Anxiety Disorders: What They Are, Symptoms, Types, Causes And Treatment

Anxiety is a response of our body, which is activated when the perception of a threat occurs, in certain situations. Faced with the different circumstances that generate anxiety, the emotional response that is awakened will be different depending on the stimulus that provokes it and will be linked to feelings of fear, nerves, worry and/or restlessness.

Difference between anxiety and anxiety disorder

Anxiety as an emotion or natural response will be transitory, disappearing when the threatening stimulus is not present, on the other hand, in anxiety as a disorder, the emotional response can be maintained, even without the presence of the stimulus, in an anticipatory and the fear felt towards this stimulus will be excessive because of the real danger it represents.

Anxiety disorders are a group of psychopathological disorders that have in common an excessive manifestation of anxiety.

Anxiety disorder: definition

An anxiety disorder is defined as a disproportionate response of our body to the stimulus to which it responds, that is, it is characterized by excessive fear and in the face of this disabling fear, the person seeks to avoid the situation or object that causes said fear. Anxiety in psychiatric terms can last over time.

The intense feelings of anxiety that occur lead to interferences in everyday life of the person, affecting their daily activities, so that they promote associated behavioral changes. Generally, anxiety tends to be associated with a specific stimulus or situation, giving rise to different anxiety disorders, such as: generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, separation anxiety, agoraphobia, panic disorder, mutism. selective and simple phobias.

Since there are different presentations of anxiety as a psychiatric disorder, Symptoms may vary depending on different disorders. However, among them there is a shared symptomatology, grouped into physical, psychological, behavioral, intellectual or cognitive and social symptoms.

1. Physical: An increased heart rate, hyperventilation, sweating, tremors, feelings of fatigue, gastrointestinal problems and sleep disturbances may occur.
2. Psychological: The most representative symptom of anxiety disorders is fear of the stimulus presented, in addition to the fear of losing control, fear of dying, the need to avoid the feared situation, feelings of danger and threat, and uncertainty or insecurity. In the following article you can see specifically what fear is in psychology.
3. Behavioral: People who suffer from an anxiety disorder are in a constant state of alert and hypervigilance. In addition, impulsivity, motor agitation or hyperactivity may occur. Changes are also expressed in body expressiveness, as well as in body language, appearing in rigid postures, imprecise movements and changes in voice.
4. Intellectual or cognitive: The high anxiety that occurs causes difficulties in concentrating or paying attention, as well as alterations in memory. On the other hand, thoughts of an irrational and negative nature, as well as catastrophic, tend to occur.
5. Social: Anxiety tends to affect the social sphere, due to the fear suffered by the person, they tend to be irritable and blocked when speaking, which is why a tendency to isolation ends up appearing.

As we have previously mentioned, there are various types of anxiety disorders, which we will briefly present below.

DSM-V anxiety disorders

According to the DSM-V, the types of disorders found within anxiety disorders are the following:

• Generalized anxiety disorder
• Social anxiety disorder (social phobia)
• Separation anxiety disorder
• Agoraphobia
• panic disorder
• Selective mutism
• Specific phobias
• Substance/medication-induced anxiety disorder
• Anxiety disorder due to another medical condition
• Other specific and non-specific anxiety disorders

ICD-10 anxiety disorders

On the other hand, in the ICD-10 Anxiety disorders are called neurotic disorders, secondary to stressful and somatoform situations, about which we can find:

• Phobic anxiety disorder, which includes agoraphobia, with or without panic attack, social phobia, and specific phobia.
• Panic disorder.
• Generalized anxiety disorder.
• Mixed anxious-depressive disorder.
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• Reactions to severe stress and adjustment disorders.
• Dissociative (conversion) disorders
• Somatoform disorders
• Other specific and non-specific anxiety disorders

As we have seen, there are various types of anxiety disorders, let’s take a closer look at them:

1. Generalized anxiety disorder: In generalized anxiety disorder, the persistent fear that the person feels is not focused on a single stimulus, as it can present excessive concern towards several situations and/or objects.
2. Social anxiety disorder: In this case, anxiety is concentrated in social situations, where the person feels intense fear about interacting with others and about social situations. Therefore, he tends to behave shy, anxious and can lead to isolation. On the other hand, feelings of shame, fear of being judged and/or insecurities may appear.
3. Separation anxiety disorder: This disorder tends to appear in childhood and is characterized by a persistent fear of separation from loved ones, usually parental figures. The following article specifically explains separation anxiety disorder in children.
4. Agoraphobia: This type of anxiety refers to the irrational fear of frequenting places or situations in which escaping from them may be difficult or embarrassing. People who suffer from this disorder have an intense fear of not being able to get help in the event of a panic attack or high levels of anxiety. Therefore, they tend to isolate themselves at home. If you think you have these symptoms, you can take the agoraphobia test.
5. Panic disorder: Many anxiety disorders can trigger a panic attack, but this would be associated with the phobic stimulus. However, panic disorder is characterized by the sudden appearance of an attack of terror, without the appreciation of an apparent danger, where the person feels that they are losing control.
6. Selective mutism: Selective mutism is related to the inability to speak in certain circumstances or situations, without incapacity occurring on other occasions. It tends to appear in childhood, causing problems at school level.
7. Simple phobias: This type of anxiety refers to the anxiety caused by a specific stimulus, such as: going on a plane, spiders,… Anxiety appears when this phobic stimulus occurs, whether in reality, in anticipation or imagining it. Different types of phobias appear in the following article.
8. Substance/medication-induced anxiety disorder: Anxiety symptoms appear produced by the consumption of a substance or medication.
9. Anxiety disorder due to another medical condition: Anxiety symptoms are underlying a medical condition.
10. Mixed anxiety-depressive disorder: This disorder occurs in the presence of depressive and anxious symptoms, in combination, without one prevailing over the other. Comorbidity between both disorders is very common. In the following article you will find more information about mixed anxiety-depressive disorder.
11. Obsessive-compulsive disorder: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) appears when faced with the recurrence of obsessive thoughts, about which the person has the need to alleviate the anxiety that these cognitions produce with compulsions, such as rituals. For example, a person who has an excessive fear of germs, to combat this anxiety, feels the need to wash and disinfect his hands every time he shakes hands with someone or touches an object on the street.
12. Reactions to severe stress and adjustment disorders: This disorder appears due to the existence of a stressful life event, a life change or unpleasant circumstances, which, in the face of the high levels of stress derived from these situations, produces a disorder of adaptation to them.
13. Dissociative (conversion) disorders: Dissociative disorders appear when faced with high levels of anxiety or a serious psychological conflict, in which the person separates themselves from their own consciousness, memory, environment, actions and identity, they separate themselves from their reality for a short period of time, involuntarily. .
14. Somatoform disorders: It is characterized by excessive concern about the symptoms themselves, investing much of their time in these symptoms. This concern persists even though you have been informed that there is no physical illness. In the following article you will find more information about somatoform disorders.
15. Other specific and non-specific anxiety disorders: This term is used for anxieties and phobias that meet the criteria to be called an anxiety disorder, but not enough to be categorized into a specific classification.

Previously, anxiety disorders were causally linked to intrapsychic factors, however it is now known that the factors that cause these disorders may be different. The causes of the most common anxiety disorders are the following:

1. Biological factors: A biological vulnerability has been established that is related to a greater probability of suffering from an anxiety disorder, being more representative in panic disorder, OCD and social phobia.
2. Psychosocial factors: Psychosocial stressors play one of the most important roles in anxiety disorders, as causal factors. The different problems that we face in our daily lives, such as financial problems, relationship problems, problems with friends, grief,… are the main causes of the appearance of these disorders.
3. Traumatic factors: Traumatic events, such as rapes, serious accidents, etc. tend to produce high levels of anxiety, usually evoking an anxiety disorder.
4. Cognitive and behavioral factors: Anxiety disorders appear when faced with a set of irrational thoughts and, in response to this, a set of behavioral actions are triggered. These negative, distorted, irrational and excessive cognitions can trigger an anxiety disorder.
5. Conditioning: due to learning from the responses or behaviors of other people, anxiety disorders can also develop.

The treatment of anxiety disorders may be different depending on the type of disorder of anxiety presented. However, there is a set of common elements that are developed in all his interventions. The therapy that has proven to be most effective for the treatment of anxiety disorders is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).

CBT has the objective of converting irrational thoughts, about the feared stimulus, into healthy thoughts that are more limited to reality, with the technique of cognitive restructuring which has the purpose of replacing these negative automatic thoughts with more positive ones and thereby reducing the levels of anxiety that appear when faced with these thoughts.

On the other hand, it works with relaxation techniques, in order to reduce the levels of stress and anxiety associated with the specific fear.

It should be added that disorders such as simple phobias require specific treatments, such as exposure technique gradual, which consists of exposing the person to the feared stimulus progressively and therefore a list of hierarchies is established that ranges from the approach to the simplest phobic stimulus, until the person is able to face the fear directly.

A complementary technique to any therapy is the practice of mindfulness, whose objective is to pay attention to the present. Helps reduce the constant anticipation characteristic of anxiety.

In addition, in many cases psychopharmacological therapy is necessary, with drugs such as antidepressants or anxiolytics.

This article is merely informative, at PsychologyFor we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Anxiety disorders: what they are, symptoms, types, causes and treatment we recommend that you enter our Clinical Psychology category.