An Overview of Anxiety Disorders
ANXIETY disorders are psycho-somatic conditions that fill the person\'s mind with fear and uncertainty. Near 40 million Americans aged 18 years and above suffer from some kind of anxiety disorders in a given year. It should however be noted that anxiety or worry that can be attributed to a specific external event (such as a first date or the first time one has to speak in public) is NOT an anxiety disorder in medical parlance. These kinds of worries or anxieties last for a short while. For a worry, anxiety or fear to be clinically diagnosed as an anxiety disorder, the condition must last a minimum of six months and aggravate with the passage of time. In many cases, anxiety disorders arise in connection with one or more mental or physical ailments including abuse of alcohol of narcotic drugs.
Symptoms: There are several types of anxiety disorders, with different and sometimes overlapping symptoms, with different intensities. Yet, all the symptoms of all types of anxiety disorders center on excessive fear and dread.
Types: The following are some of the principal and common types of anxiety disorders and their symptoms:
- Panic Disorder: Sudden attack of terror fears, perspiration, weakness, pounding heart, dizziness. The person may feel chilled and may experience a vomit sensation, chest pain, etc. A fear of impending catastrophe engulfs the person\'s mind.
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): This happens after a traumatic event happens to a person or to someone else who may be a loved one or a stranger. The event could be rape, murder, serious physical harm, etc. PTSD symptoms usually appear within three months after the event but can also appear years later.
- Social Anxiety Disorder: This is also called Social Phobia and happens to people who are excessively self-conscious in social environments. Symptoms include blushing, reticence, trembling, nausea, etc. This kind of disorder may be specific to a certain situation or may be generalized in almost any situation outside of the family.
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): The person has persistent thoughts or obsessions that produce anxiety and resorts to abnormal rituals to alleviate the anxiety. An example of such a ritual could be washing hands over and over again, or repeatedly checking things, without reason. This problem often comes with eating disorders.
- Specific Phobias: The main symptom of this disorder is excessive fear of something without adequate justification, e.g., fear of dogs, heights, water, flying, etc.
- Generalized Anxiety Disorders: This is a condition in which the person is excessively and abnormally worried of day-to-day matters even though there is no reason for such fear; e.g., fear of losing job, money, status, etc. Trembling, twitching, hot flashes, sweating, headaches, fatigue, etc are common external symptoms. \r
Treatment: All types of anxiety disorders are treatable by a combination of medicines and psychotherapy. The medicines usually prescribed are one of the many anti-depressant drugs. However, since these drugs come with potentially serious side-effects (some of which could be fatal), the physician - preferably a psychiatrist - must be consulted.
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