Do you consider yourself an anxious
person? If so, you may believe you struggle with an anxiety disorder.
But there's a big difference between
feeling anxious or nervous and living with an anxiety disorder.
Being anxious is part of almost
everyone's life. An anxiety disorder, on the other hand, is much more severe
and affects the quality of one's life.
In the elderly, it can be even more
difficult to tell the difference.
What
Are Different Anxiety Disorders?
There are many categories of anxiety
disorders.
For example, those with panic
disorder experience frequent or chronic panic attacks that strike without
warning. People who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder struggle with recurrent
unwanted thoughts. They may also be driven to perform repeated rituals that
feel out of their control.
One of the better-known anxiety
disorders is post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. This is anxiety that
results from experiencing a traumatic event and is characterized by persistent
flashbacks, nightmares, irritability, and anger.
Phobias such as those of heights,
spiders, storms, flying, or any other number of things are also considered
anxiety disorders when they present as irrational, extreme, or even disabling
fear of that object or situation.
And finally, there's generalized
anxiety disorder. This shows up as exaggerated worry about everyday events and
activities. Those who suffer from this will also experience sometimes
paralyzing physical symptoms. These include nausea, trembling, headache, muscle
tension, or fatigue.
It is this final disorder that most
often affects the elderly.
Generalized
Anxiety Disorder in the Elderly
For a long time, doctors assumed
that there wasn't really anxiety in elderly people. They believed that anxiety
disorders eased as people aged.
The physical symptoms that often go
with generalized anxiety disorder were confused with other health conditions
that are common among older adults. Thus, their complaints of physical ailments
associated with their anxiety were written off as something else such as
arthritis, digestive issues, or chronic fatigue.
The doctors now know better. It
turns out that anxiety is as common among the elderly as it is in the rest of
the population. It's just that the elderly are less likely to report
psychiatric symptoms. They see doing so as a sign of weakness.
In some cases, elderly people with
generalized anxiety disorder may have had it when they were younger. In other
cases though, anxiety disorders among the elderly can also be the result of
experiencing an event such as an acute illness or a fall.
How
Can You Help an Older Adult?
If not addressed, generalized
anxiety disorder in older adults can jeopardize their overall health. So if
they're showing symptoms of any anxiety disorder, it's important you encourage
them to visit their primary care physician to discuss them.
Their physician should be able to
determine the source and then discuss a mental healthcare plan (therapy,
medication, etc.) that will help ease those symptoms. Then you'll both be able
to rest easier.
For more great articles on living
your best life, keep checking back with our health blog.
