Doctors Misdiagnose and Undertreat Anxiety Disorders: Why is it not good for U.S. economy?

We all at one time or the other have experienced anxiety feeling. It begins with a heart pounding and advances to head throbbing, dizziness, body trembling and nauseated feeling; it goes on until the attack strikes. For certain students, they get jittery at the thought of participating in a debate or national exams, parents get anxious over the threatening family issues, and a good number of people get so anxious at the thought of attending social events. Anxiety is experienced at different situations and at different times.

Every other year, about forty million people in America suffer anxiety attacks and disorders. This figure constitutes of adults between the ages of 18 and above. The American government spends as much as $42 billion dollars and even more to administer treatment to anxiety patients each year. A further study by “The Economic Burden of Anxiety Disorders” reveals that the amount of $42 billion dollars is spent each year in the treatment of anxiety. This constitutes about one third of the total health bills of 148 billion dollars paid by the American government each year. There is also three to five times possibility of those with anxiety disorders to seek for treatment; while they have about 6 times chances of being admitted for psychiatric disorders.

From the foregoing therefore, it is very obvious that anxiety attack and disorder are not just a threat to human health but also a burden on the government economy.

The type of anxiety being referred to here is not just the normal anxious state that every person experiences from time to time. It is the type of anxiety that runs into weeks, months and eventually becomes a part of an individual’s life. It is the type of anxiety that is capable of disrupting one’s activities and normal daily living.

What are the possible Causes of Anxiety?

There are some traceable factors to the reasons why people suffer from anxiety disorder. The causes of anxiety have been categorized as medical factors, environmental factors, abuse of substance, family traits and such other similar factors. Anxiety can be triggered off by any of the factors or even a mixture of two or more of the factors so mentioned. The general and foundational cause of anxiety is stress. Every individual undergo stressful events such as lost of a loved one, relationship crack, job stress, bad state of health and so many other stressful events. But at other times anxiety is self-caused by self indulgence in negative talks and thoughts. This is the habit of being pessimistic about a situation and thereby getting worried that the worst is about to happen.

The Signs To Look Out For Before Anxiety Attack Strikes

The symptoms of anxiety may vary slightly from one individual to another. But basically a major sign of anxiety in all anxiety victims is excessive fear that might not even be necessary at all. Situations that will not arouse an anxious state in others will cause a panicky state in those who suffer from severe anxiety. However, the symptoms of anxiety are grouped as emotional symptoms – a fierce feeling of fear and apprehension, irritability, restiveness, anticipation for the worst to happen and such similar symptoms like these. The other category of anxiety symptom is physical symptoms like racing heart beat, sweating, fatigue and others.

Anxiety is not to be handled with levity, early dictation and treatment of anxiety disorders will go a long way in arresting the situation.