How to deal with Stress and Anxiety

Anxiety is an unpleasant state of inner turmoil, often accompanied by nervous behavior, such as pacing back and forth, somatic complaints and rumination. It is the subjectively unpleasant feelings of dread over something unlikely to happen, such as the feeling of imminent death Anxiety is not the same as fear, which is felt about something realistically intimidating or dangerous and is an appropriate response to a perceived threat; anxiety is a feeling of fear, worry, and uneasiness, usually generalized and unfocused as an overreaction to a situation that is only subjectively seen as menacing. It is often accompanied by restlessness, fatigue, problems in concentration, and muscular tension. Anxiety is not considered to be a normal reaction to a perceived stressor although many feel it occasionally.

Causes 
Anxiety risk factors include family history (e.g. of anxiety) and parenting factors including parental rejection, lack of parental warmth, high hostility, harsh discipline, high maternal negative affect, anxious childrearing, modelling of dysfunctional and drug-abusing behaviour, and child abuse (emotional, physical and sexual).

Other contextual factors that are thought to contribute to anxiety include gender socialization and learning experiences. In particular, learning mastery (the degree to which people perceive their lives to be under their own control) and instrumentality, which includes such traits as self-confidence, independence, and competitiveness fully mediate the relation between gender and anxiety. That is, though gender differences in anxiety exist, with higher levels of anxiety in women compared to men, gender socialization and learning mastery explain these gender differences^{[citation needed]}. Research has demonstrated the ways in which facial prominence in photographic images differs between men and women. More specifically, in official online photographs of politicians around the world, women's faces are less prominent than men's. Interestingly enough, the difference in these images actually tended to be greater in cultures with greater institutional gender equality.

An evolutionary psychology explanation is that increased anxiety serves the purpose of increased vigilance regarding potential threats in the environment as well as increased tendency to take proactive actions regarding such possible threats. This may cause false positive reactions but an individual suffering from anxiety may also avoid real threats. This may explain why anxious people are less likely to die due to accidents.
Neural circuitry involving the amygdala and hippocampus is thought to underlie anxiety. When people are confronted with unpleasant and potentially harmful stimuli such as foul odors or tastes, PET-scans show increased bloodflow in the amygdala In these studies, the participants also reported moderate anxiety. This might indicate that anxiety is a protective mechanism designed to prevent the organism from engaging in potentially harmful behaviors

Treatments

There are many ways to treat anxiety. Cognitive behavioral therapy and medication are two principal forms of anxiety treatment. Stopping smoking has benefits in anxiety as large as or larger than those of medications.

Cognitive behavioral therapy

The most notable treatment for anxiety is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Cognitive behavioral therapy involves the changing of one's thought by the therapist. Patients are asked to explain their feelings towards certain things or incidents that cause their anxious behavior.
One study found that computerized CBT was equally effective as face-to-face CBT in adolescent anxiety.

Herbal treatments

Traditional herbal remedies have been used for centuries to treat anxiety but many lack strong evidence of efficacy. There is some limited promising data supporting the use of kava and, to some extent, inositol, but the limited evidence available for St John's wort, valerian, and omega-3 fatty acids demonstrates little efficacy in anxiety and these remedies should not be recommended in place of more effective treatments.

Caffeine elimination

For some people, anxiety may be reduced by eliminating caffeine consumption. Anxiety can temporarily increase during caffeine withdrawal.

Other treatments

Other methods used in treating anxiety include electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and psychosurgery. Psychosurgery is used in very extreme cases, when other treatment techniques do not work. Evidence is insufficient regarding meditation to make any conclusions.