One may feel anxious from time to time, but anxieties may also evolve to the level of illness. In this case, panic attack, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and phobic disorders may occur and anxiety may be accompanied by physiological symptoms. To solve this problem, the experienced team of Moodist Psychiatry and Neurology Hospital is with you.
Anyone can feel anxious on exams, job interviews, first dates with a loved one, or when talking in public… Anxiety is one of the emotions that occur as a result of the individual perceiving and interpreting any possibility in the inner and outer environment that threatens life as a danger, and a natural and necessary reaction that everyone can experience at certain times. The purpose of anxiety, which is a mechanism that serves to protect and activate the person against danger or threat, is to ensure harmonious and balanced life. Therefore, anxiety is not always an indication of a disease.
However, it can also be a worry, an emotion, an experience, a symptom, a disorder, or a group of disorders. People experiencing intense anxiety respond to events and phenomena in a way that is disproportionate, inappropriate and exaggerated to danger. Thoughts are future-oriented; they usually predict disaster and include mental images of danger. For example, a person who has fear of speaking in front of a crowd will ask, “What if I forget my notes?” “if I confuse the words? ” He/she can imagine him/herself frozen in front of the crowd.
Anxiety Disorder may come up as a possibility if the anxiety and fear persist for a long time and this situation becomes difficult to control.
Moodist Psychiatry and Neurology Hospital also applies many treatment methods such as psychotherapy, drug therapy and inpatient treatment program in the treatment of anxiety disorder with its expert staff.
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What are the Symptoms of Anxiety?
Situations of anxiety may be accompanied by physiological symptoms such as nervousness, anticipation of evil, concentration problems, restlessness and irritability, as well as dry mouth, palpitations, hot and cold flushes, dyspnoea, nervousness, headache, dizziness, muscle tension, stomach upset, diarrhoea or constipation, frequent urination, cold sweats.
What are the Causes of Anxiety?
There is no single reason for anxiety. It can develop as a result of the interaction of many genetic, biological, environmental and psychological factors. Anxiety can also be caused by psychological conditions such as the termination of a relationship, violent discussions, loss of someone close to you, and factors such as excessive alcohol, drug use, and a frightening or sad event.
The Medical Team of Moodist Psychiatry and Neurology Hospital examines all these reasons in detail to reach the result.
What is the Panic Attack?
Panic attack is an intense state of fear that can occur suddenly or situationally, accompanied by the thought of death along with various bodily symptoms, and the symptoms peak in a 10-minute period.
What are the Symptoms of a Panic Attack?
During a panic attack, the person may experience symptoms such as palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath or feeling like drowning, sweating, trembling, shaking, nausea, abdominal pain, chills, shivering, fever, numbness and tingling, dizziness, feeling like you are going to faint, fear of death, fear of losing control or going crazy. These symptoms can also be accompanied by depersonalization and derealization of the environment.
Often, these symptoms are accompanied by an expectation of danger, the idea that the end has come, and the urge to escape from the environment in which the attack occurs. However, not all of these symptoms may occur during a panic attack.
What is the Frequency and Duration of Panic Attacks?
A typical panic attack is limited to minutes. It may usually take 5 to 10 minutes or 20 to 30 minutes, or rarely for one or several hours. The frequency and severity of panic attacks vary. Some people experience an average of once or more per week, while others may not have any attacks for weeks or even months. The usual course of the disease is chronic but has an ups and downs.
Patients presenting to Moodist Psychiatry and Neurology Hospital with a panic attack generally describes his/her fear as severe and says that he/she thinks that he/she will lose control, go crazy or die. He/she thinks that he/she has had a heart attack especially due to complaints such as palpitations, chest pain, chest discomfort, and feeling like drowning, shortness of breath.
In such cases, the specialists Moodist Psychiatry and Neurology Hospital Psychiatric Emergency Department which is open 24/7 make the necessary intervention immediately.
What is Panic Disorder?
Panic disorder is a condition that continues with recurrent unexpected panic attacks, the person will have new attacks or intense and continuous anxieties such as heart attack and death, loss of control and stroke as a result of these attacks. While many people have panic attacks at least once in their lives, some people develop panic disorder. It is common for people with panic disorder to go to the emergency department to learn whether they are healthy and are in danger or not.
Physical symptoms, feelings and thoughts interact with each other in people with panic disorder. For example, if a person with a tendency to have panic attacks realizes that his/her heart is beating faster than normal, he/she might think, “Maybe I am having a heart attack.” This idea triggers adrenaline release by causing fear and anxiety. Adrenaline release accelerates the heart rate even more, convincing the person that they are having a heart attack. Thoughts about bodily sensations may further aggravate these sensations.
What is Common Anxiety Disorder?
Common anxiety disorder is caused by uncertain anxiety and persistence in one’s expectation that adverse events will occur. For example, when a person is an hour late home, one begins to develop disastrous scenarios in one’s mind; without any reason, one attributes this delay to the kind of anxiety of “the child was hit by a car” , “someone did something”.
One’s unsupervised concerns throughout the day often involve health, family, money, or work. These people often recognize that the tension and anxiety they experience are exaggerated. But they cannot succeed in calming and controlling themselves. Sometimes they do not accept that the current anxiety is excessive and unfounded. Individuals with generalized anxiety disorder are often described as “overanxious” by their environment.
You can call Moodist Psychiatry and Neurology Hospital at any time to learn about anxiety disorders.
What are the Symptoms and Causes of Generalized Anxiety Disorder?
Common symptoms in people with generalized anxiety disorder are muscle tension, rapid fatigue, change in sleep patterns, difficulty in focusing, constant vigilance and restlessness. Genetics, changes in brain neurochemistry, personality traits, environmental factors and stressful life events may cause generalized anxiety disorder although there are no additional reasons.
What is Phobic Disorder?
Phobic disorder is a disorder related to the danger of an object or condition, which is disproportionate and disturbs the daily functioning of the person. There are two types of phobic disorders, specific phobia and social phobia.
What is Specific Phobia?
Exaggerated and unfounded fears that arise in relation to a particular object or situation in the person. The most common specific phobias are animal phobia, blood and injection-related phobias and situational phobias in airplanes, elevators and indoors. In phobic disorder, the person realizes that his/her current fear of the stimulus is intense and meaningless. He/she tends to run away from uncomfortable situations first; when he/she is obliged, he/she only endures this situation with severe tension and anxiety. Due to the behaviour of avoiding the phobic stimulus or the distress experienced during confrontation with the phobic stimulus in compulsory cases, it becomes difficult for the person to continue his/her normal daily work and his/her social and professional functionality is impaired.
Moodist Psychiatry and Neurology Hospital specialists aim to improve one’s social and professional functionality by restoring one’s former functionality in such problems.
What are the symptoms of specific phobia?
Although the individual is aware that his/her fear is intense and meaningless, symptoms of anxiety occur when he/she encounters or imagines a phobic situation. Although these symptoms vary, the most common ones are rapid beating of the heart, trembling, sweating, the need to urinate often, and feeling like fainting, shortness of breath, dizziness, numbness and tingling in any part of the body.
What are the Causes of Specific Phobia?
Specific phobia may occur for many reasons. As well as genetic predisposition, the effect of biological events and the environment can affect the formation of specific phobia. According to the results of research on genetic transfer, it has been observed that in first-degree relatives of people with specific phobia disorder, specific phobia is approximately three times more than other individuals. It is thought that the events that cause us to experience excessive fear especially in childhood also cause phobias in the following processes. However, the individual who has not been exposed to a negative event in his/her past life is also likely to develop specific phobia. In addition, pairing a non-fearful stimulus with a traumatic event and coding it in the mind can lead to phobias. Likewise, it is possible for fear behaviour to be learned and to develop fear with the reactions of someone else against an object or situation that does not arouse fear.
A person’s feeling of avoiding interaction and intensely uncomfortable in the community. The most irritating situations for people with social phobia are usually taking part in conversation, presenting, and eating in public. According to the severity of social phobia, a person’s quality of life can be significantly impaired. For example, he/she is very worried about his/her turn to speak at a meeting in the workplace and therefore prefers to sit out of sight. It is a very difficult situation to enter a store for shopping, to look at something that they like in front of employees and those who are there, to make changes, to ask prices. For this reason, one’s work and social life are adversely affected. Many of the people in this situation can cope with the anxiety they experience, although it is difficult, and some of them come to the point of leaving work and school.
When people with social phobia are exposed to situations they are uncomfortable with, they exhibit avoidance symptoms such as leaving the environment, not making eye contact, thinking irrelevant things, while some bodily symptoms also occur. These symptoms vary according to the severity of the phobic disorder. The most common ones are facial redness, intense sweating, tremor, fever, muscle tension, palpitation, shortness of breath, and the need to go to the toilet.
What are the Causes of Social Phobia?
Although the causes of social phobia are not certain, experts focus on genetic causes, environmental factors, impaired brain function, and psychological causes. One of the reasons for social phobia is that the individual sees these situations as a threat by underestimating his/her abilities in social situations or exaggerating the probability of problems that may arise, and exhibits avoidance behaviour. On the other hand, the individual may develop social phobia by observing the negative situations they experience as a result of the behaviours of others.
Finally, individuals raised protectively by their parents in childhood are more likely to develop social phobia than others because their social skills are not sufficiently developed.
How are Anxiety Disorders Treated at Moodist?
Moodist Psychiatry and Neurology Hospital plans treatment in accordance with the subjective psychological needs of the person with the most advanced treatment facilities and expert psychiatrist and psychologist staff that provide the conditions required by science and technology in the treatment of anxiety disorder. Treatment methods and supportive approaches used at Moodist Psychiatry and Neurology Hospital include:
- Drug Treatment
- Psychometric Tests
- Psychotherapies (CBT, EMDR, Psychodynamic, Mindfulness, Hypnotherapy, Psychotherapy, Schema, Family, Group)
- Ergotherapy (Music, Painting, Marbling Art, Ceramics, Handicrafts, Body and Motion Therapy, Sports, Kitchen Workshop)
- Psychological Education
- Somatic Treatments (ECT, TMS)
- Rehabilitation Programs
- Inpatient Treatment
At Moodist Psychiatry and Neurology Hospital, first of all, patients and patient relatives are told how to follow a path in accordance with the determined treatment method. Moodist Psychiatry and Neurology Hospital specialists can consult various psychological tests to make the correct diagnosis and to create an effective treatment plan. These psychometric tests performed by specialist psychiatrists and psychologists are scientifically based measurement and evaluation tools. Drugs and psychotherapy are used together or separately depending on the course, severity and duration of the disease. Even if the healing process is initiated to prevent the symptoms of panic disorder from recurring, medication should not be discontinued without consulting a doctor.
The place of psychotherapy is very important in coping with panic disorder, recognizing symptoms, early detection, increasing treatment compliance and social-occupational functionality. In the treatment of panic disorder by Moodist Medical Team; in addition to individual psychotherapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Psychodynamic, Mindfulness, Hypnotherapy, Psychodrama, Schema, therapeutic methods such as family and group therapies are also applied. One of the main objectives of psychotherapy is to determine the underlying factors that cause complaints in the person and to make a treatment plan accordingly.
During the therapy, the aim is to understand the emotions, thoughts and behaviours of the person and to manage the anxiety. EMDR is one of the powerful psychotherapy approaches used in the treatment of anxiety disorders in recent years. It is a physiologically based therapy that aims to re-process negative and traumatic memories that affect daily life and to look at the person from a healthier and new perspective. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy makes people realize the effects of dysfunctional cognitive processes and distorted thoughts on people’s emotions and behaviours. It is aimed to replace dysfunctional thoughts with alternative, healthy thinking processes. In addition, with breathing and relaxation exercises, people are taught to be able to control themselves and to relax themselves.
At Moodist Psychiatry and Neurology Hospital, ergotherapy activities including music, dance, marbling art workshop, painting, sports and ceramics are also carried out to help patients recover, socialize and lead a healthy life, to improve their self-confidence and abilities and to enable them to use these developments in daily life.
It is clear that there are also problems in the family as a result of anxiety disorders. For this reason, the medical team of Moodist Psychiatry and Neurology Hospital includes family members in the treatment process and conducts informative psychoeducation studies on anxiety disorder for families. In this way, it was observed that the rates of discontinuation of treatment decreased and the dilemmas in the family’s relations with the patients were defined and the compliance within the family increased.
At Moodist Psychiatry and Neurology Hospital, ECT (Electro Convulsive Therapy) and TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) treatment can also be applied when necessary. Electroshock is given to the anterior part of the brain under general anesthesia with ECT during periods of intense resistance to treatment and disease. Since the person is under anesthesia, he/she does not experience ECT treatment exactly. With this treatment, rapid release of brain biochemicals is seen. Clinical improvement is achieved by applying TMS to predetermined areas related to mental illnesses and creating electrophysiological changes there. During the application, the coil forming the magnetic current is placed over the scalp to the point where the target brain region is located. It is applied over the scalp with no intervention to the body. According to the diagnosis of psychiatric disease, the target area and the severity of the magnetic current to be applied are determined.
Patient safety and comfort are at the forefront of Moodist
Treatment of anxiety disorders can be sustained in many ways. The role of inpatient treatment is also quite important. In some severe cases, the patient needs inpatient treatment.
Moodist Psychiatry and Neurology Hospital has a 75-bed psychiatric inpatient service where patients will receive comfortable and safe treatment. Medical surveillance and interventions are at the forefront in the services where patients do not undergo any additional intervention other than the measures deemed necessary by their own doctors and where patients can move to their own rooms and to common areas of their own free will.
Technical equipment and arrangements are designed with unbreakable glass and soft-angled furniture to eliminate the possibility of patients harming themselves and their surroundings in these services. 24-hour service is provided with experienced psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses and auxiliary health personnel in their fields.
There is a multi-purpose hall, 1 activity room and 1 smoking room shared by the patients in the service. Inpatients can participate in many studies such as morning meeting accompanied by psychologists and nurses, music, dance, marbling art workshop, painting, sports and ceramics. If the doctors deem it appropriate, the patients can spend free time in the private gardens owned by the hospital at certain times and see their relatives within the scope of the specified visiting hours.
The information on this page has been prepared by the Moodist Psychiatry and Neurology Hospital Medical Team.
