Anxiety is a feeling of excessive worry and fear. It is often accompanied by physical symptoms such as perspiration, tension, shortness of breath, and an elevated heart rate. People with anxiety disorders often find it difficult to control or suppress these feelings, which can then interfere greatly with their daily functioning and cause noticeable distress.
Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental health conditions in the U.S. They affect about 40 million Americans and happen to nearly 30% of adults at some point. Anxiety disorders most often begin in childhood, adolescence or early adulthood.
Anxiety can manifest in a variety of ways including:
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Those with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) show excessive anxiety or worry, most days for at least 6 months, about a range of things such as personal health, social interactions, their professional lives, and even routine life circumstances. This excessive worry and even fear can cause significant problems in their social, professional/educational, and family lives.
Typical Generalized Anxiety Disorder symptoms:
Feeling restless, agitated, or on-edge
Being easily fatigued
Having difficulty concentrating/focusing
Irritability
Muscle tension
Difficulty controlling feelings of worry
Sleep problems (difficulty falling or staying asleep, restlessness, or unsatisfying sleep)
Panic Disorder
People with Panic Disorder have recurrent and unexpected panic attacks. A panic attack is a sudden periods of intense fear that comes on very quickly and reaches its peak within minutes. Attacks can occur either unexpectedly or by a triggering event, such as encountering a feared object or situation.
Typical experiences during a panic attack:
A pounding heartbeat or accelerated heart-rate
Trembling or shaking
Shortness of breath
Sweating
Feelings of impending doom
Feelings of being out of control
Individuals with Panic Disorder often live with the worry of when the next attack will occur. They will actively try to prevent a new attacks by avoiding known triggers including places, situations, or behaviors. Worry about panic attacks, and the effort spent trying to avoid attacks, causes significant problems for sufferers.
Social Anxiety
People with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) have a general intense fear of, or anxiety toward, social or performance situations. They worry that actions or behaviors associated with their anxiety will be noticed and negatively evaluated by others, which will in turn lead to feelings of embarrassment. Often, individuals with SAD will avoid social situations in order to evade any chance of being viewed negatively by others.
Selective Mutism
Selective Mutism is an anxiety disorder that typically begins in childhood and is characterized by a child’s inability to speak and communicate effectively in select social settings, such as school or around unfamiliar people. These children are able to speak and communicate in settings where they are comfortable, secure, and relaxed.
More than 90% of children with Selective Mutism also have social phobia or social anxiety.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by the experience of recurring, unwanted thoughts, ideas or sensations (obsessions) that cause an individual to feel driven to do something repetitively (compulsions) such as hand washing, checking on things, stepping in certain ways, or cleaning.
Many people without OCD have distressing thoughts or repetitive behaviors. However, these thoughts and behaviors do not typically disrupt daily life. For people with OCD, thoughts are persistent, and the repetitive behaviors are rigid and commonly cause great distress if not performed.
Phobias
Phobias are an intense fear of certain situations or objects. Some of these fears may make sense, such as a fear of snakes, bugs or riding in an airplane. But often, the level of fear doesn’t match the situation and becomes debilitating in some way.
Like with other anxiety disorders, an individual struggling with a phobia may spend a lot of time trying to avoid situations that may trigger the phobia,
Tic Disorders
Tics are sudden, involuntary movements, twitches or sounds that an individual makes repeatedly. Often, these these tics are outside of the individuals awareness and can cause significant social and emotional distress. While tics can affect individuals of all ages, they are especially prevalent in children and studies have shown that up to 25% of children experience tics at some point in time in their childhood. For most, these tics are outgrown, while for others they continue in frequency and intensity and might qualify for a diagnosis of Persistent Tic Disorder or Tourette Syndrome. Research has shown that Tic Disorder is closely related to both Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
Treatment of Anxiety
Anxiety Disorders are highly treatable. Clients who suffer from anxiety are often able to reduce or eliminate symptoms after several (or fewer) months of psychotherapy, and many patients notice improvement after just a few sessions. Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Exposure Therapy and Habit Reversal Training are all examples of first-line, empirically supported interventions for anxiety disorders. These therapies can help you uncover the underlying causes of your worries and fears; learn how to relax; look at situations in new, less frightening ways; and develop better coping and problem-solving skills. Treatment gives you the tools to overcome anxiety and teaches you how to use them.