Anxiety Disorders

Common Characteristics

Anxiety Disorders categorize a large number of disorders where the primary feature is abnormal or inappropriate anxiety. Everybody has experienced anxiety. Think about the last time a loud noise frightened you and remember the feelings inside your body. Chances are you experienced an increased heart rate, tensed muscles, and perhaps an acute sense of focus as you tried to determine the source of the noise. These are all symptoms of anxiety. They are also part of a normal process in our bodies called the ‘flight or flight’ phenomenon. This means that your body is preparing itself to either fight or protect itself or to flee a dangerous situation.

These symptoms become a problem when they occur without any recognizable stimulus or when the stimulus does not warrant such a reaction. In other words, inappropriate anxiety is when a person’s heart races, breathing increases, and muscles tense without any reason for them to do so. Once a medical cause is ruled out, an anxiety disorder may be the culprit.

Disorders in this Category

Acute Stress Disorder

Agoraphobia (with or without a history of Panic Disorder)

Generalized Anxiety Disorder [GAD]

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder [OCD]

Panic Disorder (with or without Agoraphobia)

Phobias (including Social Phobia)

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD]