- The primary symptoms of anxiety disorders are fear and worry. However, anxiety disorders are also characterized by additional emotional and physical symptoms.
- Physical: Physical symptoms include heart palpitations (irregular heartbeat), angina (chest pain), hot flashes or chills, cold and clammy hands, stomach upset or queasiness, frequent urination, diarrhea, shortness of breath, sweating, vertigo (dizziness), tremors, muscle tension or aches, fatigue (tiredness), and insomnia (inability to sleep).
- Emotional/Psychological: Emotional or psychological symptoms can include apprehension, uneasiness, dread, impaired concentration or selective attention, feeling restless or on edge, avoidance, nightmares, irritability, confusion, behavioral problems (especially in children and adolescents), nervousness, jumpiness, self-consciousness, insecurity, fear of dying or going crazy, and a strong desire to escape.
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Specific symptoms for GAD can include chronic, exaggerated worry, tension, and irritability that appear to have no cause or are more intense than the situation warrants. Physical signs, such as restlessness, trouble falling or staying asleep, headaches, trembling, twitching, muscle tension, or sweating, often accompany these psychological symptoms.
- Panic disorder: Panic disorder symptoms include heart palpitations (irregular heart beat), angina (chest pain), lightheadedness or dizziness, nausea, shortness of breath, feelings of imminent danger, shaking or trembling, choking, fear of dying, sweating, feelings of unreality, numbness or tingling, hot flashes or chills, and a feeling of going crazy. Since many of the symptoms of panic disorder mimic those found in illnesses like heart disease, thyroid problems and breathing disorders, people with panic disorder often make multiple visits to emergency rooms or doctors' offices, convinced they have a life-threatening illness (hypochondriac).
- Social anxiety disorder (SAD): Specific symptoms for SAD include blushing, sweating, trembling, nausea, rapid heartbeat, dizziness, and headaches. Some people may have an intense fear of a single social or performance circumstance such as giving a speech, talking to a salesperson or making a phone call, but be perfectly comfortable in other social settings. Others may have a more generalized form of SAD, ranging from such behaviors as becoming anxious in a variety of routines, to clinging behavior, and throwing tantrums.
- Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): People with PTSD typically avoid situations that remind them of the traumatic event, because they provoke intense distress or even panic attacks. PTSD is characterized by three main types of symptoms including: re-experiencing the trauma through intrusive distressing recollections of the event, flashbacks and nightmares; emotional numbness and avoidance of places, people and activities that are reminders of the trauma; and increased arousal including difficulty sleeping and concentrating, feeling jumpy, and becoming easily irritated and angered.
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): Common obsessions include constant, irrational worry about dirt, germs or contamination, nagging feelings that something bad will happen if certain items aren't in an exact place, position or order, fear that one's negative or blasphemous thoughts or images will cause personal harm or harm to a loved one, preoccupation with losing or throwing away objects with little or no value, and rumination about accidentally or purposefully injuring another person. Common compulsions include repeatedly washing one's hands, bathing or cleaning household items, often for hours at a time; checking and re-checking, several to hundreds of times per day, that the doors are locked, stove is turned off, hairdryer is unplugged, etc., unable to stop repeating a name, phrase or tune, an excessive, methodical, and painstakingly slow approach to daily activities, and hording such as saving useless items like old newspapers or magazines, bottle caps or rubber bands.
- Obsessions and rituals can substantially interfere with a person's normal routine, schoolwork, job, family or social activities. Many hours of each day may be spent focusing on obsessive thoughts and performing rituals, and normal concentration and the performing of daily functions becomes very difficult.
- Children can also suffer from OCD, but unlike adults, children with OCD do not realize that their obsessions and compulsions are excessive and ritualistic.
- Phobias: Specific phobias are characterized by strong, irrational, involuntary fear reactions to a particular object, place or situation. The reactions to these fears lead the individual to dread confronting common, everyday situations, or avoid them altogether, even though they logically know there isn't any threat of danger. Symptoms of phobias include heights, flying in airplanes, insects, snakes and other animals, dental procedures, thunder, public transportation, and elevators. The fear doesn't make any sense, but nothing seems to be able to stop it. When confronted with the feared situation, someone with a phobia may even have a panic attack.
Copyright © 2007 Natural Standard Inc.
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