What Are Anxiety Disorders?

Does the fear of the exam get your heart racing? Does a tensed feeling grip you as you are about to make that big presentation to the board? Feeling anxious and worried is a common reaction is such situations. It is, however, different, when anxiety moves to the level of a disorder that debilitates you from living a normal life. 

Types: Different type of anxiety disorders include
a) Generalized anxiety disorder: People suffering from this disorder generally have a persistent fear or worry of everyday matters. Will you manage to get to office on time? Will you be able to make the money you need? Will you be able to get sleep tonight! -All of which are valid thoughts which convert into an anxiety problem if you dwell on them too long and too hard.
b) Phobia: This is the largest category in anxiety disorders characterized by the fear of an object, person or situation. 
c) Panic disorder: The unfortunate part of this disorder is a panic attack that can be triggered by an object of fear or an intense situation which can cause the person to have difficulty in breathing, tremble, shake and often disable them for anything between 10 minutes to a few hours. 
d) Agoraphobia: Want to escape from the room but your feet won't cooperate? That's agoraphobia -a fear linked with panic disorder which makes you feel trapped.
e) Social anxiety disorder: Most of us may have experienced a form of this fear when we had to go on stage for a performance or speaking assignment. When it escalates to become a disorder, the fear manifests itself with physical symptoms and sometimes aggravates to social isolation. 
f) Post traumatic stress disorder: This is the aftermath of being in a traumatic situation like combat, natural disaster, rape and hostage situation. 

g) Other anxiety disorders: These include separation anxiety (from being separated from a person or place), situational anxiety (like claustrophobia that happens when a person is in a situation of tightly crowded places) and obsessive compulsive disorders where a person follows compulsive rituals to get relief from the anxiety. 

Causes
Anxiety disorder is a mental illness. It is not a result of personal weakness, a character flaw, or poor upbringing. Though exact causes are unclear, scientists say that disorders are caused by a combination of factors, including changes in the brain and environmental stress. Drugs, alcohol abuse, certain medical conditions and genetics are also possible triggers for anxiety disorder. 

Symptoms: It mostly includes one or more of symptoms like restlessness, irritability, concentration problems, fatigue, muscle tension and sleep disturbance

Diagnosis:
Anxiety disorders are often 'caught in the act' during a flare up or a high stress situation when the victim is unable to cope with the situation. Standardized screening clinical questionnaires such as the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale or the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale can be used to detect anxiety symptoms, and the need for a formal diagnostic assessment of anxiety disorder may be suggested. 

Treatment: It generally includes lifestyle changes, medication and therapy. If you are looking for help for an anxiety disorder, book a private appointment with us. If you wish to discuss any specific problem, you can consult a psychologist.