Although not ‘Environmental Illnesses’ in themselves, psychological problems, also known as affective (mood) disorders, are very common amongst sufferers of these illnesses. Depression, anxiety and the like are devastating illnesses on their own, but when you already suffer from an Environmental Illness, with the accompanying symptoms of fatigue, flu-like feeling and cognitive dysfunction, to name a few, then life can really seem like it’s not worth living. If this wasn’t enough, many healthcare professionals insist on sticking to the increasingly untenable position, that people presenting with Environmental Illnesses have psychological problems and nothing else.
The most common psychological problems seen in Environmental Illness sufferers are Depression, Anxiety and Insomnia, so we will look at these here.
Anxiety
As with depression, everyone experiences anxiety to some degree as a normal part of their lives. It is actually a good thing in some situations as it prepares us to face danger by giving us more energy and making us more alert. Anxiety becomes an illness when the feeling is constant or is regularly triggered by events that wouldn’t normal induce a feeling of anxiety. There are in fact 5 recognized anxiety disorders, these are:
- Panic Disorder
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- Phobias (including Social Phobia, also called Social Anxiety Disorder).
We’ll concentrate on Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) here, as this is the most common amongst Environmental Illness sufferers. The essential characteristic of Generalized Anxiety Disorder is excessive uncontrollable worry about everyday things. This constant worry affects daily functioning and can cause physical symptoms. Sufferers may worry excessively about issues like deadlines or appointments but they can also worry about everyday things that shouldn’t cause such strong feelings. Essentially, the feelings are out of proportion with the triggering event. The focus of worry can also shift rapidly from one thing to another. The feeling of anxiety can be constant so that whatever the sufferer thinks about, they associate with the feelings and assume that to be the cause, however mundane the actual thing may be.
The major symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder are:
- Excessive worrying
- Excessive fear
- Inability to cope
- Muscle tension
- Sweating
- Nausea
- Gastrointestinal discomfort or diarrhea
- Cold clammy hands
- Difficulty swallowing;
- Jumpiness
Insomnia
Insomnia is a condition that is characterized by the sufferers inability to get adequate restorative sleep. This can be due to any number of the following:
- Difficulty falling asleep
- Waking up frequently during the night with difficulty returning to sleep
- Waking up too early in the morning
- Unrefreshing sleep
A lack of sleep can lead to a number of symptoms during the day. These can include:
- Fatigue
- Lack of energy
- Difficulty concentrating
- Irritability
- Poor coordination
Clearly insomnia will also worsen all the symptoms a sufferer of an Environmental Illness experiences and make their general condition much worse.
Insomnia is commonly caused by both depression and anxiety (or may be present alone) and can exacerbate the symptoms of those disorders, creating a vicious circle. Many other factors can also cause insomnia, these include things like environmental factors (noise, temperature etc), change of sleeping environment, stress and physical illnesses/pain (such as the aches and pains experienced with Environmental Illnesses).