Anxiety is usually defined as a diffused, vague, very unpleasant feeling of fear and apprehension without any apparent reason, therefore it has been called ‘butterflies in the stomach’.
Anxious individual shows combinations of the following symptoms: Rapid heart-rate, Shortness of breath, Diarrhoea, Loss of appetite, Fainting, Dizziness, Sweating, Sleeplessness, Frequent urination, Tremors.
Types of Anxiety Disorder:
There are many types of anxiety disorders:
(а) Generalized anxiety disorder which consists of prolonged, vague, unexplained and intense fears that are not attached to any particular object. The symptoms include:
• Worry and apprehensive feelings about the future.
• Hyper vigilance, which involves constantly scanning the environment for dangers.
• It is marked by motor tension, as a result of which the person is unable to relax.
• Restlessness.
• Shaky and tense.
Other symptoms of anxiety
(b) Panic disorder—consists of recurrent anxiety attacks in which the person experiences intense terror.
• A panic attack denotes an abrupt attack of intense anxiety, rising to a peak when thoughts of a particular stimuli are present.
• Such thoughts occur in an unpredictable manner.
• It continues for six and seven minutes and then patients becomes normal.
Clinical Features:
• Shortness of breath
• Dizziness
• Trembling
• Palpitations
• Choking
• Nausea
• Chest pain or discomfort
• Fear of going crazy
• Losing control or feeling of dying
(c) Phobic Disorders:
• People who have phobias have irrational fears related to specific objects, people, or situations.
• Phobias can be grouped into three main types, i.e., specific phobias, social phobias, and agoraphobia.
• Specific phobias are the most commonly occurring type of phobia. Specific phobias are unwarranted fears caused by the presence or anticipation of a specific object or situation. This group includes irrational fears such as intense fear of a certain type of animal, or insects.
• Social phobias intense and incapacitating fear and embarrassment when dealing with others, e.g., crowded market, fear of closed space and stage fear.
• Agoraphobia: people develop a fear of entering in an unfamiliar situations. Many agoraphobics are afraid of leaving their home. So their ability to carry out normal life activities is severely limited.
(d) Obsessive Compulsive Disorders:
• Obsessive Behaviour: is the inability to stop thinking about a particular idea or topic. The person involved often finds these thoughts to be unpleasant and shameful but can not control them.
• Compulsive Behaviour: Thus is the need to perform certain behaviours over and over again. Many compulsions deal with counting, ordering, checking, touching and washing.
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: People affected by this disorder are unable to control their preoccupation with specific ideas and are unable to prevent themselves from repeatedly caring out a particular act or series of acts that affect their ability to carry out normal activities.In OCD unwanted thoughts combine with compulsive acts.
(e) Post-traumatic Stress Disorders:
• People who have been caught in a natural disaster (such as tsunami).
• Victims of bomb blasts by terrorists.
• Serious accident.
• In a war-related situation.
Symptoms:
• Immediate reactions, i.e., denial and disorientation.
• Physiological reactions, e.g., recurrent dreams, nightmares and flashbacks.
• Cognitive reactions, e.g., impaired concentration, memory loss.
• Emotional numbing, e.g., emotional numbness and suicidal tendencies.
• Social reaction, e.g., apathy and withdrawal.
