Anxiety disorders are a form of mental health disorder. If you have an anxiety disorder, you may react with fear and dread to certain things and situations. You may also experience physical manifestations of anxiety, such as a rapid heartbeat and profuse sweating. Anxiety disorders occur when anxiety impairs your capacity to function, you frequently overreact when triggered emotionally, you can’t control your responses to situations.
A combination of genetic and environmental factors can increase an individual’s risk for anxiety disorders. You might be at increased risk if you have or have had:
• Certain personality traits, such as shyness or behavioral inhibition — feeling uneasy around unfamiliar people, situations, or environments and avoiding them.
• Stressful or traumatic experiences during infancy or adulthood.
• A family history of anxiety or other mental disorders.
• Specific physical conditions, such as thyroid issues and heart arrhythmias (unusual heart rhythms).
Types of Anxiety disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder: This is a chronic disorder involving excessive, long-lasting anxiety and worries about nonspecific life events, objects, and situations. It is the most prevalent anxiety disorder, and victims are not always able to pinpoint the source of their anxiety.
Panic disorder: Panic disorder is characterized by brief or sudden attacks of intense fear and apprehension. These attacks can cause trembling, confusion, vertigo, nausea, and difficulty breathing. Ten minutes after the onset of a panic attack, it typically reaches its peak. Nevertheless, a panic attack can last for hours. Typically, panic disorders are triggered by frightening experiences or prolonged stress, but they can also occur spontaneously. A person experiencing a panic attack may misinterpret it as a life-threatening illness and make drastic behavioral adjustments to prevent future attacks.
Specific phobia: This is an irrational fear and avoidance of a particular object or situation. Phobias differ from other anxiety disorders because they are rooted in a specific cause. A person with a phobia may recognize that their fear is irrational or excessive, but they are unable to control their anxiety in response to the trigger. Situations and animals, as well as commonplace objects, can trigger a phobia.
Agoraphobi: It is a fear and avoidance of places, events, or situations from which it may be difficult to escape or from which help is unavailable if one becomes trapped. This condition is frequently misunderstood as a fear of open spaces and the outdoors, but this is not the case. A person with agoraphobia may be afraid to leave the house, use elevators, or take public transportation.
Selective mutism: Some children experience selective mutism, a form of anxiety in which they are unable to speak in certain places or situations, such as school, despite having excellent verbal communication skills around familiar people. It could be an extreme case of social anxiety.
Social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia is characterized by a fear of being negatively evaluated by others in social situations or by public humiliation. The symptoms of social anxiety disorder include stage fright, a fear of intimacy, and anxiety regarding humiliation and rejection.
These disorders can cause individuals to avoid social situations and human contact to the point where daily life becomes extremely challenging.
If you notice any of these anxiety disorder, please visit a proper Mental Health Consultant. For more on mental Health visit hacey.org.
Written By:
Michael Adegboye
