July/August 2006 Alternative Health
Anxiety May Not Be 'All in Your Head'

by Sharon Heller, Ph.D.

Are you anxious, tense, nervous, irritable or explosive? Anxiety disorders are the number one mental health problem in the United States. At some point in their lifetime, 25 percent of the population or 65 million people will become incapacitated by panic, anxiety or abnormal fears.

However, symptoms of anxiety may not always indicate that you have an anxiety disorder or mental illness. Anxiety symptoms may actually indicate a biological problem: illness, a neurological insult to the brain, sensory processing problems, misaligned skull, or something in the food you’ve eaten, the water you drank or the air you breathed.

Biological problems from sugar imbalance to heart ailments to vitamin deficiencies can produce symptoms identical to a panic attack. Head injuries, brain tumors, strep throat or encephalitis can create obsessive-compulsive disorder. Sensory defensiveness—hypersensitivity to ordinary sensation like a tap on the shoulder—can create symptoms that mimic psychiatric conditions from generalized anxiety to obsessive-compulsive disorder to depersonalization. Even environmental pollutants and allergens can produce panic-like symptoms.

Consider some common mimickers of anxiety symptoms:

  • Hypoglycemia can create irritability, a fast heart beat, fatigue, lightheadedness, shakiness and panic attack.
  • Hyperthyroidism can cause a pounding heart, sweats, tremors and panic attack.
  • Hyperventilation can create muscle tension, lightheadedness, a rapid heartbeat and panic attack.
  • Mitral valve prolapse, a minor heart condition in which the left valve doesn't close completely, can create chest pain, palpitations, fatigue, difficulty breathing and anxiety. One out of three panic attack patients has mitral valve prolapse.

Yet your physician or psychiatrist might assume your anxiety is psychogenic in origin—a result of stress, sensitivity, low self-esteem, a learned fear, poor coping, dependency or negative thinking. In fact, a recent survey found that primary care physicians believe that some form of anxiety prompts at least one third of all office visits. More than 50 million prescriptions for anti-anxiety medications alone are written each year, yet in many cases psychotropic medication is unnecessary.

Take inner-ear dysfunction. Dr. Harold Levinson, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at New York University Medical Center, found in his practice that 90 percent of phobia and panic patients actually suffer from inner-ear balance system dysfunction. Medical treatment alone eliminated the phobia and panic symptoms.

In some cases, you may have a psychiatric condition secondarily to a physical one and both need to be treated. But you can’t know this until the physical problem is treated and alleviated, and the anxiety or panic still persists.

How do you know if the primary trigger of your anxiety symptoms is psychological or biological? Here are some guidelines for biologically-induced anxiety or panic:

  • Sudden, unexplainable and random panic.
  • Irritation or even panic to bright lights, loud or piercing noises, odors others don't notice, light touch or certain textures, or crowds.
  • Sickness or light-headedness from chemicals in the environment that others find innocuous.
  • Disorientation, confusion, or spaciness.
  • Sudden change in behavior or feelings radically different from usual.
  • Anxiety or panic in absence of obvious psychological markers:  relationship problems, low self-esteem, unstable emotions, moodiness, non-productivity.
  • Anxiety predictably at certain times of the day: following a meal, or after consuming too much sugar, carbohydrates or caffeine.
  • Anxiety predictably in response to: smoking cigarettes, exercising, feeling uncomfortably hot or cold.
  • Heightened agitation, tension, anxiety or panic that has not responded effectively to psychotropic drugs or therapy.

If you suspect your anxiety may be biologically triggered, become your own detective and educate yourself about the many possible non-psychological triggers of anxiety symptoms, including sensory, medical, nutritional, neurological, neurocranial, musculoskeletal or environmental causes. Armed with knowledge, you can approach the diagnosis and treatment of your symptoms holistically.

Sharon Heller, Ph.D. is a developmental psychologist and author of four popular psychology books, including Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight: What to Do if You are Sensory Defensive in an Overstimulating World (HarperCollins). Visit www.anxietymyth.com.