What Are The Different Types Of Anxiety Disorder
This section provides an overview of the most common types of anxiety disorders.
- Generalised anxiety disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
Generalised anxiety disorder
GAD is common. The main symptom of GAD is over worrying about different activities and events. This may feel out of your control. You feel anxious a lot of the time if you have GAD. You might feel on edge and alert to your surroundings.
This can affect your day-to-day life. You might find that it affects your ability to work, travel places or leave the house. You might also get tired easily or have trouble sleeping or concentrating. You might have physical symptoms, such as muscle tension and sweating.
It is common to have other conditions such as depression or other anxiety disorders if you have GAD.
GAD can be difficult to diagnose because it does not have some of the unique symptoms of other anxiety disorders. Your doctor is likely to say you have GAD if you have felt anxious for most days over six months and it has had a bad impact on areas of your life.
Panic disorder
You will have regular panic attacks with no particular trigger if you have panic disorder. They can happen suddenly and feel intense and frightening. You may also worry about having another panic attack.
Panic disorder symptoms can include the following.
You may also dissociate during a panic attack. Such as feeling detached from yourself.
Social anxiety disorder
Some common situations where you may experience anxiety are the following.
How Can I Help A Loved One
Supporting a loved one who is experiencing an anxiety disorder can be difficult. You may not understand why your loved one feels or acts a certain way. Some people who experience an anxiety disorder feel like they have to do things a certain way or avoid things or situations, and this can create frustration or conflict with others. You may feel pressured to take part in these behaviours or adjust your own behaviours to protect or avoid upsetting a loved one. Support can be a delicate balance, but you should expect recoveryin time.
Causes Of Anxiety Disorder
Some causes of anxiety disorders are:
- Genetics. Anxiety disorders can run in families.
- Brain chemistry. Some research suggests anxiety disorders may be linked to faulty circuits in the brain that control fear and emotions.
- Environmental stress. This refers to stressful events you have seen or lived through. Life events often linked to anxiety disorders include childhood abuse and neglect, a death of a loved one, or being attacked or seeing violence.
- Drug withdrawal or misuse. Certain drugs may be used to hide or decrease certain anxiety symptoms. Anxiety disorder often goes hand in hand with alcohol and substance use.
- Medical conditions. Some heart, lung, and thyroid conditions can cause symptoms similar to anxiety disorders or make anxiety symptoms worse. Itâs important to get a full physical exam to rule out other medical conditions when talking to your doctor about anxiety.
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What Are Treatments For Anxiety
Once youve been diagnosed with anxiety, you can to explore treatment options with your doctor. For some people, medical treatment isnt necessary. Lifestyle changes may be enough to cope with the symptoms.
In moderate or severe cases, however, treatment can help you overcome the symptoms and lead a more manageable day-to-day life.
Treatment for anxiety falls into two categories: psychotherapy and medication. Meeting with a therapist or psychologist can help you learn tools to use and strategies to cope with anxiety when it occurs.
The Healthline FindCare tool can provide options in your area if you need help finding a mental health specialist.
Medications typically used to treat anxiety include antidepressants and sedatives. They work to balance brain chemistry, prevent episodes of anxiety, and ward off the most severe symptoms of the disorder. Read more about anxiety medicines and the benefits and advantages of each type.
Lifestyle changes can be an effective way to relive some of the stress and anxiety you may cope with every day. Most of the natural remedies consist of caring for your body, participating in healthy activities, and eliminating unhealthy ones.
These include:
- avoiding caffeine
- quitting smoking cigarettes
If these lifestyle changes seem like a positive way to help you eliminate some anxiety, read about how each one worksplus, get more great ideas for treating anxiety.
Can Foods Treat Anxiety
Medication and talk therapy are commonly used to treat anxiety. Lifestyle changes, like getting enough sleep and regular exercise, can also help. In addition, some research suggests the foods you eat may have a beneficial impact on your brain if you frequently experience anxiety.
These foods include:
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Do You Need More Help
Contact a community organization like the Canadian Mental Health Association to learn more about support and resources in your area.
Founded in 1918, the Canadian Mental Health Association is the most established, most extensive community mental health organization in Canada. Through a presence in more than 330 communities across every province and one territory, CMHA provides advocacy and resources that help to prevent mental health problems and illnesses, support recovery and resilience, and enable all Canadians to flourish and thrive.
Causes And Risk Factors
The exact causes of anxiety disorders arent fully understood. These disorders can occur due to environmental causes, genetic causes, or both. Some possible causes of anxiety disorders include:
- traumatic events
- underlying medical conditions, such as diabetes, thyroid disorders, chronic pain, or drug/alcohol misuse
- side effects of medication
Certain risk factors can increase your risk of developing an anxiety disorder, such as trauma or chronic stress. Other risk factors include certain personality types, a family history of anxiety disorders, depression or other mental health disorders, and stress caused by serious illnesses.
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What Are The Symptoms Of Anxiety
Anxiety feels different depending on the person experiencing it. Feelings can range from butterflies in your stomach to a racing heart. You might feel out of control, like theres a disconnect between your mind and body.
Other ways people experience anxiety include nightmares, panic attacks, and painful thoughts or memories that you cant control. You may have a general feeling of fear and worry, or you may fear a specific place or event.
Symptoms of general anxiety include:
- increased heart rate
- trouble concentrating
- difficulty falling asleep
Your anxiety symptoms might be totally different from someone elses. Thats why its important to know all the ways anxiety can present itself. Read about the many types of anxiety symptoms you might experience.
Can Anxiety Disorders Be Prevented
You cant prevent anxiety disorders. But you can take steps to control or reduce your symptoms:
- Check out medications: Talk to a healthcare provider or pharmacist before taking over-the-counter medications or herbal remedies. Some of these contain chemicals that may make anxiety symptoms worse.
- Limit caffeine: Stop or limit how much caffeine you consume, including coffee, tea, cola and chocolate.
- Live a healthy lifestyle: Exercise regularly and eat a healthy, balanced diet.
- Seek help: Get counseling and support if you experienced a traumatic or disturbing event. Doing so can help prevent anxiety and other unpleasant feelings from disrupting your life.
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Physical Symptoms Of Gad Include:
- insomnia
Problems associated with GAD are:
- constant restlessness and feeling on edge.
- feeling of being without control
- low energy levels and tiredness
- tense back, neck and shoulder muscles
- difficulty concentrating or focusing on a task
- obsessing over negative and anxiety causing thoughts. Magnifying small events out of all proportion.
GAD is also common among people with panic disorders and obsessive compulsive disorders.
Oversized Sense Of Danger
What it feels like: Youre in a slasher movie being stalked by a serial killer.
Whats actually going on: Youre at a party with your friends.
Anxiety and panic disorders give you an oversized sense of danger. Things that might ordinarily give you or someone else a little case of the jitters feel like literal life and death.
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What Are Some Drug Interactions For Anti
Benzodiazepines
- Alprazolam increases blood levels of the antidepressants imipramine and desipramine. Alprazolam may also interact with some calcium channel blockers and with grapefruit juice. Carbamazepine decreases blood levels of alprazolam.
- Combining benzodiazepines with alcohol or other central nervous system depressants can cause increased sedation and potentially dangerous respiratory depression.
- Fluoxetine, propoxyphene, and oral contraceptives increase blood levels of alprazolam , as do ketoconazole, itraconazole, nefazodone, fluvoxamine, and erythromycin.
- Oral antifungal agents such as ketoconazole and itraconazole may significantly decrease blood levels of clonazepam .
- Serious side effects, including respiratory arrest, may occur if lorazepam is combined with clozapine. Dosage of lorazepam should be halved when taken with valproate or probenecid.
- Theophylline and aminophylline may affect the sedative effects of lorazepam.
- Several drugs can increase the blood levels of triazolam , including isoniazid, oral contraceptives, and ranitidine. Ketoconazole, itraconazole, and nefazodone have a profound effect on triazolam metabolism and should not be taken with it. Grapefruit juice also increases the amount of triazolam in the blood.
- Triazolam may interact with calcium channel blockers, antidepressants, ergotamine, amiodarone, and cyclosporine.
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors
Tricyclic Antidepressants
MAOIs
Serotonin Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors
Buspirone
How Anxiety Disorders Affect People
For people dealing with anxiety disorders, symptoms can feel strange and confusing at first. For some, the physical sensations can be strong and upsetting. For others, feelings of doom or fear that can happen for no apparent reason can make them feel scared, unprotected, and on guard. Constant worries can make a person feel overwhelmed by every little thing. All this can affect someone’s concentration, confidence, sleep, appetite, and outlook.
People with anxiety disorders might avoid talking about their worries, thinking that others might not understand. They may fear being unfairly judged, or considered weak or scared. Although anxiety disorders are common, people who have them may feel misunderstood or alone.
Some people with anxiety disorders might blame themselves. They may feel embarrassed or ashamed, or mistakenly think that anxiety is a weakness or a personal failing. Anxiety can keep people from going places or doing things they enjoy.
The good news is, doctors today understand anxiety disorders better than ever before and, with treatment, a person can feel better.
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How Generalised Anxiety Disorder Is Treated
GAD can have a significant effect on your daily life, but several different treatments are available that can ease your symptoms.
These include:
- medicine such as a type of antidepressant called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
With treatment, many people are able to control their anxiety levels. But some treatments may need to be continued for a long time and there may be periods when your symptoms worsen.
Anxiety Disorders Can Have Serious Effects
An anxiety disorder may lead to social isolation and clinical depression, and can impair a persons ability to work, study and do routine activities. It may also hurt relationships with friends, family and colleagues. Its common for depression and anxiety to happen at the same time. Depression can be a serious illness with a high risk of self-harm and suicide.
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Treating Anxiety Disorders: Medication And Other Help
Treatment options for anxiety disorders are based on the specific type of disorder and other factors, such as the presence of other mental health disorders or medical conditions. Some of the more common methods of treating anxiety disorders include:
- Psychotherapy: talk therapy or counseling, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, to reduce symptoms
- Medication: anti-anxiety medications, antidepressants, or sedatives and other types of medication for short-term relief
- Alternative health approaches: herbal remedies are taken with a doctors supervision and lifestyle changes, such as physical activity and stress management techniques
This page does not provide medical advice.
What Kind Of Anxiety Disorder Do You Have
As with every health issue, an accurate diagnosis is essential. A few common anxiety disorders include:
- Generalized anxiety disorder: A pattern of excessive worry about a variety of issues on most days for at least six months, often accompanied by physical symptoms, such as muscle tension, a hammering heart, or dizziness.
- Social anxiety disorder: Feeling significant anxiety in social situations or when called on to perform in front of others, such as in public speaking.
- Phobias: A particular animal, insect, object, or situation causes substantial anxiety.
- Panic disorder: Panic attacks are sudden, intense episodes of heart-banging fear, breathlessness, and dread. Its the feeling youd have if you just missed being hit by a Mack truck but for people with panic disorder there is no Mack truck, says Dr. Beresin.
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Combining Psychotherapy And Medication
Both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy have been shown to be more effective than control groups. However, whereas drugs are mostly compared with placebo controls, the evidence for psychotherapy in anxiety disorders is mainly based on comparisons with a wait-list, a control method that was used in 70% to 75% of the studies in adults and children.,, Because pill placebos have higher effect sizes than waitlist controls, the effect size differences between active and control conditions cannot be compared between psychotherapy and medication studies. Therefore, our research group conducted a large meta-analysis of all available controlled short-term studies for anxiety disorders and compared the pre-post effect size differences between medications and psychotherapies. In this meta-analysis, which was based on studies with around 35 000 patients, medications were associated with a significantly higher average pre-post effect size than psychotherapies . It was also found that patients included in psychotherapy studies were less severely ill than those recruited for medication trials.
The meta-analysis also showed that combinations of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy had a relatively high effect size . However, only a few combination studies were available for this comparison, and some of these have not been conducted with the most powerful drugs.
For The Routine Everyday Scaries There Are Different Options
If the signs above seem extreme, and you simply feel like you worry because of the typical day to dayor some stressful but temporary eventsthat’s better news, though not exactly great. And welcome to the club.
At Sunday Scaries, we know how much stress sucks because weve been there. Our company was founded by two entrepreneurs who wanted a way to chill the & **% out and combat, well, the everyday scaries. You might want to check out these blogs for some tips on de-stressing and handling some of the routine stuff life throws your way:
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