What Is Anxiety/Anxiety Disorder?:

What Is Anxiety/Anxiety Disorder?: Some statements in this article may be misleading: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety_disorders

Anxiety disorder is a blanket term covering several different forms of abnormal, pathological anxiety, fears, phobias.

It describes nervous system disorders as irrational or illogical worry not based on fact.

Anxiety and fear are ubiquitous emotions.

The terms anxiety and fear have specific scientific meanings, but common usage has made them interchangeable.

For example, a phobia is a kind of anxiety that is also defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV-TR) as a \"persistent or irrational fear.\"

Fear is defined as an emotional and physiological response to a recognized external threat (eg, a runaway car or an impending crash in an airplane).

Anxiety is an unpleasant emotional state, the sources of which are less readily identified.

It is frequently accompanied by physiological symptoms that may lead to fatigue or even exhaustion. Because fear of recognized threats causes similar unpleasant mental and physical changes, patients use the terms fear and anxiety interchangeably.

Thus, there is little need to strive to differentiate anxiety from fear.

However, distinguishing among different anxiety disorders is important, since accurate diagnosis is more likely to result in effective treatment and a better prognosis.

18.1% of Americans are affected by anxiety disorders.

What Is Anxiety/Anxiety Disorder?: Some statements in this article may be misleading: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety_disorders

What Is Anxiety/Anxiety Disorder?: www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=28

Anxiety-Introduction: www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=28

Everyone has temporary feelings of anxiety or worry from time to time.

However, you may have an anxiety disorder if persistent worry and anxiety interferes with your life.

Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) is a condition where you have excessive anxiety most days.

If your anxiety makes you feel ill and tired, and affects your day-to-day life, you probably have GAD.

There is a big difference between normal, everyday worrying and the sort of worrying that happens with GAD.

GAD is when you worry or feel anxious most of the time and these feelings last for at least six months.

It is a real illness and, although there is no cure, it can be successfully treated.

It is a long-term illness that can last for many years before it is diagnosed.

GAD is quite a common condition.

About 1 in 50 people are affected by it at some time in their life.

GAD often first develops in your 20s and is more common in women than men.

It is often present with another mental illness such as depression or panic disorder.

What Is Anxiety/Anxiety Disorder?: Shyness
and Social
Anxiety: www.nnt.nhs.uk/mh/leaflets/shy%20A5.pdf

What Is Anxiety/Anxiety Disorder?: www.nhsborders.org.uk/view_item.aspx?item_id=17480

Anxiety is a normal human feeling.

We all experience it when faced with situations we find threatening or difficult.

Description: www.nhsborders.org.uk/view_item.aspx?item_id=17480

Normally, both fear and anxiety can he helpful, helping us to avoid dangerous situations, making us alert and giving us the motivation to deal with problems.

However, if the feelings become too strong or go for too long, they can stop us from doing the things we want to and can make our lives miserable.

A phobia is a fear of particular situations or things that are not dangerous and which most people do not find troublesome.

What Is Anxiety/Anxiety Disorder?: Anxiety & Phobias: The Royal College of Psychiatrists Leaflets Department: www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformatio.../anxietyphobias.aspx

Introduction: The Royal College of Psychiatrists Leaflets Department: www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformatio.../anxietyphobias.aspx

Anxiety is a normal human feeling.

We all experience it when faced with situations we find threatening or difficult.

People often call this feeling stress but the word 'stress' can be used to mean two different things - on the one hand, the things that make us anxious and on the other, our reaction to them.

This makes it a confusing word and so it will not be used in this leaflet.

When our anxiety is a result of a continuing problem, such as money difficulties, we call it worry, if it is a sudden response to an immediate threat, like looking over a cliff or being confronted with an angry dog, we call it fear.

Normally, both fear and anxiety can he helpful, helping us to avoid dangerous situations, making us alert and giving us the motivation to deal with problems.

However, if the feelings become too strong or go for too long, they can stop us from doing the things we want to and can make our lives miserable.

What Is Anxiety/Anxiety Disorder?: Anxiety & Phobias: The Royal College of Psychiatrists Leaflets Department: www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformatio.../anxietyphobias.aspx

What Is Anxiety/Anxiety Disorder?: www.ican.co.uk/aboutanxiety

What is Anxiety?: www.ican.co.uk/aboutanxiety

Anxiety is one of the most basic emotional reactions and is common to all people.

People who are anxious may feel fearful and tense and may experience several unpleasant physical symptoms.

These might include:

A fast or racing heart

Shaking or trembling

Having a ‘knot’ in the stomach

Feeling nauseous or having diarrhoea

Rapid breathing

Feeling pain in the chest

Having a dry mouth

Tingling or ‘pins and needles’ in the arms and hands

Feeling dizzy, light-headed or unsteady

Tense muscles

Headache, back and neck pains

Sweating and flushing

Anxiety can also lead to racing thoughts.

Anxious people often spend a great deal of time thinking and worrying about potential future problems and usually expect the worst to happen.

When anxiety is severe, people may find it difficult to concentrate or may even find that their mind goes blank.

Experiencing anxiety often also affects the way people behave.

They may begin to avoid certain situations that make them anxious or by asking for reassurance from others.

Unfortunately, whilst these reactions may reduce anxiety in the short-term, they often actually worsen anxiety problems in the long-term.