Did You Ever Realize There Were Different Types of Anxiety?
Feeling a little bit of apprehension or nervousness occasionally is completely normal. Everyone has a little bit of anxiety every now and then. However, it is when these tendencies of worry and anxiousness that become more continuous that there is probably a problem. This is a point where your anxiety is spiraling out of control and it can potentially develop into an anxiety disorder, impacting all different areas of your life including your mental, emotional and physical well being. You might not realize that there are different types of anxiety that people suffer from. Depending on the different symptoms one might have will help narrow down what type of anxiety you may be facing.
One of the most common types of anxiety is social anxiety disorder. This is a feeling where people have a hard time interacting with others or being in social situations. This is not to be confused with shyness. Instead, it is an overwhelming feeling of anxiousness when in any social setting. This could be in a restaurant, a grocery store, in a large crowd, public speaking or even small get-together. People have a mental misconception and fear of being judged, watched, laughed at or experience humiliation in front of others. Trying to overcome social anxiety disorder with exposure can help to eliminate the behavior because if it goes too long without treatment, can greatly impact a person's career or social life and relationships.
Like social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder is also extremely common. This comes when a person has a heightened level of anxiety and worry in a situation that they should not normally be anxious in. Obsessive and irrational thoughts may rush in a person's head and make them feel extremely anxious and this is characteristic of a person with generalized anxiety disorder.
One type of anxiety disorder that panic disorder in which a person experiences such intense anxiety that they begin to have physical responses to stress and nervousness resulting in panic attacks. Often panic attacks come out of nowhere and are a result of racing negative and irrational thoughts that seem to take control of your mind. All of a sudden you have a bodily response that may feel like you are going to pass out or have a heart attack and people often mistake the feeling for that along with a fear of dying. A panic attack is a sudden rush of adrenaline that causes shakiness, a racing heart, shallow breathing and often hot flashes. Panic attacks, depending on the severity of anxiety in the person, a person will experience them for a few minutes or even hours.
Another type of anxiety is agoraphobia which is a feeling of anxiousness that makes people fear often keeping them from leaving their house and holing themselves up. In a nutshell, agoraphobia is often the fear of having a panic attack or experiencing anxious feelings. It is a form of avoidance behavior in which people who experience agoraphobia often try to avoid situations that bring them great anxiety and nervousness. Sometimes agoraphobia is not paired with panic disorder. Unfortunately for sufferers, when this type of anxiety builds up without any treatment sought, it will get worse to the point where a person will coop themselves up and their personal relationship swill start to diminish.
Each and every one of these types of anxiety disorders are characterized by constant, irrational and obsessive thoughts that create anxiousness and extreme worry. It is a terrible mental cycle that can eventually lead to physical and emotional distress. It is important to seek treatment with a medical professional if you find yourself experiencing any of these symptoms.
