Anxiety
disorders are a group of mental disorders characterized by exaggerated feelings of worry, stress, fear, and
nervousness.
What is Anxiety?
What is Anxiety Disorder?
Generalized Anxiety
Disorder (GAD):
Social Anxiety
Disorder:
Panic Disorder:
Agoraphobia:
Specific Phobias:
Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD):
Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder (OCD):
Substance-Induced Anxiety
Disorder
Situational Anxiety:
Selective Mutism (SM):
Separation Anxiety Disorder:
The major
types of anxiety disorders include: generalized anxiety disorder, social
anxiety disorder, panic disorder, specific phobias, agoraphobia, post-traumatic
stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, substance-induced anxiety disorder, situational anxiety, selective
mutism, and separation anxiety disorder.
In this article, we will discuss the most common types of anxiety disorders, so let’s
start.
Anxiety disorder |
What are the Most Common Types of Anxiety Disorders?
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is
the body's natural reaction to stressful situations, leading to stress, nervousness, fear, apprehension, and
worry. But it becomes a disease when it occurs without triggering.
The American
Psychological Association (APA) has defined anxiety as “an emotion
characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes
like increased blood pressure.”
When faced
with anxious triggers or potentially harmful events, feelings of anxiety are
not only common but also necessary for survival.
Since the
early days of humanity, the imminent danger and approach of predators have set
off body alarms and allowed a person to be disturbed.
These alarms
become noticeable in the form of heartburn, sweating, and surrounding
sensitivity.
Adrenaline, also known as the “fight-or-flight hormone” helps your body react
more quickly and prepares you to face physical challenges or to avoid any
danger to safety.
Adrenaline
is released in response to an exciting, dangerous, stressful or threatening
situation.
Anxieties
and concerns revolve around demands for a person's attention without work,
money, family life, health, and other serious issues that necessarily require
the ‘fight-or-flight’ response.
A person's
life needs a basic 'fight-or-flight' response before or after a difficult
circumstance or feeling worried and nervous during a difficult situation.
It may still
be necessary to survive - the worry of being killed by a car while crossing the
road, for example, means that a person will instinctively look for ways to
avoid danger.
Read here:
What is Anxiety Disorder?
Anxiety disorder is a mental health condition characterized by exaggerated feelings of
worry, stress, fear, and nervousness that are strong enough to interfere with
one's daily activities.
The more
disorders, the more they interfere in the person's daily life and affect the
quality of life.
Anxiety disorder is a common disorder in the middle of Europe and the United States of
America.
Feelings of anxiety and panic are out of proportion to the actual threat, difficult to control and may last for a long time.
Feelings of anxiety and panic are out of proportion to the actual threat, difficult to control and may last for a long time.
Anxiety disorder is a group of mental health-related conditions, each with unique symptoms.
Symptoms may
begin during childhood or adolescence and may continue into adulthood and they vary from person to person.
People with anxiety disorder usually experience one or more of the following symptoms:
Psychological
Symptoms:
- Hypervigilance, irritability, or restlessness
- Lack of concentration, unwanted thoughts or racing thoughts
- Performing certain behaviors over and over again
- Being high alert to danger signs
- Anticipating the worst
- Feeling tense or jumpy
- Feelings of apprehension or dread
- Feeling tense or jumpy
- Having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom
Physical
Symptoms:
- Sweating, twitches, and tremors
- Having an increased heart rate
- Shortness of breath or pounding
- Frequent urination, diarrhea, or upset stomach
- Headaches, fatigue and insomnia
When someone feels anxious, their body goes on high alert, looking for potential danger and activating their fight or flight responses.
Some moments of anxiety are briefer than others, ranging from a few minutes to a few days.
For most people, feelings of anxiety come and go, just for a short period of time.
Read Also:
⇒Types of Personality and Objective Methods of Personality Assessment
⇒What
are the 10 Types of Personality Disorders?
⇒Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) or Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD)
⇒What is Schizoaffective Disorder? -Difference between Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective Disorder
Types of Anxiety Disorder
There are
many anxiety disorders; the major types of anxiety disorders include GAD,
specific phobias, agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, PTSD, OCD,
separation anxiety disorder, and selective mutism. People often have more
than one anxiety disorder. Here are the details of the most common anxiety
disorders:
Generalized Anxiety
Disorder (GAD):
Generalized
anxiety disorder is the most common chronic disorder characterized by long-term
fears, persistent and excessive worry about uncertain life events, objects, and
conditions accompanied by three or more of the following symptoms:
Constant
worry, severe anxiety or fear, restlessness, fatigue, insomnia, nausea,
difficulty falling asleep, light-headedness, or sweating, irritability,
hypervigilance, unwanted thoughts, lack of concentration, emotional distress,
palpitations or trembling.
People with
a generalized anxiety disorder may be prone to disaster and may be overly
concerned about health, family, money, work or other issues.
Individuals
with GAD may find that they have problems making daily decisions, but do not
remember obligations due to lack of concentration/bias with anxiety, finding it
difficult to control their anxiety.
Causes of and risk factors for GAD may include: recent or prolonged exposure to stressful situations, excessive use of caffeine or tobacco, a family history of anxiety, and childhood abuse. People with GAD are not always able to determine the exact cause of anxiety, therefore, they should seek generalised anxiety disorder treatment from experts. They provide natural treatment without even medications.
Social Anxiety
Disorder:
Social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, is a
chronic mental health condition in which social interactions cause irrational
fear and anxiety.
People with
social phobia experience severe anxiety or fear of being condemned, judged,
humiliated, negatively evaluated or rejected in social performance.
Social
anxiety disorder often reveals specific physical symptoms, including blushing,
sweating, and difficulty speaking. An acute fear can be specific to particular
social situations or, mostly, is experienced in most (or all) social
interactions.
Social
physical anxiety (SPA) is a subtype of social concern. This is a matter of
concern over others' evaluation of someone's body.
SPA is
common among adolescents, especially among women. As with all serious
disorders, people suffering from social anxiety will often try to avoid the
source of their concern; this is especially problematic in case of social
concern, and in serious cases, social segregation can be completed.
Panic Disorder:
Panic disorder is a type of anxiety disorder characterized by a sudden episode of
intense fear, reoccurring unexpected panic attacks and feelings of terror that trigger severe physical and psychological reactions when
there is no apparent cause.
Panic disorder is usually followed by fearful experiences or long-term stress but can
also happen without a trigger.
The
APA defines panic disorder as an anxiety disorder characterized by
recurrent, unpredictable panic attacks that are associated with (a) worry about the possible
consequences of the attacks, (b) persistent anxiety about another attack, (c) a significant change in behavior related to the attacks.
A panic
attack suddenly falls in less than ten minutes and can run peaks for several
hours.
The panic attack can be triggered by irrational thinking, fear of the unknown or general fear or even exercise. However, sometimes triggers are
unclear and attacks can occur without any warning.
A person
facing a panic attack can misinterpret life as a dangerous disease.
People with
panic disorder also experience symptoms outside of specific terror episodes.
Often, normal changes in heartbeats are seen by a panic sufferer, making them
feel that there is something wrong with their heart or they are going to attack
another panic.
Identifying
the trigger can help to prevent the attack. It is being said that all attacks
cannot be stopped. The short or sudden attack of intense panic and apprehension
is characteristic of panic disorder.
To avoid
future attacks, there may be drastic changes in behavior. Moving from these
attacks can lead to confusion, dizziness, nausea, and difficulties in
breathing.
In some
cases, a heightened awareness of the body functioning occurs during panic
attacks, in which any known physical change is interpreted as a possibly
life-threatening disease.
Agoraphobia:
Agoraphobia
is a type of anxiety disorder in which a person is afraid and avoids places or
situations that may cause panic, helplessness or embarrassment.
Agoraphobia is
a specific fear about being in a place or situation where running is
difficult or embarrassing or where assistance may be unavailable. A common
expression requires the continuous view of the door or another escape
route.
Agoraphobia
is strongly associated with panic disorder and often comes out of fear of panic
attacks. In addition to fearing itself, the word agoraphobia is often used
in the context of avoidance behaviors that sufferers often develop
anxiety on driving and therefore, avoid driving.
Specific Phobias:
Specific
phobia, formerly called simple phobia, is any type of anxiety disorder that
amounts to persistent and unreasonable fear or irrational trauma related to
exposure to certain things or situations.
Specific phobia is the only major category of anxiety disorder in which fear and
anxiety is triggered by a specific stimulus or condition in all cases.
When people
come in contact with their fear, they can experience trembling, shortness of
breath, or heartbeat of a strong heart.
People
understand that their fears are not as the real potential threat but are still
overwhelmed by it.
Many people
experience specific phobias: severe and unreasonable fears of certain things or
situations. These may include heights, flying, highway driving, tunnels,
escalators, water, dogs, scorpions, and blood injuries, among many others.
Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD):
Post-traumatic
stress disorder is a mental health condition characterized by failure to
recover after witnessing or experiencing a terrifying event, causing
nightmares, flashbacks and severe anxiety.
In the past,
it was an anxiety disorder, but it has now shifted to trauma- and stress-related
disorders in DSM-V.
Post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) research began with Vietnam veterans as well
as natural and non-natural disaster victims.
Studies have
shown that the degree of exposure to disaster is considered to be the best
prediction of PTSD.
Post-trauma
stress can be a painful experience and as a result of an extreme situation,
such as natural disasters, hostage situations, rape, child abuse, bullying, war or even a serious accident.
It can also
be from chronic exposure to long-term chronic stress.
Common
symptoms include hypersensitivity, flashback, preventive behavior, anger, anxiety and depression. Apart from this, people can experience unrest in sleep
Read here:
Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder (OCD):
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder in which a person has unwanted, excessive
thoughts, recurring ideas or sensations (obsessions) that lead to repetitive
behaviors (compulsions).
OCD is a situation in which a person is obsessed (disturbing or persistent thoughts and
images) and compulsions (urges to do certain acts or rituals frequently), which
are not caused by drugs or physical order, and which cause social distress or
disorder.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder affects approximately 1-2 percent of adults (more women than men) and
less than 3 percent of children and adolescents.
A person
with OCD knows that the symptoms are unreasonable and a struggle against
thoughts and behavior. Their symptoms may be related to external events they
fear (such as burning their house down because they forget to close the
fireplace) or worrying that they will behave improperly.
Substance-Induced Anxiety
Disorder
Substance or
medication-induced anxiety disorder is severe anxiety or panic caused by taking
medications, misusing drugs, being exposed to a toxic substance or withdrawal
from drugs.
The anxiety
would not be occurring without substance abuse.
Although
some symptoms are specific to the fact that a substance is triggering anxiety,
symptoms of this disorder are often shared with symptoms associated with other
anxiety disorders.
The most
common symptoms may include:
- Problems with memory and concentration
- Being afraid of losing control
- Constantly thinking that bad things are going to happen
- Shaking and tremors
- Chest pain and pounding heartbeat
- Problems breathing
- Difficulty sleeping
- Chills and sweats
- Stomach problems such as diarrhea or nausea
Read here: The psychology behind Addiction: Symptoms, Causes, and Complications of Addictive Disorder
Situational Anxiety:
Situational
anxiety is a distinct type of anxious response that occurs during unusual
situations or events that make a person so nervous that he loses control of his
ability to calm.
Situational
anxiety is due to changes in events or new circumstances. It can also be
caused by various incidents that make that particular person uncomfortable. Its
phenomenon is very common. Often, a person will experience extreme anxiety in specific circumstances or panic attacks.
It is a situation which causes a person to feel anxiety, it cannot affect any other
person. For example, some people become uncomfortable in crowded or tight places,
so they may have to face severe anxiety, possibly a panic attack.
However,
others may face anxiety when there are major changes in life, such as
entering college, going to interviews, marrying, having children, etc.
Selective Mutism (SM):
Selective mutism is a complex childhood anxiety disorder in
which a child normally capable of speech cannot speak in
specific situations or to some people. Selective mutism is usually present with shyness or
social anxiety and typically begins in preschool.
The child prevents himself from verbal responses with select
individuals or in certain social situations, although there is no barrier to
speech.
Children with SM can speak and communicate in settings where
they feel safe, comfortable and relaxed.
Selective mutism is closely related to other anxiety
disorders, especially social anxiety disorder. In fact, most children diagnosed with selective mutism also
have a social anxiety disorder.
People who
have selective mutism remain silent even when the consequences of their silence
include bad conscience, shame, social ostracism, embarrassment or even punishment. This disorder affects about 0.8 % of people at some point in their lives.
Separation Anxiety Disorder:
Separation
anxiety disorder is a condition in which a person experiences extreme anxiety
and becomes fearful and nervous when away from home or separated from a loved
one with whom the individual has a strong emotional attachment.
Separation
anxiety is a normal part of development in children or babies and it is a
feeling of the excessive and unreasonable level of anxiety when it is
separated from a person or place.
Separation
anxiety disorder affects about 7 % of adults and 4 % of children,
but childhood cases are more serious; in some cases, even a brief separation
can cause panic.
The
treatment of a child with this anxiety can stop problems. This may include
training parents and family on how to handle a child. Often, parents will
strengthen anxiety because they do not know how to work properly with the
child.
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