Identifying the symptoms and criteria of anxiety disorder, and using scientific psychological treatment to protect men's health.

Psychotherapy for Anxiety Disorder

Anxiety is an emotional experience of restlessness and insecurity. If this anxiety persists for more than six months without subsiding, an anxiety disorder should be considered. Anxiety disorder is a common mental disorder. Its main manifestations are: patients are filled with excessive, persistent, and vague anxiety and worry, without a clear cause. For example, they may worry constantly about their family's financial situation, even if their income exceeds six figures; or they may worry constantly about their children's safety, fearing something might happen to them at school; more often than not, they don't even know why they are feeling extremely anxious.

Specific symptoms of anxiety disorder include:

① Physical tension. Patients with anxiety disorder often feel unable to relax, experiencing tension throughout their body, such as facial tension, furrowed brows, tense expressions, and sighing.

② Overactive autonomic nervous system. The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems of patients with anxiety disorder often work beyond their capacity. Patients experience sweating, dizziness, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, chills or fever, cold or hot hands and feet, stomach discomfort, frequent urination and defecation, and a feeling of obstruction in the throat.

③ Unexplained worries about the future. Anxiety sufferers constantly worry about the future. They worry about their loved ones, their possessions, and their health.

④ Excessive vigilance. Anxiety sufferers are like soldiers on guard duty, constantly alert to every subtle movement in their surroundings. Because they are always on high alert, it affects both their work and their rest.

How can one determine if someone has anxiety disorder? The following criteria can be used as a reference:

Firstly, excessive worry about certain events and activities (such as work progress or academic performance) for most of the past six months.

Secondly, finding it difficult to control one's worries.

Third, anxiety and worry are associated with at least three of the following six symptoms (at least some of these symptoms have occurred for most of the past six months):

① Restlessness or feeling like your heart is in your throat;

② Fatigue;

③ Difficulty concentrating, mental blankness;

④ Irritability;

⑤ Muscle tension;

⑥ Sleep problems (difficulty falling asleep, restless or unsteady sleep).

Fourth, the content of the anxiety and worry is not characteristic of other disorders. That is, the anxiety and worry are not about bacterial infection (obsessive-compulsive disorder), panic attacks (panic disorder), public embarrassment (social phobia), weight gain (anorexia nervosa), serious illness (hypochondriasis), etc.

Fifth, anxiety, worry, and physical symptoms cause difficulties in social, work, and other aspects of life.

The above symptoms are not caused by the physiological effects of medication (e.g., drug use, alcoholism) or physical illness (e.g., hypothyroidism), nor are they limited to mood disorders, psychotic disorders, or generalized developmental disorders.

Treatment for anxiety disorders includes the following methods:

First, psychoanalytic therapy. This helps patients understand the root causes of their internal psychological conflicts.

Second, cognitive behavioral therapy. Depending on the specific symptoms, two different methods are used to treat anxiety. If the patient's anxiety symptoms are related to certain specific situations, the doctor can use situational analysis—a behavioral therapy technique—to identify which key factors in the situation are causing the patient's anxiety symptoms. Then, the doctor uses systematic desensitization to reduce the patient's anxiety level regarding these specific factors. If the patient's anxiety symptoms are independent of any specific situation, that is, not specifically related to any particular environment, the doctor will use relaxation training to reduce the patient's overall tension level. In addition, because anxiety disorder patients often exhibit feelings of helplessness, doctors help them enhance their confidence in various situations by learning useful skills (such as social skills). Since anxiety disorder patients have a unique cognitive style that easily interprets vague stimuli as threats and tends to overestimate the likelihood of negative events, cognitive therapy is often used to change their cognitive patterns.

Thirdly, there is medication. Anti-anxiety medication is the most commonly used method for treating anxiety disorders. However, anti-anxiety medications have many side effects, such as drowsiness, depression, and addiction; long-term use can even damage certain internal organs. The biggest problem with anti-anxiety medications is that once patients stop taking them, it is almost certain that symptoms will reappear.