Anxiety - an introduction

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is the natural reaction of the body to danger, threats and stressful situations. When faced with these situations your body prepares itself to face the threat - the "fight or flight" response, and you will notice changes such as an increase in heart rate and sweaty palms (see the symptoms section for a list of more of the common physical reactions). These reactions can be a response to a physical threat e.g. to quickly move out of the way of an oncoming car, or in response to stressful situations such as exams, interviews or meeting someone new.

However, sometimes these feelings of anxiety may go on for a long time after the threat has gone or appear when there is no real threat. It's in these cases where the feelings of anxiety are ongoing and beginning to interfere with your everyday life that you are likely to be suffering from a type of anxiety disorder.

The main types of anxiety disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): PTSD is a type of anxiety disorder which commonly emerges after being in or witnessing some kind of traumatic event. People suffering from PTSD have their daily lives interfered with from persistent memories, images, dreams or flashbacks of the traumatic event or events they experienced. Often in the news you hear of soldiers who have fought in wars suffering from PTSD but any sort of traumatic event can trigger PTSD e.g. witnessing a car accident.
Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD): People with GAD experience constant worrying and anxiety that isn't in response to anything specific but instead about every day things and general worries about what might happen in the future.
Social anxiety disorder: In this type of anxiety it is social situations which cause you to feel anxious and fearful. The anxiety can occur while you are in or anticipating a particular social encounter and can be triggered by a specific situation or by social situations in general.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): Obsessive-compulsive disorder is also a sub-type of anxiety disorders and there is a whole information page about OCD in the information section describing what it is, the symptoms, causes and ways to deal with OCD from home.

Panic attacks are an extreme response of anxiety; people will suddenly experience an intense period of the body's anxiety responses (approx. 5 to 10 mins but can vary greatly) - fast, shallow breathing, racing heart, sweating, that you are unable to control. Panic attacks are very scary - people report feeling as though they can't breathe, think they are having a heart attack or think they are going mad. After experiencing one panic attack it is common to develop a so called "fear of fear", in which you become fearful of experiencing another panic attack and become extremely aware of potential triggers and early warning signs that could signal the onset of a panic attack.

Other pages about anxiety

Symptoms of anxiety
Causes of anxiety
Dealing with anxiety at home
Further information about anxiety

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