Berlin - Many people have growing anxiety over the possibility they will be laid off and the increasing demands in the work world - understandable in the current economic climate. Sometimes the fear of failure is so strong that it begins to take over the daily lives of the people affected and it completely consumes their thoughts. Such cases meet the criteria of a serious anxiety disorder, and professional help is necessary.
Fear of failure arises in various psychiatric illnesses, said Professor Andreas Stroehle, chief physician at the clinic for psychiatry and psychotherapy at Charite Hospital in Berlin. These illnesses are typically depression and existing illnesses such as social phobias and general anxiety disorders.
"People with social phobias are afraid of other people's assessment or appraisal of them," said Birgit Mauler, chief psychologist at a clinic in Muenster. Those affected fear looking like failures in the eyes of other people. This can be strictly limited to the anxiety one feels before taking an examination, or the affected person fears all situations in which he has contact with other people. Typically, this turns into avoidance behaviour, said Stroehle.
"This leads to a vicious cycle because the person with the illness continues to withdraw," he added. Restlessness, difficulty sleeping and tension often occur as physical symptoms. Many people also attempt to compensate for their fear, said Mauler. They study even harder in order not to fail.
People affected by general anxiety have exaggerated fears of ordinary things. That applies to work-related and health worries to basic questions about possessions, such as a car and how much longer it can last, said Mauler. These disorders arise particularly in people who suddenly have more responsibility, when they start their first job, for example, or after their first child.
But it doesn't matter what the basis of an illness is, fear is actually a natural driving force, said Professor Borwin Bandelow of the psychiatric clinic at the university of Goettingen. People with anxiety disorders, however, massively overestimate their fears.
"Someone firmly believes they will mess up an examination that he already has mastered many times," Bandelow said. If the anxiety becomes so strong that it affects daily life, a doctor should be consulted.
Alarm bells should go off when people with anxiety symptoms no longer do the things they actually enjoy doing, said Stroehle. People can get help in clinics and from resident psychologists and psychotherapists. There they receive medication or psychotherapy. In most cases this is a cognitive behavioural therapy in which it is especially important to address avoidance behaviour, possibly through confrontation exercises.
The duration of psychotherapy varies. Some patients only have to be helped through a difficult period in their life. Others work with their therapist for a year or longer. If the anxiety is not advanced, it also helps to talk to friends and ask how they handle their anxieties, said Mauler.
"The social network can provide good support right at the start."
