3 Mar /16

Anxiety

Anxiety – Word of the day - EVS Translations
Anxiety – Word of the day – EVS Translations

Observing a well balanced diet with colourful fruit and vegetables, keeping oneself well hydrated and performing moderate work out, like running in the park or dancing, prevents from various diseases and slows down ageing.

And just in case all that fails, the modern pharmaceutical industry has even more miraculous tricks up their sleeve, that will hopefully make you feel and possibly look brand new overnight.

With technology and science so advanced, we have better understanding of the mechanics of our body.

It was only until recently though, that our mental health had been continuously overlooked. Looks like we have been perpetually fixated with the physical aspect of things, while the troubles of the mind have been neglected by the hyperactive and multitasking world, that demands keeping up with its fast pace and endless spinning. But, like it or not, we should watch out for our mental health as much and acknowledge that depression, anxiety and different forms of autism are more present in the new millennium.

Living in a dynamic, overly stimulated and ever changing environment facilitates mental disorders and makes them pop out easily. Keeping on for too long may result in chronic depression, and economical instability and the struggle for survival to trigger anxiety.

Anxiety is a feeling of restlessness, nervousness and worry. It can have physical manifestations too, most common is a tightness in the stomach and tension. Anxiety also can provoke broken sleeping patterns and eating disorders. There are various types of anxiety, but the common between them all is that the emotion of anxiety is related with uncertainty.

Though anxiety is a part of evolution, as it is actually the activation of our protective system and it has existed throughout the history of mankind, as a mental disorder it was recognized only some decades ago. The American Psychiatric Association recognized it in only the 80s, while before that diagnosing anxiety patience as suffering general stress or nervousness.

Commonly, the anxiety disorders and panic attacks were firstly referred to as problems which mainly affect women, due to their nature prone to hysterical behaviour. With many strange and torture methods of treatment around the world, to only name electroshock therapy and lobotomization.

The 1970s saw the boom of anti-depressants, bringing the “happy” chemicals dopamine and serotonin to the brain and the 80s – the creation of the term “anxiety disorder”.

The word anxiety, itself, to name uneasiness of the mind, was introduced into the English language from the Latin ānxietās in the 16th century.

With the first record of its use coming from Sir Thomas More’s work The Four Last Things, circa 1522: “There dyed he without grudge, without anxietie.”

The first record to use anxiety as synonymous to depression comes from a history of animals and plants, written by Robert Lovell, 1661.

And in 1958, The Times referred to the 50s as the Age of Anxiety, after the title of a Pulitzer-prize-winning poem by Wystan Hugh Auden which deals with man’s quest to find identity in an increasingly industrialised world.