Anxiety

Are there different types of anxiety disorders?

There are many different types of anxiety disorders. These include social anxiety disorder (or social phobia), specific phobias (such as fear of flying, fear of medical procedures, fear of heights, etc.), panic disorder, agoraphobia, separation anxiety disorder, or selective mutism. Important anxiety is also found in other conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, trichotillomania (hair-pulling), and excoriation (skin-picking). Anxiety is predominant in trauma or stressor-related disorders such as acute stress, adjustment disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder.

Some of the most common conditions that involve severe anxiety include the following:

• Panic disorder is a series of episodes in which you have sudden feelings of intense anxiety and fear that peak quickly (a panic attack). You may feel short of breath, have chest pain, feel your heart is racing or have a sense of impending doom.

• Specific phobias are characterized by a lot of anxiety when you face a specific object like a snake or spider or a particular situation like an airline trip or speaking in public. You want to avoid the object or situation, or at least get away from it as fast as possible. Phobias can provoke panic attacks.

• Social anxiety (social phobia) involves high levels of fear and avoidance of social situations. In public you may feel self-consciousness, embarrassed or worried about what others are thinking about you.  

• Agoraphobia is anxiety about being in certain places or situations. In such situations, you can feel helpless or trapped and you can start feeling like you are losing control or have a sense of panic.

• Generalized anxiety disorder is a feeling of anxiety that cuts across different areas of your life. It includes excessive and persistent worry about activities or events, even everyday things. The worry is usually out of proportion, is hard to control and interferes with your ability to accomplish things. This disorder often occurs with other anxiety disorders or with depression. 

• Post-traumatic stress disorder can appear after you have been exposed to a traumatic event, such as a crime, sexual assault, or an accident. Symptoms include disturbing recurring flashbacks, hyper-arousal and hyper-vigilance, or avoidance or numbing of the memories of the event.

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder is characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce anxiety, uneasiness, apprehension, or worry (obsessions), and/or repetitive behaviors  (compulsions) that often aim at reducing the associated anxiety.

Some organizations provide information pamphlets on anxiety disorders, including for example the NIMH, REVIVRE, or the Canadian Psychological Association.

How are anxiety and anxiety disorders treated?

Medication can be prescribed to help. While it does not cure anxiety disorders, it can keep them under control while the person receives psychotherapy. The main medications prescribed for anxiety disorders are anti-anxiety drugs, but also antidepressants and beta-blockers.

Psychotherapy is the preferred treatment option when suffering from anxiety or an anxiety disorder. Psychotherapy comes in different formats. When looking for a psychologist for psychotherapy, make sure you look for one who uses an approach that has been shown to be effective by rigourous scientific research. This may include for example cognitive behavioral therapy or, in some cases (for example for phobias), exposure therapy. Exposure should be part of any treatment. Normally this is done in-vivo, that is by directly, but gradually, exposing you to the source of your anxiety. 

While this is very effective, it has a number of disadvantages when treating specific phobias; for example, neither you or the clinician have complete control over the stimulus (e.g. a snake or spider) that creates the anxiety, or it may sometimes be difficult or costly to do live exposure (e.g. for fear of flying). In order to address these problems, psychologists have begun using new technologies such as virtual reality (often referred to as cyberpsychology) to treat anxiety disorders.  When properly treated, most people overcome their condition and can lead normal, fulfilling lives.