Many people think of anxiety disorders as something like a fear of walking into a room full of strangers, or perhaps a strong fear of public speaking. They might recognize a condition like agoraphobia, a fear of leaving the home or going into open spaces, as an anxiety disorder, but don’t think much beyond that. But there are other types of social phobias and disorders that fall into this category, some of which receive very little attention from the general public. And all of them have characteristics that make them difficult either to diagnose or to treat.
Eating disorders may be distantly recognized by most people as having some relation to anxiety, but they are probably more associated in people’s minds with things like peer pressure or obsessive compulsive behavior. But conditions like anorexia, bulimia or binge eating, while they are all associated with eating and a preoccupation with body weight or shape, can sometimes stem from traumatic experiences like child abuse or anxieties produced by family or peer pressure. Disorders that relate to eating behaviors are indeed anxiety disorders. Even if there are also some physical causes, the underlying anxieties are often the trigger for the conditions.
Of the many sorts of anxiety disorders, a phobia about going to school can be among the hardest to diagnose. In fact, some people would have a hard time believing that there is such a phobia, interpreting a child’s fear as shyness or lack of self-confidence. And because the most prominent symptoms of this social phobia are physical, such as vomiting, lethargy or physical pain, physical causes are usually sought first. But it’s important to recognize this very real anxiety disorder and treat it, or the child could wind up suffering from other mental conditions for years to come.
Panic disorders constitute another one of the anxiety disorders that are a bit quirky. That is, a person may often experience an anxiety attack that is associated with one of the other common disorders, yet in this case, that sort of attack is almost all there is to the condition. This shows how difficult it can be to diagnose some of these disorders. In the uncertain realm of anxiety conditions, a doctor needs to keep a keen eye open to be sure the diagnosis and treatment are correct.
Sometimes anxiety disorders are hard to diagnose, and while the symptoms may suggest one type of condition, the problem is really a different one altogether. The more obscure or tricky disorders give doctors a run for their money, as they try to figure out exactly what’s wrong.
Mental anxiety disorder is a debilitating condition, one that millions of people deal with on a daily basis. Click here to learn some effective techniques to reduce anxiety and get your life back on track.