Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety disorders vary as to symptoms and treatments. No matter the type, anyone suffering from one or more, knows how debilitating they can be. One such disorder is known as Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Those who are afflicted with GAD are unable to lead a normal life. They are constantly tense and worried, apparently without valid reasons. They constantly fret about things such as money or health and everything in between.

People who suffer from GAD will find it impossible to relax and will find that they are often tired and irritable. People with GAD often suffer from other types of mental health problems, such as depression, and will often be substance abusers.

Another anxiety disorder present on the spectrum is panic disorder. People suffering from panic disorder will experience panic attacks, where they develop an overwhelming and unrealistic fear that they are in some type of danger. As a result of the panic attack these people may develop phobias specific to certain conditions, a social phobia or even agoraphobia. These phobias are unnatural, uncontrollable, and overpowering. People with the phobias will go to great extremes to avoid the situation or object.

People affected by social phobias will go to any extreme to avoid a social situation - usually because they fear it may trigger a panic attack. These social situations include meeting new people, speaking in public, or even being at a busy place where they are expected to interact. Agoraphobia is a fear of being in an embarrassing situation or a fear of being unable to escape a situation. In the extreme case, an agoraphobic will be fearful of leaving their home, the home is the only place they feel safe. A person with anxiety disorder sometimes develops a specific phobia around an object or thing, such as a fear of spiders, snakes or dogs. They may even realize their fear in unfounded but still are unable to deal with the feeling of their fear.

Another type of anxiety disorder is an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). With this type of anxiety disorder a person will have frequent thoughts that are irrational but that will cause great anxiety anyway. These obsessions include worrying that they forgot to turn off the stove or an unnatural obsession with cleanliness and germs. Most times people with this type of anxiety disorder are aware of their compulsion but are unable to control their irrational behavior without the help of medication under the care of a doctor.

Individual suffering with OCD often develop ritual behaviors that they carry out compulsively. Many times these ritual behaviors can take up to an hour or two to complete each day resulting in a huge amount of upheaval in their life.

Although all of these anxieties are most distressful, there are treatments available. If you or anyone you care about exhibits any of these symptoms, don't hesitate to seek help. There are trained doctors, psychologists and therapists who can offer assistance in getting the patient back to a more normal and less stressful life.

Article Source: http://www.agoraphobia.net

Helen Peters is the chief editor for Free Anxiety, the #1 source on the internet for information about Anxiety, For more articles on Anxiety visit: www.freeanxiety.com/articles
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