The Different Anxiety Disorder Symptoms
Article by Emma Hudson
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, around 40 million Americans are affected by an anxiety disorder. That’s nearly 18% of the population and remember, this is only in one country. Imagine what the statistics are worldwide.
Everyone feels anxious now and again, usually about something specific that causes them stress, like having to speak in public or an upcoming social event. It’s not a pleasant sensation but this anxiety comes and goes. If you have an anxiety disorder, on the other hand, the anxiety never goes away. It is ever present and interferes with normal day to day activities.
There are six types of anxiety disorders. It is important to differentiate between the various anxiety disorder symptoms as the treatment for each is also slightly different. The anxiety disorders are:
* panic disorder, * obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), * post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), * social phobia (or social anxiety disorder), * specific phobias, and * generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
The one common symptom all of these disorders share is that of persistent fear in situations or of things that others are not threatened by. Many sufferers have trouble concentrating, they easily become irritable and restless. The physical symptoms can be very traumatic and include sweating, nausea, muscle tension, difficulty in breathing and heart palpitations.
The individual differences between the disorders are as follows:
Panic Disorder
Panic disorder is characterized by recurring panic attacks. Because these attacks come on without warning and are accompanied by rather severe physical symptoms, the sufferer feels they are losing control. They develop such a fear of the attacks happening in a public place, that they often avoid social contact and outings. This may lead to agoraphobia.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
If you are plagued by unwanted thoughts or behaviors that you are unable to control, then you may be suffering from OCD. This can manifest itself in obsessive compulsive behavior like repeatedly washing your hands, checking that you have turned off the stove twenty times and then going back to check just one more time.
Post -Traumatic Stress Disorder
As the name implies, this disorder can develop as a result of experiencing a traumatic event like war, natural disasters, physical or sexual abuse. Sometimes surviving a serious accident or witnessing a plane crash is so traumatic that the person is unable to handle it. While everyone feels psychological shock after going through or witnessing a life threatening event, this usually lifts after coping processes set in. It is when these processes are not employed that PTSD forms. There are many symptoms including flashbacks, nightmares, withdrawal from social contact, timidity, detachment, depressions, hopelessness and a feeling of betrayal.
Social Phobia
It is safe to say that most people fear being made a fool of, especially in front of their peers. It is also commonplace to feel nervous, especially when you have to face something new like giving a speech or going out on a date. This doesn’t stop most people from living a normal life however; the fear is not enough to stop them from going about their day to day activities. It is when this fear is debilitating and results in the avoidance of social situations that it becomes a social phobia. When the nervousness escalates into excessive self-consciousness, intense worry that leads you to cancel the date or get out of making the speech; when you have such a fear of being judged that you avoid people altogether, then it is a social phobia.
Phobias
Specific phobias are an intense fear of a certain object, activity or situation that are, to all intents and purposes, basically harmless. Most of us can probably acknowledge an irrational fear or two, but again it is when this fear impacts our daily life in a negative way that treatment is needed. If you are so scared of elevators that you only rent ground floor apartments or walk up ten flights of stairs rather than get into one then this is a problem. If you are so scared of injections that you break out into a cold sweat and then faint, then it is a problem.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
The physical symptoms of GAD are insomnia, restlessness, stomach problems and muscle stiffness. The mental symptoms are constant feelings of worry, fear and dread that something bad is going to happen. While there is not typically the avoidance behavior found in the previous anxiety disorders, people who suffer from GAD go about their daily tasks weighed down with worry. They can’t relax and always fear the worst.
Emma Hudson is an anxiety disorder expert. For more information on anxiety disorder symptom, visit http://www.panicattackneedtoknow.com.