Anxiety Disorders

Panic Disorder is characterized by an individual experiencing unexpected and recurring panic attacks. The individual has thoughts and concerns about expected future panic attacks or about losing control. Panic attacks and Panic Disorder can be very disabling conditions for the people who suffer from them. Sometimes they can lead to avoidance of any activity or environment which has been associated with feelings of panic in the past. Panic attacks usually begin in young adulthood, but can occur anytime during adulthood. A panic episode begins abruptly, often without warning, and peaks in about 10 minutes, but can last up to 30 minutes or longer. Untreated, this can lead to more severe and disabling disorders such as agoraphobia.

General Anxiety Disorder is also a common anxiety disorder. The person has excessive worry about a variety of events, including family, work, illness, responsibility, and unknown dangers and has been a concern for more days than not for at least 6 months. As a result, the person experiences fatigue, irritation, restlessness, difficulty concentrating and muscle tension.

Phobias, including social phobia and agoraphobia (fear of being in a public place where help might not be available in the event of an unexpected panic attack) is one of the most common mental health disorders in the United States and is marked by persistent fear that the individual typically knows is excessive or unreasonable. The fear is brought on by the presence or anticipation of an object or situation such as flying, heights, thunder, earthquakes, animals, needles, seeing blood, fear of choking, etc. Upon being exposed to the object or situation, it usually provokes anxiety which can take the form of a panic attack. Social phobia involves excessive fear of situations where the person feels scrutiny by others and a fear that he or she may act in a humiliating way. The individual will also avoid those situations so as to avoid panic and continued avoidance begins to interfere with their normal routine at work, school or social activities.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) includes symptoms of obsessions (repetitive thoughts or images that produce anxiety) and/or compulsions (the need to perform acts "correctly" or dwell on thoughts to reduce anxiety) that the individual feels he or she cannot control. Some of the common obsessive thoughts involve dirt, germs, disease, death or danger to self or loved ones. Common compulsions can include excessive hand-washing, repeating rituals such as going in and out of a door, saying particular numbers, checking appliances and door locks, and acquiring and failing to discard useless items is also common. If the individual is not able to perform the compulsions in a certain manner or number of times, the person’s anxiety increases significantly.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Stress disorders are also anxiety disorders that usually occur after a traumatic physical or psychological event. An individual experiences intense fear, terror and/or helplessness. The difference in stress disorders such as PTSD compared to other anxiety disorders are that the person can lose interest in activities, have nightmares, feel detached from others and experience a persistent re-experiencing of the event. They also experience numbing their feelings by avoiding thoughts of the trauma, are unable to recall important aspects of the trauma, unable to have loving feelings, and have a sense of a shortened future. These symptoms occur for more than one month. The traumatic event is usually one that is not common, such as death of a loved one or ordinary traffic accident. The event is either directly experienced or related to a family member or other close associate.

In children, PTSD may show different symptoms, including, extreme agitated behavior, frightening dreams, repetitive play where aspects of the trauma are expressed or reenacted.

Promising research has shown that psychotherapy both in individual and group therapy has been successful in treating certain anxiety disorders. Thought processes are often creating the stressful symptoms of anxiety. Individuals may have critical self-beliefs that fuel the anxiety. Relaxation training and other coping strategies are learned in therapy to help manage or stop the physical symptoms of anxiety.