Introduction To Anxiety Disorders

Hailey Harris

Brief Introduction Into Anxiety Disorders

In medical terms, an anxiety disorder usually refers to a state of nervousness or uneasiness. Anxiety disorder is one of the most common mental health disorders. It is basically defined as a critical disturbance in the mental state that can ultimately lead to chronic anxiety. It usually arises due to work pressure, highly constrained work schedules which tend to disturb the mood or behavior of a person. However, if proper anxiety treatments are not followed in time, it can even harm the mental state of a person.

A person suffering from an anxiety disorder often experiences a long-drawn-out feeling of distress or fright and discomfort. This disorder can further create a bad impact on relationships with friends, family and their colleagues.

Various Symptoms / Signs of Anxiety disorder:

So far researchers have conducted an in-depth study to determine the precise reason for anxiety disorders. Finally, they have concluded that this trouble mainly arises due to the biological factors along with various personal situations faced by an individual. This disorder not only affects the individual's behavior, thoughts, action, emotions but also their physical health. Moreover, an individual can suffer from more than one anxiety disorder at a time. Anxiety disorder is accompanied by a series of other troubles, including depression, substance abuse and/or eating disorders.

Different anxiety disorders include:

• Panic Disorder:

Panic disorder is a type of anxiety disorder. People who suffer from this disorder usually experience unexpected panic attacks which is usually accompanied by the feeling of fear. This attack can also affect the physical health of a person, thus resulting in breathing problems, severe pain in chest, racing heart, and fear of death as well as acute pain in the abdomen.

• Agoraphobia , with or without panic disorder:

This is basically a condition in which a person fails to avoid or escape from a panic attack.

• OCD or Obsessive “Compulsive Disorder:

This is an uncontrollable condition in which an individual suffers from constant, unnecessary thoughts, commonly termed as obsessions (thoughts) and compulsions (or rituals). Typical thoughts includesdoubtful temperament, serious concerns regarding contamination and much more. The various instances of compulsions include counting, checking and the systematic organization of things.

• PTSD or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder:

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is the result of a traumatic experience that might have took place in one's life. Most often the victims of war, natural disaster, sexual assault or child abduction may experience this stress disorder. The general symptoms of PTSD include nightmares, rudeness in temperament, feelings of fear as well as emotional numbness.

• Phobias:

Phobias can be categorized into two groups.

Social Phobia: It is also sometimes termed as social anxiety disorder, in which a person fears dealing with social situations and unknown environments. They may also feel self-conscious and embarrassed in small or large gatherings and depending on the severity may prevent them from leaving their own home.

Specific Phobia: In this type of anxiety disorder, a person is often beset with unreasonable fears that are specific to an object or situation i.e. fear of snakes or fear of driving. The extreme stage of specific phobia is when it prevents the person from participating in regular day activities.

• GAD or General Anxiety Disorder:

People who suffer from GAD have constant fear or worry related to daily routines, activities or events. The general symptoms include headache, loss of fatigue & nausea.