levels of certain neurotransmitters in the brain are more likely to suffer from generalized anxiety disorder. When neurotransmitters are not working properly, the brain's internal communication network stops working properly, and the brain may react in strange ways in some situations. This can lead to anxiety.

es for anxiety disorders such as GAD, panic disorder, or social phobia are doing so because of alcohol or other substances. Although, anxiety is also known to result from:

Intoxication from an illicit drugs, such as cocaine or amphetamines

Withdrawal from an illicit drugs, such as heroin, or from prescription drugs like Vicodin, benzodiazepines, or barbiturates

Environmental factors that are known to cause several types of anxiety include:

Trauma from events such as abuse, victimization, or the death of a loved one

Stress in a personal relationship, marriage, friendship, and divorce

Stress at work

Stress from school

Stress about finances and money

Stress from a natural disaster

Lack of oxygen in high altitude areas

A family history of anxiety increases the chances that a person will develop it. That is, some people may have a genetic predisposition that gives them a greater chance of suffering from anxiety disorders.