Statistics reveal that more than 19 million adult Americans in the age-group of 18-54 year suffer from anxiety. Often we see that in a particular situation some people stay very cool and relaxed while in a similar situation there are some persons who lose their nerve and become over anxious about the situation.
The difference in the behavior of people in similar situations can be best understood if we take a look at the mechanism of the brain. It has been found that the body’s fear response is coordinated by a small structure deep inside the brain, called the amygdala. Neuroscientists have shown that when confronted with danger, the body’s senses launch two sets of signals to different parts of the brain. One set of signals, which takes a longer route, relays information to the cerebral cortex, the cognitive part of the brain that explains in detail the threatening object or situation such as a big blue bus coming towards you as you cross the street. The other signal reaches the amygdala causing the fear factor to rise and hence protect oneself even before the cognitive part of the brain can describe that what actually the threat is. Although the amygdala is a very small part of the brain yet its function is very complicated. A recent research with animals suggests that different anxiety disorders may be associated with activation in different parts of the amygdala.
One or more fearful experience makes a person extra cautious and he responds with fear in similar situations, reacting in a much different way from other persons in a similar situation. But sometimes similar fearful situations become so much embedded in a person’s mind that whenever a slightly similar situation occurs then the same fear comes to the fore front and the person behaves in a hyper manner. For people who are suffering from ‘post traumatic stress disorder’ (PTSD) even a small reminder of the incident brings shivers down the spine for that person. This is because even the slight reminder of the incident can make a person recollect the fear embedded in his mind associated with the incident. Research evidence proves that genetics is also one of the factors which can spark the anxiety disorder in a person. Researches on mice have shown that there is a specific gene (SLC6A4) which is responsible for the birth of anxiety disorder in a person.
There are various ways which can treat these kinds of anxiety disorders. There are various therapies like cognitive therapy, psychotherapy and finally medication. Generally, a mild anxiety disorder can be effectively treated by using psychotherapy or cognitive behavior therapy. It is only when the anxiety disorder does not get treated by psychotherapy or cognitive behavior alone that medicines are required to treat a person. There are quite a number of anti-depressants prescribed for the treatment but Xanax is one such medicine that is widely popular among the physicians, as far as the treatment of anxiety disorder is concerned. Xanax belongs to a class of drugs known as benzodiazepines.