Anxiety Disorder Manifests Itself in Different Ways

Drugs do Exist for Treatment

There are several different types of abnormal, pathological anxieties, fears, phobias and nervous conditions that can occur suddenly or gradually over a span of years. One common blanket term for these illnesses is anxiety disorder. This type of disorder may result in the impairment or prevention of normal daily routines in a person where both anxiety and fear are an omnipresent emotions.

Though the term anxiety as well as fear have scientifically different interpretations, in common parlance the two terms are used interchangeably. However, in the case of phobia, we have a form of anxiety and can be defined as being a fear that persists or is irrational. Fear is defined as an emotional as well as physiological reply to external threats, or at least perceived threats. An example of such perceived external threats may be the fear a person has that they are about to lose control of their car and crash, despite there being no evidence that this is in danger of happening.

Types of Disorders

The different types of anxiety disorders include panic disorder, agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder (social phobia), specific phobia or simple phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. The panic disorder relates to experiencing periods of fear that is very intense or is a psychological distress that comes about abruptly and lasts as little as half an hour and common symptoms are trembling, shortness of breath, palpitations of the heart, sweating, nausea, dizziness and hyperventilation as well as tingling sensations and also a feeling of being choked.

Social anxiety disorders are an experiencing of fear, apprehension or worry in respect to certain social situations as well as being worried about how they are perceived or evaluated by other people. This is a psychiatric disorder and the patient needs psychiatric treatment. Specific phobia occurs when there is any type of anxiety disorder that can be thought of as being unreasonable or an irrational feeling of fear that is caused by being exposed to definite objects or situations. The affected person is prone to actively avoiding direct contact with the object or situation.

The generalized anxiety disorder is a condition which has the characteristics of excessive as well as uncontrollable worrying about normal everyday activities. There is a disproportionate intensity as well as duration of this form of anxiety disorder in relation to the actual source of worry and causes the patient to have his or her daily life disrupted.

While obsessive-compulsive disorder is really a psychiatric disorder and more specifically an anxiety disorder that manifests itself in a number of different ways but is mainly linked to obsessive thinking as well as related compulsions that are used to counteract the fixation. Finally, the post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder that is caused by exposure to or confrontation with stressful experiences, which are considered highly traumatic by the patient.

An anxiety disorder can, in most cases be debilitating and are chronic and may begin at a young age or may suddenly be initially triggered by some event or situation. However, there are many drugs that can be used to treat these conditions such as SSRIs, but that is a topic for another article. Irregardless, it helpful to understand that hope is not lost for people suffering from anxiety disorders.