Anxiety The Types And Symptoms | anxiety symptoms
When is anxiety part of normal life and when is it considered an anxiety disorder? Although everyone experiences anxiety, those with an anxiety disorder have anxiety that is more intense, lasts longer, or leads to phobias that interfere with life. Four common types of anxiety disorders are panic disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia or social anxiety, and generalized anxiety disorder.
Panic disorder is an attack of intense fear that seems to come without cause or warning. It usually only lasts a few minutes, but in those few minutes you suffer from shortness of breath, heart palpitations, trembling, dizziness, sweating, chest pain, feelings of unreality, and fears of dying.
If you have suffered from two or more of these attacks and spend a month or more after your attack worrying about having another one, you would be diagnosed with panic disorder.
Agoraphobia is related to panic disorder. Although agoraphobia is often translated to fear of open spaces, it encompasses much more. Agoraphobia is a fear of panic attacks. With agoraphobia, you avoid situations that you feel could lead to a panic attack. Agoraphobia is not only fear of having a panic attack, but also fear of what other people will think about you if they see you having a panic attack.
Social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, is a fear of embarrassment or humiliation in public situations. This fear might be mistaken for shyness, but goes much further than typical introversion.
Social anxiety might be based around specific situations, such as fear of blushing in public or fear of eating in public or it might be generalized social phobia which covers a wide range of social situations from small talk to dating.
If you worry constantly, you may suffer from generalized anxiety disorder. With general anxiety disorder, you suffer from chronic anxiety for at least six months but do not have panic attacks, phobias, or obsessions. With generalized anxiety disorder, you worry about two or more stressful life circumstances but your worry is out of proportion with the likelihood of the events that you fear happening.
Symptoms of generalized anxiety include irritability, muscle tensions, difficulty sleeping, difficulty concentrating, restlessness, and fatigue.
Anxiety disorders are extremely common. Fortunately, they are also treatable. Exercise, a healthy diet, relaxation techniques, and therapy can help ease any of these anxieties.
