The most common anxiety attacks are Generalized Anxiety
Disorder, Panic Disorder, Phobic Disorders, Obsessive-compulsive
Disorder and Stress-related Disorders.
Title: Anxiety Disorders
Author: Kathy Jones
Article:
The most common anxiety attacks are Generalized Anxiety
Disorder, Panic Disorder, Phobic Disorders, Obsessive-compulsive
Disorder and Stress-related Disorders.
Generalized Anxiety Attacks Generalized Anxiety Disorders (GAD)
is characterized by anxiety symptoms that are present for much
of the time and not restricted to specific situations.
Generalized anxiety often accompanies phobias and is extremely
common in people who are depressed. It can also be caused by
physical illness, such as an overactive thyroid gland, or result
from the emotional response to a serious illness such as a heart
attack.
Some 15 per cent of people with GAD have a hereditary
background, it is likely that their brother, sister or a parent
are suffering from a similar problem. This disorder reflects an
inherited tendency to the attacks or the effect of the
surrounding environment. Two thirds of sufferers are women.
Panic Disorders In panic disorders, repeated panic attacks occur
unpredictably and often without obvious causes. They consist of
severe anxiety attacks with physical and psychological symptoms.
Physical symptoms can include any of the general symptoms of
anxiety described above, and more often that of the
hyperventilation syndrome.
Psychological symptoms typically include dread (particularly of
extreme events such as dying), having a seizure, losing control
or 'going mad'.
To the sufferer, the attacks feel as if they are going on for a
long time, but actually they tend to last only a few minutes,
and at their longest they last around an hour. Panic attack is
common in depression, GAD or agoraphobia.
Phobic Disorders A phobia is a fear that is out of proportion to
the situation that causes it and cannot be explained easily.
Simple phobias are phobias that are specific to objects or
situations. Specific phobias include:
Animal phobia (eg dogs, snakes, frogs, cockroach, spiders and
other insects) these phobias often start in childhood, usually
before the age of seven years.
Blood and injury phobia: the fear of blood tests or the sight
of blood that results in fainting.
Vertigo: a fear of heights and hills.
Agoraphobia: an intense fear of leaving the home, being in
crowded places, traveling on public transport and being in any
place that is difficult to leave.
Social phobia: a fear of social interaction with others, talking
to people, eating, drinking and speaking in public. Many people
have a mixture of both agoraphobia and social phobia.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
An increase in obsessional symptoms can occur in depression,
though full-blown OCD is still rare. The symptoms are a little
different to other anxiety attacks and include:
O bsessional thoughts that come repeatedly into the person's
mind, despite him or her trying to stop them. Obsessional
thoughts may include a fear of dirt or germs, doubting that
something wrong has been done (such as locking the door, turning
the lights off) or unpleasant and graphic images in the mind of
harming others or themselves.
Compulsive acts (obsess ional acts) are repetitive actions
based on the obsessional thoughts. A person with obsessional
thoughts about dirt may spend long periods cleaning the house
and washing their hands.
Stress-related Disorders There are a number of psychological
consequences to major stressful events and these often include
symptoms of anxiety. There are three types of reactions:
•acute stress reaction starts within minutes (if not
immediately) of the stressful event. Symptoms are: the person
feeling dazed and disorientated, anger and withdrawal.
•adjustment reaction starts within one month of the stressful
event, and symptoms tend to resolve within six months. They may
include depression, anxiety, irritability and a feeling of being
unable to cope.
•post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) tends to come after
weeks, or even months, of a stressful event that was of an
exceptionally threatening or catastrophic nature, which would
cause distress in almost anyone. It can persist for years.
Treatment for different types of Anxiety Disorders is now
possible! Personal experiences shared by Dr. Johnson, in the
Information Resource for Alprazolam provides great help to cure
people suffering from anxiety disorders.
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