A relatively permanent state of worry and nervousness occurring in a variety of mental disorders, usually accompanied by compulsive behavior or attacks of panic. This condition should not be confused with nervousness and other anxiety commonly experienced by everyone during a stress situation. The exact cause of GAD is not fully known, but a number of factors — including genetics, brain chemistry and environmental stresses — appear to contribute to its development.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
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August 17, 2021
- Posted by: MinHealthWellness
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What is it?
Signs and Symptoms
Pounding heart/chest pain, sweating, trembling, shaking, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, wanting to throw up, stomach pain, fainting or feeling faint, fear of losing control or confused.
Types of Anxiety Disorders
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a type of anxiety disorder. If you have OCD, you have repeated, upsetting thoughts called obsessions. You do the same thing over and over again to try to make the thoughts go away. Those repeated actions are called compulsions.
Examples of obsessions are a fear of germs or a fear of being hurt. Compulsions include washing your hands, counting, checking on things or cleaning. Untreated, OCD can take over your life.
Panic disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent unexpected panic attacks and the individual’s response to those attacks. A panic attack is a surge of intense fear and discomfort that usually peaks within ten minutes, but can last as long as several hours. Females are twice more likely to be affected than males, and the gender difference is observed as early as adolescence.
Panic Attack Symptoms
Panic attacks are associated with the following physiological and cognitive symptoms.
- Heart palpitations
- Sweating
- Trembling or shaking
- Shortness of breath
- Feelings of choking
- Chest pain or discomfort
- Nausea or abdominal distress
- Feeling dizzy, unsteady, light-headed, or faint
- Chills or heat sensations
- Numbness or tingling sensations
- Feelings of unreality or being detached from oneself
- Fear of losing control or “going crazy”
- Fear of dying
Treatment of Panic Disorder
Both medication and psychotherapy can effectively treat panic disorder. Medications typically prescribed are anti-anxiety medications and antidepressants. A combination of medication and psychotherapy is found to be most effective.
A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder. It is a strong, irrational fear of something that poses little or no actual danger. There are many specific phobias.
- Acrophobia is a fear of heights.
- Agoraphobia is a fear of public places, and claustrophobia is a fear of closed-in places. If you become anxious and extremely self-conscious in everyday social situations, you could have a social phobia.
- Claustrophobia: Fear of being in constricted, confined spaces
- Other common phobias involve tunnels, highway driving, water, flying, animals and blood.
People with phobias try to avoid what they are afraid of. If they cannot, they may experience
- Panic and fear
- Rapid heartbeat
- Shortness of breath
- Trembling
- A strong desire to get away
Treatment helps most people with phobias. Options include medicines, therapy or both.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a real illness. You can get PTSD after living through or seeing a traumatic event, such as war, a hurricane, rape, physical abuse or a bad accident. PTSD makes you feel stressed and afraid after the danger is over. It affects your life and the people around you.
PTSD can cause problems like
- Flashbacks, or feeling like the event is happening again
- Trouble sleeping or nightmares
- Feeling alone
- Angry outbursts
- Feeling worried, guilty or sad
PTSD starts at different times for different people. Signs of PTSD may start soon after a frightening event and then continue. Other people develop new or more severe signs months or even years later. PTSD can happen to anyone, even children.
Medicines can help you feel less afraid and tense. It might take a few weeks for them to work. Therapy has been seen to be effective.