When we consider the good ways that anxiety helps us it’s easy to see that not all anxiety is a bad thing and that sometimes anxiety is actually a good thing. Like when we really need to finish that project at work or we have a test that you must study for or when we feel anxious about a task we have before us. This kind of anxiety helps us to accomplish our goals.
Anxiety disorders do just the opposite of the helpful emotion of anxiety described above. Coping with life is extremely difficult for those who have anxiety disorders due to constant interruption by anxiety. The good news is that anxiety disorders are treatable; however, it’s important to remember that anxiety disorders are serious illnesses that often grow worse when left untreated.
The diagnosis of an anxiety disorder is made when the challenges of everyday living are overwhelming. There are several types of anxiety disorders including:
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder. This type of anxiety disorder, commonly referred to as GAD, is more common among women than men and often begins in childhood. The symptoms of GAD include constant worrying about everything, aches and pains including headaches, trembling and muscle tension, always feeling tense and an inability to relax, trouble focusing, constant fatigue, irritability and grouchiness, sleep problems, and hot flashes or night sweats. GAD frequently runs in families.
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Also called OCD, this type of anxiety disorder causes frequently recurring and upsetting thoughts called obsessions. The compulsive component of this type of anxiety disorder includes repetitive actions called compulsions which are attempts to stop the obsessive thought process. People with OCD have upsetting thoughts about bacteria, fear of hurting themselves or others, and strange thoughts about religion or sexual activity, among other things. Sometimes compulsions include things like uncontrollable hand washing, excessively organizing and cleaning, counting, checking things such as constantly checking to see if you locked the door.
- Panic Disorder. Another type of anxiety disorder, Panic Disorder is present in people who have frequent, intense feelings of fear called panic attacks. Other symptoms associated with panic attacks include a rapid heartbeat, chest pain, breathing difficulty, sweating, chills, hot flashes, fear of death, feeling of ‘going crazy,’ shaking, trembling, or tingling feelings, stomach distress, feeling out of control, and dizziness. There is no rhyme or reason to panic attacks; they can happen anywhere at anytime. People who have panic attacks often begin to fear going to places where they experienced past panic attacks. Panic Disorder usually begins between the ages of 18 and 24; it can also begin during times of extraordinary stress. Women are more likely to have Panic Disorder, although it does affect some men.
- Phobia. A phobia is an abnormal fear that changes the way a person behaves. In other words, people who have a phobia are needlessly afraid of something that poses little or no actual danger. Phobias frequently involve single situations are called specific phobias. Specific phobias include things such as feeling fear the first time you meet someone, or objects such as a fear of height, flying, or the dark. Some people have social phobias which include things like fear of embarrassment, or fear that someone will look at them or laugh at them in public. Symptoms of PTSD include nightmares and other sleep problems, irritability, feeling of detachment or numbness, depression, anxiety, easy startle reaction, loss of interest in things previously enjoyed, inability to feel affection, and aggressiveness or occasional violence depending on the cause of the disorder. An amazing one out of ten Americans suffers from specific phobias; over half of those affected by phobias are women.
