Anxiety

Hi, my name is Briannie Matos, a freshman at Science Leadership Academy. For my english class, we were assigned a You & The World project where you choose a topic you feel is important and you become an agent of change. I decided to do my project on Anxiety because it is apart of my life and I want to help others with it too.

Anxiety is a mental health disorder characterized by feelings of worry or fear. Many of my family members and friends have anxiety, including myself. My Aunt is one of the only people I know that actually takes medication for anxiety. Sometimes I see how bad it affects her because if she is anxious or nervous about something her hands would start to shake and she would at times start to cry.  Seeing people deal with anxiety is pretty overwhelming because I can see how tough it is for them to get through the day. I want to help find a way for people to cope with anxiety. Having a specific routine and habit can help with anxiety. For example, the way I get through the day is with my chain that has cross on it. I simply rub on the cross and it tends to calm me down and keep me relaxed. For others, stress balls could help or exercising daily. It’s a big issue because some people have to take medication and have treatment. It can interfere with daily activities and it can also affect children.

Anxiety can interfere with someone’s daily life and it depends on how bad you have anxiety. People need medication and some don’t. Anxiety affects 40 million people in the United States, ages 18 and older. Those with anxiety are most likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorder than people who don’t have anxiety. Only one-third of people suffering from anxiety receive treatment. When having anxiety, it is likely to have depression as well. Symptoms and signs of anxiety are:

• Feeling on edge

• Difficulty concentrating

• Mind tends to go blank

• Sleeping problems

• Muscle tension

Anxiety affects one in every eight children in the U.S. According to what the ADAA says, Anxiety disorders cost the U.S. more than $42 billion a year, almost one-third of the country's $148 billion total mental health bill.

This line graph shows college students percentage of anxiety, depression, and relationship problem. Anxiety increased throughout the years 2010-2013. Being under the pressure of anxiety as a student can be very overwhelming. Especially when trying to concentrate on your work and studies. Two anxiety disorders are Panic Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder. Panic Disorder is when having unexpected panic attacks. Panic disorders are most likely for women than men and 6 million people in the U.S., which is 2.7% of the U.S. population, have panic disorder. Social Anxiety Disorder is when a person has an unreasonable fear of social situations, this is also called social phobia. Social Anxiety Disorder are common for both men and women around the age of 13. 15 million people in the U.S. have Social Anxiety Disorder, which is 6.8% of the U.S. population.

Overall, anxiety will always be apart of my life and I’m excited to see what I can do to help others with anxiety. You can visit my annotated bibliography for more information.