Anxiety Treatment

Since anxiety is a broad term, it includes a number of anxiety disorders. When people think of anxiety, they most commonly think of the disorder called generalized anxiety disorder, but there are other disorders that fall into the category of anxiety disorders. Those are phobias, panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and social anxiety disorder.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is typically a chronic condition and people that are affected by it have difficulties that interfere with their lives on a daily basis. Sufferers usually have problems when it comes to every aspect of their life because their fears and worries are non-specific. Put simply, they worry about everything because they expect and see failure all the time.

Phobias differ from GAD in one respect in particular. While people affected by GAD worry about everything because their fear is non-specific, phobiacs worry about one thing only because their anxiety is related to a specific animal, object or even situation. Their fear is irrational and even though sufferers are usually very well aware of that fact, they can do nothing to control it. When thinking about being in a situation when they are confronted with their fear, they usually anticipate the worst and think that they will be faced with the most terrible consequences that they can think of.

Panic attacks are also a type of anxiety disorder, but here, sufferers experience sudden and brief attacks that are most commonly described as intense terror. Although the cause cannot be identified easily, the symptoms are very clear and thus easily recognizable.  The symptoms include difficulty breathing, dizziness, shaking, nausea, confusion and trembling. It is not rare that people mistake a panic attack for a heart attack. What is more, it is not rare that people who suffer from panic attacks interpret a normal change in heartbeat as abnormality and thus start panicking about it and inevitably end up with another panic attack. The most intense feeling that a person experiences during a panic episode or attack does not last for more than ten minutes, but the attack itself can last for hours. The main problem with panic attacks is that the cause is not always easy to identify, especially because the attacks can happen spontaneously and not immediately after a stressful or terrifying experience.

People who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder usually have certain obsessions that produce a compulsive behavior. For example, there are people who obsessively wash their hands or their personal items or people who can’t leave the apartment if they haven’t checked something a couple of times and the number of times that they need to check something is usually specific. Of course, there are all sorts of activities that are a product of this condition. Although most sufferers are aware of their condition, they feel that there is nothing that they can do to control it.

As the name itself suggests, post-traumatic stress disorder is a type of anxiety disorder which occurs after an extremely traumatic experience such as a serious accident, child abuse, rape, combat, bullying, hostage situations and natural disasters. Some of the most common symptoms are hypervigilance, depression, flashbacks and anger.

People with social anxiety disorder often avoid a social interaction, which, in their opinion, may cause them to be humiliated or embarrassed. They often blush, sweat and experience difficulty speaking when they find themselves in satiations that make them severely anxious. This form of anxiety disorder is potentially extremely dangerous because it can lead to social isolation.