Columns

Pop quiz: what’s the most common mental health disorder in New Zealand? If you’ve seen John Kirwin on TV, you probably answered depression. If you’ve read Te Rau Hinengaro: The New Zealand Mental Health Survey (or copied from the guy sitting next to you) you might have answered anxiety disorders. Or you could have just guessed C and moved on.

Given that 15.1 per cent of people our age (16-24) meet the criteria for major depressive disorder at some point, depression’s not a bad guess. Heck, if you look at all mood disorders that number creeps up to 20.7 per cent (that’s one in five people), making it about as common as cougars at Fever on any given Saturday.

The level of anxiety disorders in New Zealand is even larger than said cougars, however (which is staggering considering the waistline on some of them). 23.9 per cent of people our age have some form of anxiety disorder. Last week we briefly touched on one manifestation of this (panic attacks) before diverting to a gay-joke-riddled spiel on not making gay jokes. This week I want to pick up where we left off.

Panic attacks are severe attacks of fear and anxiety that hit without reason or warning. In terms of vindictive combinations of symptoms, this one takes the cake. One is an irrational fear of dying, and others include things like chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath, and light-headedness. Y’know – the rational “oh shit, I’m dying” kind of symptoms.

Attacks usually last 5-10 minutes but can go on much longer, with symptoms surging and resurging throughout. Most people only need to ride them out, understand that it’s not because of any underlying physical problem, and focus on breathing deeply and slowly.

For a small minority of people, however, further steps like antidepressants or therapy are needed. People with panic disorder (frequently recurring panic attacks with persistent concerns about their health) can have further problems like agoraphobia if left unchecked, so if anxiety’s got you worried, see your doc.