5 Common Types of Anxiety Disorder

A lot of people suffer from various psychological conditions one of which is anxiety. In fact, we all experience it one way or another. It's just a matter of how you deal with certain emotions and feelings. Feeling tensed, uncertain or fearful at the idea of taking an exam, attending a job interview or going on your first day at work is natural. After some time, the anxiety would normally go away.

But if these feelings of nervousness, apprehension, worry and fear overwhelm you, they can create a negative effect in the way you behave and think.The following are among the most common types of anxiety disorders:

1. Generalized Anxiety Disorder is a mental condition that results to extreme, uncontrollable anxiety and worry about everyday things and functions. People who suffer from this anxiety disorder would often feel afraid and worried about money, health, work, family, relationships, etc. They find it difficult to identify the specific object that they are worried about.

Their fear is typically unreasonable and out of proportion to the actual source of worry. They expect that something will always go wrong to the extent that it will interfere with their daily functions.

2. Panic Disorder is a condition characterized by sudden attacks of extreme terror and apprehension that results to dizziness, shaking, confusion, nausea and breathing problems. This type of anxiety usually occurs abruptly and peaks after the next ten minutes. The attack can last for hours.

This disorder may cause a person to be intensely aware of the changes that occur in his normal body functions and may translate them as an incurable or terminal condition. This mental behavior is called hyper-vigilance and usually leads to health anxiety.

3. Phobia is a type of irrational fear of an object or situation. A person suffering from a certain type of phobia ultimately avoids or commits to great lengths just to prevent a typically irrational and out of proportion danger at hand.

4. Social Anxiety Disorder is a form of social phobia that gives a sufferer an intense fear of certain social situations that may lead to public embarrassment or humiliation and being negatively judged by other people. A person with this anxiety disorder usually has stage freight and fear of humiliation.

5. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a kind of anxiety that is usually caused by psychological trauma. Such trauma usually involves life threatening experiences or a threat to one's own or somebody else's sexual, physical or psychological integrity. These experiences include but are not limited to military combat, hostage situation, serious accident or rape.

A PTSD attack leads to the feeling of re-experiencing the original traumatic event through constant nightmares, flashbacks and behavioral changes to avoid certain stimuli associated with that event.