Types of Anxiety Disorders

There are several types of anxiety disorders that can affect young people.  They include:

Generalised Anxiety Disorder:  or GAD, for example, refers to constant, intense worry and stress about a variety of everyday things or or situations.  Young people with GAD may worry about school, health or safety of family members, the future, and whether they'll become ill or injured.  They may always think of the worst that could happen.  Along with the worry and dread, they may have physical symptoms, too, such as chest pain, headache, tiredness, tight muscles, stomach aches, or even vomiting. 

Panic Disorder is characterised by panic attacks, or episodes of intense fear that occur for no apparent reason.  With a panic attack a person may have a sense that things are unreal, and may have physical symptoms like a pounding heart, shortness of breath, dizziness, numbness, or tingling feelings.  Sometimes a person having a panic attack mistakenly feels he may be dying or having a heart attack. 

Agorophobia  is an intense fear of having a panic attack.  People with agoraphobia have had a panic attack before, and worry so much about having another that they avoid going anywhere they think it could possibly occur.  They are often left with very few places they feel comfortable going outside their own home.

Social Anxiety Disorder is an intense fear of social situations.  Young people with social anxiety may feel too nervous to raise their hand or talk in class.  They may fear making a mistake, saying the wrong answer or looking foolish.  They may feel extremely shy and anxious in situations where they have to interact with other such as parties, the lunch table or when they meet new people.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is characterised by obsessions - thoughts or impulses that occur again and again and that a person feels he cannot control.  This includes compulsions - behaviours or rituals that a person feels he must perform to control disturbing thoughts and relieve the anxiety the thoughts trigger.  With OCD, a young person may, for example, have a constant worry and fear about illness or germs, and may become stuck in a pattern of washing and cleaning that becomes time-consuming, distressing, and feels impossible to control. 

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) refers to anxiety relating to a traumatic or terrifying past experience.  With PTSD, a frightening life-threatening event such as an accident, serious violence or natural disaster causes such a severe fear response that the person may experience flashbacks, nightmares or constant fear worry or stress.

Specific Phobias are intense unrealistic fears relating to specific situations or things (that are not usually dangerous), such as heights, dogs, or flying in an airplane.  Phobias usually cause a person to avoid what they are afraid of.  Some people can work around a phobia if it involves something they do not have to encounter in their everyday life.