What Type of Anxiety Disorder Can You Relate To?
Anxiety is a normal reaction from our body when we are in a dangerous situation or need strength. Sometimes our body can react to ordinary events as if they were life threatening and cause us to be anxious all the time. When this happens, it is classified as an anxiety disorder because there is no reason for the reaction. Anxiety disorders have different symptoms and causes depending on the individual and determining these is important in treating the anxiety disorder. See What is Anxiety.
General anxiety disorder (GAD) is the type of anxiety disorder most commonly diagnosed. People with general anxiety disorder feel fearful and anxious almost constantly and it never goes away even though there is really nothing to cause the feelings. Women are more likely to be diagnosed with GAD than men. These feelings of fear and anxiety can last as long as six months or even longer. Symptoms can include feeling weak and faint, head pain, trouble sleeping and an increased heart rate.
Phobias are another type of anxiety disorder. Phobias are fear of an object, place or situation. Phobias are different for different people and no one with a phobia can really explain why he is afraid of what ever it is that scares him. There is no rational reason for the fear. Everyone has fears, but anxiety disorder phobias are very overwhelming and cause people to react to the situation or object they fear with an increased heart rate and not being able to catch their breath.
Another common anxiety disorder is post traumatic stress syndrome. This is always the result of an event or experience that was very difficult like the death of a loved one, a life threatening experience, or being in a war situation. When people encounter a situation that reminds them of the trauma they experienced, they relive the experience over and over again.
There are many other anxiety disorders including obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD), agoraphobia or a fear of groups and social situations, and panic attacks, which are a reaction to anxiety.
People who suffer from OCD have persistent and urgent thoughts that won’t go away and often need to perform rituals where they do the same thing over and over or do a series of things in a certain order.
People who suffer from panic attacks have an extreme reaction to an anxiety provoking situation. Agoraphobia or the fear of social situations is when people feel like everyone is staring at them when really that is not true.
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