ROME (ITALPRESS) – An estimated 8.5 million people in Italy have suffered at least once in their lives from anxiety disorders, the most common psychiatric condition in our country. Panic disorders are also very common, affecting between 750,000
and 2.5 million people, with a higher prevalence among women. The link between anxiety and panic attacks is close: anxiety can manifest as constant, generalized worry, while panic attacks represent acute peaks of anxiety.
The causes of panic attacks are multifaceted and may include genetic predisposition, neurochemical imbalances and traumatic events, prolonged stress, and particular traits of
personality. Anxiety “is a state of mind that expresses the mind’s defense mechanism against danger, so it’s very important: if I have it, I know what I have to do and how to be on my guard; if I don’t have it, I rely a little too much and risk being in trouble,” said Giampaolo Perna, professor of psychiatry at Humanitas University and director of the Mental Health Center of the Humanitas Group, interviewed by Marco Klinger, for Medicina Top, a TV format of the Italpress news agency.
“Panic, anxiety and fear are three elements of the same family, but different,” he stressed. “Some people are born with the biologically more active danger sensor and therefore are more ready to react to danger with these reactions: there is an anxious temperament,” but it is “not a destiny: if we are born a certain way, we don’t have to stay that way eternally.” To deal with these disorders, the best thing is to combine psychotherapy and medication. “The problem is choosing the right psychotropic drugs for the right anxiety disorder and the right cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy.” It needs to be clarified that “the psychotherapist is a person who has skills to reduce difficulties, but is not a doctor. The simple psychologist does not actually cure diseases, but simply intervenes to solve
normal life problems, the psychiatrist on the other hand is the specialist for all mental disorders and is the first person to go to.”
From the pharmacological point of view, “different molecules are not being studied: what has changed is the approach, now we know that it is not true that one drug is worth the other. The second important aspect is the ability to remind ourselves that there is not only the
central diagnosis, but you have to include a person.” Lifestyle also matters: “there is evidence that says that physical activity, in addition to being good for everything, is specific” for helping to
solve “problems of anxiety and panic attacks. Not only does it strengthen us as an ability to control ourselves, but it strengthens the cardiovascular system, which is central to some disorders.” Practices such as meditation and relaxation “are not curative.” Those who are around people suffering from these disorders “need to know that they are real disorders, they are illnesses like any other, so don’t ask the person to solve them with good will. Treatments often take a moment to work, the recommendation not to say stupid phrases like ‘put goodwill, relax, don’t stress’ because these not only don’t help, but can be hurtful.” Artificial intelligence could change psychiatry in the coming years, “it could be a great tool if used well by clinicians, not to be replaced.”
– Photo from video Medicine Top –
(ITALPRESS).
