Anxiety Disorders

ANXIETY DISORDERS – are those that are characterized by excessive and persistent fear, worry, anxiety and related behavioral disturbances.  Anxiety involves the anticipation that a future threat may arise. Types of anxiety disorders include:

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) – marked by excessive worry about everyday events. 

Agoraphobia – characterized by a pronounced fear of a wide range of public places. People who experience this disorder often fear that they will suffer a panic attack in a setting where escape might be difficult.

Social Anxiety Disorder – a fairly common mental disorder that involves an irrational fear of being watched or judged. 

Specific Phobias – involve an extreme fear of a specific object or situation in the environment. Some examples of common specific phobias include the fear of spiders, fear of heights, or fear of snakes. 

The four main types of specific phobias involve natural events (thunder, lightning, tornadoes), medical (medical procedures, dental procedures, medical equipment), animals (dogs, snakes, bugs), and situational (small spaces, leaving home, driving). When confronted by a phobic object or situation, people may experience nausea, trembling, rapid heart rate, and even a fear of dying.

Panic Disorder – characterized by panic attacks that often seem to strike out of the blue and for no reason at all. Because of this, people with panic disorder often experience anxiety and preoccupation over the possibility of having another panic attack.

Separation Anxiety Disorder – involving an excessive amount of fear or anxiety related to being separated from attachment figures. People are often familiar with the idea of separation anxiety as it relates to young children’s fear of being apart from their parents, but older children and adults can experience it as well.