Background and Context of Anxiety - Personal Research Project

The first step of this phase of the project was to conduct research on the subject of anxiety. Here are some of the significant points I came across:

• General Anxiety Disorder is categorized by the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), under the heading of neurotic, stress-related, and somatoform disorders and can be described as "a general feeling of dread or apprehensiveness" (Haralambos, et al., 2002, p. 403).
• Physical symptoms include abdomen discomfort, diarrhea, dry mouth, rapid heartbeat or palpitations, tightness or pain in the chest, shortness of breath, dizziness, needing to urinate more often than usual, difficulty swallowing, and shaking (Bupa, 2009).
• Psychological symptoms include sleeping difficulties (insomnia), feeling worried or uneasy, exhaustion, being irritable, lack of concentration, and a sense of derealisation (Ibid).
• There are only a few widely accepted forms of treatment for anxiety-related disorders, which are pharmaceuticals, therapy, and self-help techniques.
• The drugs that treat anxiety are called anxiolytics and the main form of anxiolytic that is in use is known as benzodiazepines under such names as Valium, Xanax, and Temazepam (Haralambos et al., 2002, p.459).