Understanding Anxiety Disorders "躁"化弄人
Anxiety disorders are the most widespread of emotional disorders. They affect millions of people every year, and cause their victims to suffer from tremendous worry and nervousness for no apparent reason. Clues as to why anxiety disorders develop can be found in one's genes, psychological make-up, life experiences, or biochemical changes in the brain.
Anxiety disorders come in many shapes and forms. People with panic disorder have chronic, unexpected, and repeated panic attacks where they feel an overwhelming sense of being in danger. Sufferers of generalized anxiety disorder have persistent and exaggerated worries and constantly expect disaster. Those with obsessive-compulsive disorder have unreasonable fears that they try to deal with through repetitive, ritualized activities such as hand washing. A phobia is an irrational and uncontrollable fear of a specific thing, while post-traumatic stress disorder occurs after a terrifying event and causes its victims to have flashbacks or frightening thoughts of the incident.
Although anxiety disorders are devastating to the sufferer and damaging to his or her relationships with loved ones, there is some good news. People afflicted with anxiety disorders can get treatment, and the treatment is generally effective.
Treatments for different anxiety disorders range from medication, including antidepressants and antianxiety drugs; to psychotherapy, including cognitive-behavioral therapy; to relaxation techniques and biofeedback. The majority of patients report significant relief after receiving help.
憂郁癥是最普遍的一種情緒失調(diào)。它每年都會困擾無數(shù)的人,患者無緣無故感到極度焦慮和緊張。憂郁癥發(fā)病的原因可從一個人的基因、心理素質(zhì)、生活經(jīng)歷或腦內(nèi)的生化改變中找到線索。
憂郁癥的表現(xiàn)多種多樣。患有恐慌癥的人,一旦感到自己身處危險之中,就會長時間反復(fù)地感到恐慌。綜合型憂郁癥患者則時時過分焦慮,刻刻杞人憂天。強(qiáng)迫癥患者則會有難以理解的恐懼,會通過習(xí)慣性的動作來排除不安情緒,如洗手。恐俱癥是指對某種特定事物懷有非理性并且難以控制的恐懼。還有創(chuàng)傷后精神的緊張不適,患者在遭遇過一次可怕的事件后,腦子里會不時地出現(xiàn)過去的那件事,而且一想起來就害怕。
憂郁癥非但會對患者本身造成傷害,還會危及他(她)與親密伴侶間的關(guān)系。但還是有些好消息的,憂郁癥患者可以接受治療,而且療效一般不錯。
針對不同的憂郁癥患者,治療的方法從藥物治療(包括抗憂郁、抗焦慮藥物)、精神療法(包括認(rèn)知行為療法), 到放松技巧及生物反饋不等。大部分的病人反映,經(jīng)過治療,癥狀都有明顯的緩解。