Anxiety encompasses feelings of worry, nervousness, or dread. Although unpleasant, occasional bouts of anxiety are natural and sometimes even productive: By signaling that something isn’t quite right, anxiety can help people both avoid danger and make important and meaningful changes.

GAD

Occasional anxiety is a common part of life and might revolve around things like family, health and financial problems. However, people with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) feel extremely worried or feel nervous about these and other things, even when there is little or no reason or worry about them. Individuals with GAD find is challenging to control their anxiety and stay focused on day to day tasks. This is a chronic disorder involving extreme, long-lasting anxiety. GAD is the most common anxiety disorder, and people with the disorder are not always able to identify the cause of their anxiety. Symptoms may get better or worse at different times, and they are often worse during times of stress, such as with a physical illness, during exams at school, or during a family or relationship conflict.

panic

People with panic disorder have persistent unexpected panic attacks. Panic attacks are unexpected periods of intense fear that come on quickly and reach their peak within minutes. Attacks can occur unexpectedly or can be brought on by a trigger, such as a feared object or situation.

During a panic attack, people may experience:

• Heart palpitations, a pounding heartbeat, or an accelerated heart rate

• Sweating

• Trembling or shaking

• Sensations of shortness of breath, smothering, or choking

• Feelings of impending doom

• Feelings of being out of control

People with panic disorder often worry about when the next attack will happen and actively try to prevent future attacks by avoiding places, situations, or behaviors they associate with panic attacks. Worry about panic attacks, and the effort spent trying to avoid attacks, cause significant problems in various areas of the person’s life, including the development of agoraphobia.

phobia

A phobia is an intense fear of—or aversion to—specific objects or situations. Although it can be realistic to be anxious in some circumstances, the fear people with phobias feel is out of proportion to the actual danger caused by the situation or object.

People with a phobia:

• May have an irrational or excessive worry about encountering the feared object or situation

• Take active steps to avoid the feared object or situation

• Experience immediate intense anxiety upon encountering the feared object or situation

• Endure unavoidable objects and situations with intense anxiety

Social anxiety

Social anxiety disorder (previously called social phobia): People with social anxiety disorder have a general intense fear of, or anxiety toward, social or performance situations. They worry that actions or behaviors associated with their anxiety will be negatively evaluated by others, leading them to feel embarrassed. This worry often causes people with social anxiety to avoid social situations. Social anxiety disorder can manifest in a range of situations, such as within the workplace or the school environment.

OCD

OCD is a common, chronic (long-lasting) disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions) that he or she feels the urge to repeat over and over in response to the obsession. While everyone sometimes feels the need to double check things, people with OCD have uncontrollable thoughts that cause them anxiety, urging them to check things repeatedly or perform routines and rituals for at least 1 hour per day. Performing the routines or rituals may bring brief but temporary relief from the anxiety. However, left untreated, these thoughts and rituals cause the person great distress and get in the way of work, school, and personal relationships.

causes

The causes of anxiety disorders are complicated. Many might occur at once, some may lead to others, and some might not lead to an anxiety disorder unless another is present.

Possible causes include:

• environmental stressors, such as difficulties at work, relationship problems, or family issues

• genetics, as people who have family members with an anxiety disorder are more likely to experience one themselves

• medical factors, such as the symptoms of a different disease, the effects of a medication, or the stress of an intensive surgery or prolonged recovery

• brain chemistry, as psychologists define many anxiety disorders as misalignments of hormones and electrical signals in the brain

• withdrawal from an illicit substance, the effects of which might intensify the impact of other possible causes

Treatment

EMDR therapy has become a more common treatment in recent years as a treatment option for people suffering from anxiety, panic, PTSD, or trauma. EMDR Therapy is not the only form of therapy appropriate for people dealing with anxiety, PTSD, panic, and/or trauma, and just because someone is undergoing EMDR therapy does not mean that that person cannot undergo another form of therapy at the same time. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an example of one type of psychotherapy that can help people with anxiety disorders. It teaches people different ways of thinking, behaving, and reacting to anxiety-producing and fearful objects and situations.