| Anxiety Disorders |
| Are There Different Types Of Anxiety Disorder? Just like depressive disorders and any other type of illness there are many different types of anxiety disorder. There are perhaps more different types of anxiety disorder than any other kind of mental illness. Anxiety disorders are the most common form of mental illness, and occur frequently. I am going to explore all the different types of anxiety disorder on this page, so there will be a lot of information, but I hope it's helpful to someone. Anxiety disorders come in all different types of severity, with some affecting people much worse than others, so just remember that not everyone will experience an anxiety disorder in the same way. |
| * Anxiety is part of normal human experience. We all know what it's like to feel tense when threatened by something, or to have butterflies in our stomach before speaking in front of a crowd. Most of us even have a phobia of something, like spiders, snakes or many other, perhaps even bizarre things. (I have a huge phobia of sailing and horses!). They make us feel sick and extremely anxious. Having an anxiety disorder though, is very different from this. The moments of anxiety are not isolated and rare, but are constant and dominating and often severely interrupt the quality of a person's life. Anxiety disorders go far beyond the occasional "nervousness". |
| Panic Attacks A panic attack is a period of intense fear or discomfort that is associated with numerous somatic and cognitive symptoms. These symptoms include - Palpitations, sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, sensations of choking or smothering, chest pain, nausea or gastrointestinal distress, dizziness or light headedness, tingling sensations, and chills or blushing and 'hot flashes'. Panic attacks generally come on very suddenly, and normally last no more than 20 minutes. A lot of people feel like they are going to die, or fear they are going crazy and that they are losing control of their emotions and their behaviour. People will usually want to escape from the place where they are having the panic attack, and sometimes people end up in A+E for fear that they are having a heart attack. Current diagnostic practices specify that a panic attack is characterized by at least four of the symptoms described above and that it is different from other forms of anxiety because of its intensity and it's sudden and episodic nature. Panic attacks do not always indicate a mental illness. About 10% of otherwise healthy people will experience an isolated panic attack each year. |
| Panic Disorder Panic attacks are not always limited to panic disorder either. They also commonly occur in social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder. Panic disorder is diagnosed when a person experiences at least two unexpected panic attacks and develops persistent concern and worry about having further attacks, or changes his or her behaviour to avoid or minimize further attacks. The number and severity of the attacks varies greatly from person to person, but an essential feature of panic disorder is the avoidance and worry. If panic attacks are caused by a drug or medication, or are caused by a general medical disorder, the diagnosis is not applicable. Panic disorder is often complicated by major depressive disorder, and alcoholism and substance abuse. Up to half of people with panic disorder will at some point develop such severe avoidance that a separate diagnosis of panic disorder with agoraphobia can be applied to them. |
| Agoraphobia Agoraphobia typically results from the fear of having a panic attack in specific situations from which escape might be difficult or embarrassing or in which help might not be available if an unexpected panic attack were to arise. Agoraphobia is generally understood as fear which manifests itself as avoidance. It can occur is several situations such as crowded places, heights, being alone, being in a crowd or standing in a line and travelling in transport such as buses, trains or cars. Severe agoraphobia can lead to extreme anxiety and avoidance which leaves some victims 'housebound' and unable to leave a very small 'safe-zone'. If treatment for anxiety is received early, the escalation into agoraphobic behaviour can be avoided. |
| Specific Phobias Having a specific phobia is a very common condition. Everyone has a fear of something, a phobia, but sometimes they become so severe they can interrupt daily living. Phobias are characterized by a marked fear of specific objects or situations. Exposure to the object of phobia, either in real life, or via the imagination or pictures of some kind results in intense anxiety, which may include a panic attack. People generally realise that their phobia is irrational, but nevertheless they try very hard to avoid the phobia or only endure it with great difficulty. The most common specific phobias include snakes, spiders, rodents, birds, dogs, bees/wasps, heights, elevators, flying, driving, water, storms, blood and injections. Most phobias which are severe enough to impair functioning persist for years or even decades without treatment. |
| Social Phobia Social phobia, or social anxiety disorder describes people with marked and persistent anxiety in social situations, including performances and speaking in public. The fear is of embarrassment or ridicule. Most people realise that their fear is unreasonable or excessive but the social situations are still avoided or are tolerated with huge discomfort. Many people with social phobia are preoccupied with concerns that others will see their anxiety (ie, sweating, trembling or blushing), or that people will notice their halted or rapid speech, or that people will judge them to be weak or stupid. Fears of losing control and fainting are also not uncommon. People with social anxiety generally begin to feel intense anxiety days or even weeks before a particular dreaded social event comes up. People with social phobia generally don't recover without treatment and their symptoms will fluctuate wildly depending on several factors until treatment is sought. |
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