Anxiety disorder is a blanket term for several forms of conditions whose main root is pathological anxiety and fear. Below are brief explanations about the five major types of anxiety disorders.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder or GAD is an anxiety disorder that is described as exaggerated worry, chronic anxiety, and tension that are focused on an object or situation. Often, even when there is very little or no reason at all to worry, people with GAD still worry. The hallmark of people with generalized anxiety disorder is that they anticipate disaster all the time and are overly worried about the worst-case scenarios that may happen to them or to the people close to them. For the majority of people with generalized anxiety disorder, even the thought of getting through the day is enough to cause them more than enough worry.
Panic Disorder
Panic disorder is a sudden onset wave of apprehension, fear and terror combined that is accompanied by a host of physical symptoms like sweatiness, dizziness, weakness, faintness, confusion, shaking, nausea, ‘racing heart’, and nausea.
Panic attacks can last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, often peaking within 10 to 30 minutes after the initial symptoms have occurred. An attack may occur suddenly, even during sleep. The triggers is not exactly know although most common causes are identified as exercising or any strenuous physical activity, stress, and intense fear.
Phobias or Phobic Disorders
The largest group of anxiety disorders is phobia or phobic disorders. People with phobia most frequently experience or anticipate intense levels of fear and anxiety as they encounter the object or situation they most fear, which can be anything from a location, a small animal, or a bodily fluid. In anxiety disorder talk, agoraphobia and social anxiety disorder are the most common complaints.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, better known as OCD, is the anxiety disorder that is characterized by unwanted and recurrent thoughts with repetitive behaviors. People suffering from OCD try to fight off their obsessive thoughts or obsessions by doing repetitive behaviors. While initially people with OCD satisfy their goal of controlling these thoughts with behaviors, they often end up being controlled by their compulsive behaviors. Still, compulsions such as checking, counting, hand washing, and cleaning are performed to ease the anxiety caused by their obsessions. Relief from anxiety, then, are temporary.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is an anxiety disorder that develops as a result of one’s exposure to a traumatic or terrifying experience or ordeal in which a person experienced physical harm. Traumatic events that may cause PTSD to develop could be anything from natural disasters to military combats to accidents.
People with PTSD have persistent and recurrent frightening memories and thoughts of their ordeal, often forcing them to feel emotionally numb to people they were once close to. Left untreated, these memories could live with them to their deathbed.
If you suspect that some of the symptoms of any of any anxiety disorder could be happening to you, it is best that you seek medical help soon.
To find out whether the symptoms you are experiencing are signs of a particular disorder, it is advisable that you first seek the professional advice of your physician. From there, your physician could recommend you to a clinician or a psychologist to look into your anxiety disorder.