Everyone gets anxious. That’s a fact. It is normal for people to feel anxiety especially when confronted by problems such as an illnessor an exam may be. However, when you start feeling anxiety that usually lasts for a long time, and this feeling begins to affect your everyday life, then your anxiety is now considered as a mental health problem termed “anxiety disorder”. Long-lasting feeling of being anxious is one of anxiety disorders symptoms.
Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health illnesses. It can affect people from all walks of like and from different ages. There are varied types of anxiety disorders and all types of anxiety disorders symptoms vary as well.
To be able to determine what type of anxiety disorder a person has, we will try to distinguish anxiety disorders symptoms from each other.
Generalized Anxiety Disorders
For people who suffer from generalized anxiety disorders symptoms include feeling anxious almost all the time. They observe that too often, their worry affects their performance on a given task and they lose focus. Physical symptoms, namely tension, irritability, disturbed sleep, and muscle aches also show.
Phobias
Even though they actually know their fear is illogical more often than not, people with phobia tend to avoid the things they are afraid of. Phobias are characterized by fast, pounding heartbeat, perspiration, tremulousness, frequent urination, nausea, blushing of the face and dizziness.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD)
With this type of anxiety disorders symptoms usually occur shortly after a traumatic event. But there are also cases wherein symptoms do not show immediately and they are noticed few years after the distressing event. Some of the symptoms are trouble in sleep, depression, concentration difficulties, nightmares and flashbacks. Furthermore, PTSD sufferers often experience unpredictable anger flare-ups especially at family members.
Panic Disorders
During panic attacks, a person would feel extreme fear and uneasiness. In this variety of anxiety disorders symptomsshow physical manifestations like shortness of breath, faintness, shortness of breath, shaking, rapid heartbeat and nausea. To some extent, others also lose their control over their self, fear of “going crazy” and even death from a heart attack.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders (OCD)
OCD sufferers carry out compulsions to ease the anxiety produced by their obsessions. However, not all people with OCD do compulsions. Compulsions include repetition of words or prayers internally, counting objects almost endlessly, constant washing of hands not knowing that the skin has become raw already (for people who have obsessions with germs) and avoidance to drive (for those who fear that they might cause accidents).
Although the anxiety disorders symptoms mentioned above are classified according to a specific anxiety disorder, all of them share one common key symptom, continuingand severe anxiety even in situations where nearly everyone will be threatened.
Anxiety disorders symptoms may not be immediately noticed. When a person begins to feel that something is wrong, the symptoms have been built up bit by bit already. Actually, anxiety cannot be totally considered as a disorder. It is merely a condition wherein the feeling of anxiety has become extreme and enduring.