Introduction

Anxiety disorder is a blanket term covering several different forms of abnormal, pathological anxiety, fears, phobias.

Unlike the relatively mild, brief anxiety caused by a stressful event (such as speaking in public or a first date), anxiety disorders last at least 6 months and can get worse if they are not treated.

Panic Disorder

People with this condition have feelings of terror that strike suddenly and repeatedly with no warning.  During a panic attack, the fear response is out of proportion for the situation, which often is not threatening. Over time, a person with panic disorder develops a constant fear of having another panic attack, which can affect daily functioning and general quality of life. Panic disorder often occurs along with other serious conditions, such as depression, alcoholism or drug abuse.

Social Anxiety Disorder

Social anxiety disorder, also called social phobia, involves overwhelming worry and self-consciousness about everyday social situations.

The worry often centers on a fear of being judged by others, or behaving in a way that might cause embarrassment or lead to ridicule. People who have social anxiety disorder, often get very nervous around other people. People with social anxiety disorder suffer from distorted thinking, including false beliefs about social situations and the negative opinions of others. They often feel like everyone is watching and judging them. 

Without treatment, social anxiety disorder can negatively interfere with the person's normal daily routine, including school, work, social activities and relationships.This fear often keeps them from people, places,  The anxiety can build into a panic attack.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition that can develop following a traumatic and/or terrifying event, such as a sexual or physical assault, the unexpected death of a loved one, or a natural disaster. People with PTSD often have lasting and frightening thoughts and memories of the event, and tend to be emotionally numb.

PTSD affects over 8 million Americans. It can happen to anyone after a serious trauma. The signs of PTSD might not appear right away. In some cases, they show up months or years later.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a potentially disabling illness that traps people in endless cycles of repetitive thoughts and behaviors.

People with Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), are plagued by constant thoughts or fears that cause them to perform certain rituals or routines. The disturbing thoughts are called obsessions, and the rituals are called compulsions. An example is a person with an unreasonable fear of germs who constantly washes his or her hands. This OCD cycle can progress to the point of taking up hours of the person's day and significantly interfering with normal activities.

People with OCD may be aware that their obsessions and compulsions are senseless or unrealistic, but they cannot stop themselves.About 1 in 50 Americans, as many as 5 million, have OCD at some point in their lives. 

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

This disorder involves excessive, unrealistic worry and tension, even if there is little or nothing to provoke the anxiety.

Test Anxiety

Test anxiety is the uneasiness, apprehension, or nervousness felt by students who have a fear of failing an exam. Because test anxiety hinges on fear of negative evaluation, debate exists as to whether test anxiety is itself a unique anxiety disorder or whether it is a specific type of social phobia.

Specific Phobias

A specific phobia is an intense fear of a specific object or situation, such as a fear of spiders, darkness, snakes, heights or flying. It becomes a phobia when the level of fear usually is inappropriate to the situation and may cause the person to avoid common, everyday situations.

Symptoms

Although every anxiety sufferer does not experience anxiety attacks, they are a common symptom. 

Emotional symptoms of anxiety include:

• a fear (such as that one has a mental illness, disease or will die);
  
• they may feel the need to avoid certain stressful situations or social situations due to fear of embarrassment.
  
• There may be considerable confusion and irritability when the anxiety is taking place.
  

Physical symptoms include, but are not limited to:

• hot flushes
• chest pain
• sudden tiredness
• headaches
• shortness of breath
• problems digesting
• nausea