What is anxiety? Anxiety involves feelings of worry, nervousness, and even fear! It is a serious serious medical condition just as real and serious as physical disorders such as heart disease or diabetes. But what about anxiety when it comes to differences in gender? Is it differently afflicted to men and women? That’s what we are here to find out – anxiety in women and how it affects them differently. Let’s start the discussion in the words below and that too while discussing symptoms of anxiety in women in the process!
Defining Anxiety
Before we get into anxiety in women, we should clearly define what anxiety is essentially. For starters, anxiety disorders such as OCD are the most common and pervasive mental disorders in the United States in addition to the fact that an estimated 264 million people worldwide have some kind of anxiety disorder (Dattani et al., 2023). Anxiety is defined by symptoms such as nervousness, excessive worry, and having fearful thoughts about certain situations and events. While anxiety is important for staying alert in times of danger, especially when talking from an evolutionary point of view, it can get a bit over-excessive at times, often paving the way for anxiety disorders (different from things like PTSD or bipolar disorder, which are stress-related and mood disorders, respectively) to come into motion.
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There are several major types of anxiety disorders. These are defined by their own set of traits and characteristics:
- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is capable of causing excessive worry about everyday life situations and events such as those relating to family or income. It can become a daily matter and make everyday life unbearable.
- Panic disorder involves recurring and spontaneous panic attacks that are capable of inducing unexpected feelings of terror that happen without warning. Panic attacks can occur even when there is no direct danger in sight.
- Phobias are a strong fear of a threat or danger that might not be there, such as traveling by air (and thinking about crashing mid-air) or being around a large group of people (who you might think might hurt you).
But how does it strike women? Let’s find out in the next section!
Women and Anxiety
Anxiety in women is different from anxiety in men as the situation in which anxiety afflicts women differs from situations in which it afflicts men. Additionally, women are more likely than men to suffer from anxiety. These situations that relate to women in addition to the the higher prevalence of anxiety in women come into existence due to the unique set of challenges that are faced by women themselves. This is because they go through a number of life stages and experiences that can cause or exacerbate anxiety. These experiences also contribute to core features that define anxiety disorders including subjective anxiety or fear experience, physiologic reactivity, and, often, avoidance behavior (Michelle et al., 2009).
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Causes Common With Men
One can essentially say that female anxiety has different causes at play, Some are common with men but some are that are unique to women. These can range from:
- Experience of abuse or neglect, especially if this happened during childhood
- Blood relations having to deal with anxiety or a family history of anxiety
- History of anxiety or other mental health problems such as depression etc.
- Going through a serious physical health condition such as breast cancer
- Going through stressful or traumatic events that brought a sudden change into their life such as the death of someone they loved, losing a job, or getting divorced
- Causes can also be attributed to societal pressure and even excessive stress.
Causes Unique to Women
While these issues can strike up in men too, the research shows that these causes are way more prevalent in women. As we said, there are also some causes that are extremely unique to women and can make women way more anxiety-prone due to that uniqueness, such as:
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Hormonal Changes
Women tend to experience fluctuating hormone levels, which relate to specific stages that their bodies go through, especially when these changes are related to their menstrual cycle. These stages include puberty, pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause.
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Puberty
Growing up, young women go through a significant amount of change. Their bodies are in a state of constant change until puberty is over. These changes can lead to body image issues, but at this stage in their life, they’re also likely to be experiencing other challenges. Puberty is different for women as it can lead to peer pressure, problems with social media use, and worrying about school (especially when it relates to bullying and body image) This, coupled with the significant hormonal changes that happen during puberty, can lead to anxiety as they are unable to cope with spontaneous changes in their body and hormones, creating a bad concoction of sorts.
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Menstruation And Menopause
Both are the biggest contributors to high anxiety levels that are there because of the spiked raging hormonal levels. Women may be more likely to develop anxiety at this time when they are experiencing lots of the physical symptoms of menopause such as insomnia and hot flushes. Menopause happens when a woman’s menstrual periods stop permanently, and she can no longer get pregnant, often leading to a lot of changes in hormonal levels and thus contributing to anxiety in women.
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Periods cause women to go through hormonal ups and downs throughout the month, which is a natural process of normal vaginal bleeding that occurs as part of a woman’s monthly cycle, usually starting between ages 11 and 14 and continuing until menopause. This is when you shed the lining of your uterus as it is part of the reproductive system and prepares your body for a possible pregnancy.
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Pregnancy and Childbirth
The perinatal period, which includes pregnancy and childbirth also contributes to signs of anxiety in women. Anxiety in women in the prenatal period can be especially intense if there is a chance of a difficult pregnancy or is a frequent struggle with debilitating morning sickness (known as hyperemesis gravidarum or ‘HG’).
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Difficulties Experienced By Women In Modern Life
In modern society, women are expected to juggle their careers and provide emotional support to their families at home (like taking care of their children). Oftentimes, this is a herculean task and therefore errors are bound to happen. This can lead to a lot of anxiety in women and often can lead to, stress and other mental health problems, such as depression in women. This is also one of the foremost culprits of a woman’s anxiety attack symptoms.
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Anxiety Symptoms in Women
There are a number of core anxiety symptoms that can affect anyone regardless of their gender. This means men can also have the same kind of symptoms and issues that are similar to symptoms of anxiety in women. These include:
- Worrying excessively, most of the time, about lots of different things
- Physical symptoms such as nausea, headaches, abdominal discomfort, and increased heartbeat
- Impatience, irritability, and angry outbursts with impunity
- Unhealthy sleep and appetite changes
- Frequent and persistent panic attacks
- Social withdrawal and social avoidance behavior are apparent
Anxiety Treatment for Women
Anxiety treatment for women is the same as it is for men. There are several types of treatment methods that can help ease anxiety symptoms. To help you manage your symptoms every day, such as:
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Psychotherapy or talk therapy
This form of treatment includes talking with a trained mental health professional. Together, you can work through managing your anxiety, which can help you look introspective into your problematic behavior that stems from mental issues such as your anxiety. Anxiety in women is highly treatable this way and it can complemented by medication. If anxiety is related to relationships, perhaps one can try marriage therapy or couples therapy.
Medication
The most commonly prescribed medications that are used to combat anxiety in women (as with men too) are antidepressants, anti-anxiety medicines (such as benzodiazepines), and beta-blockers. A more monitored way can be done via medication management.
Read More: Understanding Relationship Anxiety: How to Build Healthy Relationships
Wrapping Up
Anxiety in women can be long and arduous if not taken care of promptly and for that treatments are available. Treatments such as the ones prescribed above and alternative ones like telepsychiatry can tie up the loose ends of women’s anxiety and for that, you can consult with experts at Solid Foundation Psychiatry not just for it but for other problems too such as schizophrenia and psychosis.