Different Types of Anxiety

Anxiety is the hallmark of Anxiety Disorders. In Panic Disorder without Agoraphobia and in Generalized Anxiety Disorder, anxiety is the main experience. In Phobic Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, chronic anxiety arises only as the person comes into contact with or thinks about particular situations.

Phobias. A persistent, exaggerated and unrealistic fear of a usually non-threatening situation, person, or object is a phobia. An example might be a terrible fear of large dogs, called cynophobia. A person with this phobia experiences panic symptoms if he or she comes close to, or even sees, a large dog. If the phobia escalates, the person may become terrified of even small, harmless-looking dogs and may experience a full blown panic attack in response to the phobic terror.

Obsessive-compulsive behavior, an anxiety disorder. It is less common to depression than are phobia and panic, although major depression may contribute to its onset. People who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder realize that their obsessive thoughts and ritualistic behaviors are unreasonable, but they are compelled to perform them just the same. The more they perform the compulsive act, the more they control their anxiety. If they fail to perform the compulsive act, they are overcome with acute anxiety.

Panic disorder. This biological/mental disorder goes beyond any isolated incidents of panic a person may experience as a natural response to a threat. Panic disorder consists of recurrent episodes of sudden, unpredictable, intense fear accompanied by physical symptoms such as palpitations, chest pain, and faintness.

This disorder, which often begins in the early to mid-twenties, is suffered by more than one out of 100 of the population at any given time. About five in 100 Americans experience milder panic symptoms and severe anxiety.

Three or more panic attacks within three weeks that are unrelated to extreme or life-threatening situations or phobias confirm panic disorder. Many people who suffer from panic disorder are depressed. Like anxiety, panic can often be successfully treated with a combination of medication and psychotherspy.

A panic attack is an immobilizing fear of an imagined threat, so much so that the need to escape becomes an obsession. The feeling of panic is urgent and immediate. Panic usually comes on suddenly, and includes symptoms of extreme fear, feeling faint, trembling, palpitations, feelings of choking or smothering, dizziness, a sense of unrealness or impending death, clammy palms, profuse sweating, or chills. These symptoms can appear in an instant, and the person often feels that he is losing his mind, in effect having anxiety psychosis.