The 8 Types of Anxiety Disorders
People who suffer from Anxiety Disorders feel extreme worry and fear in simple routine situations, in addition to some physical symptoms, which interfere with their daily activities, as they are difficult to control. So, check out now The 8 Types of Anxiety Disorders:
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is one of the main Types of Anxiety Disorders. Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by two types of manifestations: obsessions or obsessive ideas and compulsions or compulsive rituals. Obsessions are ideas or images that come to a person’s mind independently of their will repeatedly.
Although the person knows that they are his ideas, meaningless, he cannot help but think about them. Ideas related to religion, sex, doubts, contamination, aggression are frequent (for example, the person has repeated ideas that their hands are contaminated by having touched “dirty” objects). forced to perform to alleviate or avoid obsessions. If the person does not perform the compulsive act he becomes very anxious.
Rituals are repeated over and over again, despite the person’s feeling that they make no sense. Frequent compulsions are washing hands, checking that the door is locked or the gas valve is closed, questioning information repeatedly to see if it is correct, carefully performing a pre-programmed series of actions to prevent harm from happening to someone, telling or speak silently. Both obsessions and compulsions occupy a good part of the person’s time, harming or hindering their daily lives.
Agoraphobia: Agoraphobia is one of the worst Types of Anxiety Disorders. Agoraphobia is another Anxiety Disorders that is most often associated with panic attacks. Formed by two Greek radicals – agora, the name given to the squares where goods were exchanged or meetings of the people and phobos, which means fear, – initially, the word was used to indicate the fear that people felt in open places.
Today, the meaning is much broader. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV), the word is used to define avoidance behaviors, which appear when the person finds himself in situations or places from which it would be difficult or embarrassing to escape or even receive help if something went wrong. In the most severe cases, agoraphobia compromises the social and professional life of patients.
Panic Disorder: Panic disorder is one of the Types of Anxiety Disorders that causes sudden and repeated bouts of severe Anxiety , fear or terror, which peak in a matter of minutes. This is known as a panic attack. Those who experience a panic attack may experience:
- Feelings of imminent danger
- shortness of breathe
- chest pain
- Fast or irregular heartbeats that seem to flutter or beat (palpitations)
Panic attacks can cause you to worry about reoccurring or try to avoid situations in which they have already occurred.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Generalized Anxiety Disorder is oneof the worst Types of Anxiety Disorders . Because, according to the manual for classifying mental illnesses (DSM.IV), it is a disorder characterized by “excessive worry or apprehensive expectation”, persistent and difficult to control, which lasts for at least six months and is accompanied by three or more of the symptoms. following symptoms: restlessness, fatigue, irritability, difficulty concentrating, muscle tension and sleep disturbance.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be defined as an Anxiety Disorders characterized by a set of physical, psychic and emotional signs and symptoms. This situation occurs due to the person having been a victim or witness of violent acts or traumatic situations that represented a threat to their life or the lives of others.
When he remembers the event, he relives the episode as if it were happening at that moment and with the same feeling of pain and suffering he experienced the first time. This recall, known as revival, triggers neurophysiological and mental changes.
Specific Phobias: Specific Phobias is one of the Types of Anxiety Disorders that consist of a fear of a specific object or circumstance, such as: fear of animals, heights, needles, enclosed spaces, injuries, water, storms, and/or death. If you have a specific phobia, you will only experience symptoms when you think about or experience that specific object or situation.
Selective mutism: Selective mutism is one of the Types of Anxiety Disorders that affects children of all ages, it is characterized by a child’s inability to speak in some places (school, parties, street), in some situations and with some people. , including his own family. These children understand language and are able to speak normally in places where they feel safe and comfortable, for example, at home and with people in their closest circle, such as parents and siblings.
The fact that they do not speak in certain situations does not mean that they are trying to attract attention or control the environment, but rather to demonstrate the degree of Anxiety and shame they suffer, and these emotions inhibit them from speaking and expressing their non-verbal behavior. Usually, they have difficulty looking into the eyes , smiling, expressing themselves in public, going to the bathroom, eating at school.
The perception of these children is that they are constantly being watched, so their movements are paralyzed like a statue every time they feel evaluated. Although it is considered a rare disorder, being found in less than 1% of individuals seen in mental health contexts, in the clinical context, we observe an increasing incidence in Brazil.
Separation Anxiety Disorder: Separation anxiety is one of the main Types of Anxiety Disorders. Separation Anxiety is an excessive and intense fear of losing a parent that causes significant suffering and significant damage to social relationships, school performance and family dynamics. When not with their parents, these children are very anxious. Biological and environmental factors contribute to the occurrence of this disorder.
Children with a genetic predisposition to Anxiety are more likely to have this disorder, especially when they live in a stressful environment, have anxious families or have gone through some traumatic situation. Family behavior significantly influences the child’s personality development.