Introduction
In this assignment, I interviewed Stella, a patient suffering from an anxiety disorder, and we discussed her childhood, her disorder, and how it started. Stella is a 25-year-old female from Texas who has been suffering from anxiety disorder since she was 17. She has frequently had intense, excessive, and continuous fear and worry in daily situations. She also has repeated episodes of sudden intense anxiety, terror, or fear that reach a peak within minutes. Stella explained that the anxiety she experiences is sometimes hard to control, putting her life in danger. The condition has interfered with her ability to function effectively and made it hard for her to control how she responds to some emotions. Stella revealed that she has sought out various medications to help treat her anxiety. For instance, she has used anti-anxiety medications to help improve the symptoms and help her function better. She has also used anti-depressants which have helped to tweak how her brain uses specific chemicals to improve her mood and lower her stress; levels. Beta-blockers have also helped her to lower some of the physical symptoms of the disorder that she experiences. They help her to relieve rapid heartbeat, to tremble and shake. Stella says she has had caring caregivers who have walked with her throughout the journey and monitored her condition to ensure it is under control.
Risk factors
Racial discrimination
From the interview, we can identify various factors that increased the likelihood of Stella getting the disorder. For instance, racism/ racial discrimination contributed to higher anxiety levels. During the interview, Stella revealed that she was the only black female student in a class of white students. While in high school, she constantly faced discrimination from teachers and fellow students. She explains that she used to tremble and shake before entering any class because of how she was handled by fellow students who would call her names and even physically abuse her due to her skin color. Her stressful learning environment led to increased anxiety because she was in it for too long. Her anxiety disorder increased because she experienced emotionally painful, unplanned, and uncontrollable racist encounters in high school. According to Zimmermann et al (2020), discrimination is a risk factor for anxiety and thus calls for greater awareness of how racism and other forms of discrimination and social exclusion can affect an individual’s mental health.
Trauma/abuse
Trauma is another significant risk factor that we identify from Stella’s situation. During the interview, Stella revealed that after her mother passed away when she was ten years, she was raised by her father, who would constantly abuse her physically and emotionally. She said that her father would beat her, putting her under chronic stress and overthinking, thus affecting her confidence and self-esteem. The inability of her father to provide the needed safety, love, and a sense of belonging led to the rise of psychological problems like increased anxiety. The effects of the abuse led to inner experiences that cause anxiety, including fear, excessive worry, anticipation of what will happen, isolation, confusion, etc. Stella reveals that her fear and anxiety levels suddenly rise significantly whenever she is around a male figure or hears footsteps because it reminds her of how her father used to walk into her room to abuse her physically. Her thoughts of her father returning to his abusive nature after several years significantly contributed to her anxiety levels. A study by Severino et al (2019) shows that the higher stress occurrences an individual endures before 21 years, the more likely they will have an anxiety disorder later in life.
Genetic factors
At the beginning of the interview, Stella revealed that her grandmother had experienced anxiety for several years until she passed away. Therefore, it is clear that her anxiety disorder was also because someone from her family had it. Martin (2022) undertook a study to identify the connection between genetic traits and anxiety and stress-related disorders and revealed that if an individual has a given type of genetic features, they are prone to anxiety-these traits could be hereditary. In the case of Stella, her late grandmother had suffered from an anxiety disorder, which played a role in her condition. Also, the study reveals that the younger an individual is when they suffer from an anxiety disorder or depression, the more probably it is to be hereditary. Anxiety and depression can still be genetic if they appear in an individual’s older family members. But, new conditions in persons over 20 often relate to painful or stressful life events.
Absent parent/loneliness
When an individual loses a parent or is gone from home for a longer time before eighteen years, they are likely to have anxiety due to increased loneliness. In the interview, for instance, Stella said that her mother had passed away when she was young, leaving her with her father, who later began physically and emotionally abusing her. Not being close to her mother made her lonely, thus increasing her chances of anxiety. It also increased their feelings of depression which stayed around, thus affecting her life. Being alone isn’t always a negative thing. Furthermore, it’s common to feel alone after losing a close relative or friend. However, feeling cut off from the outside world for an extended period can worsen anxiety and despair (Lewis et al., 2019). That may further isolate you and start a dreadful cycle. Your mental health may suffer if you’re lonely, especially if those feelings persist for a long time. According to some studies, loneliness raises the chance of developing specific mental health issues like depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, sleep issues, and increased stress.
Conclusion
Everyone experiences anxiety from time to time, but if you notice that it persists or has a significant impact on your life, it may be time to get support. The precise causes of anxiety disorders are unknown to experts. The influence of genetics, environment, and personal history is likely. Make an appointment with your doctor if your anxiety symptoms bother you or do not disappear. They can assist with the diagnosis and develop a plan of care to treat your symptoms. They might suggest a change in lifestyle, therapy, medicine, or other therapies.
References
Lewis, K., Marrie, R. A., Bernstein, C. N., Graff, L. A., Patten, S. B., Sareen, J., … & Bolton, J. M. (2019). The prevalence and risk factors of undiagnosed depression and anxiety disorders among patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, 25(10), 1674-1680.
Martin, P. (2022). The epidemiology of anxiety disorders: a review. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience.
Severino, P., Mariani, M. V., Maraone, A., Piro, A., Ceccacci, A., Tarsitani, L., … & Fedele, F. (2019). Triggers for atrial fibrillation: the role of anxiety. Cardiology Research and Practice, 2019.
Zimmermann, M., Chong, A. K., Vechiu, C., & Papa, A. (2020). Modifiable risk and protective factors for anxiety disorders among adults: A systematic review. Psychiatry Research, 285, 112705.
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