Anxiety

Anxiety is a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear, that can be mild or severe. Everyone has feelings of anxiety at some point in their life. For example, you may feel worried and anxious about sitting an exam, or having a medical test or job interview.  However, sometimes this anxiety is not a result of a specific situation, but is an overall feeling.  This is known as an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders involve more than temporary worry or fear. For people with an anxiety disorder, the anxiety does not go away as situations change and it can get worse over time. The symptoms can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, school work, and relationships.  The NHS say there are several types of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and various phobia-related disorders.

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder – excessive anxiety or worry displayed most days for at least six months, about things such as health,work, social interactions or just routine life. Symptoms include restlessness, edginess, easily tired, difficulty concentrating, irritability,tension, sleep problems.
• Panic Disorder – unexpected panic attacks where people can experience heart palpitations, sweating,trembling, shortness of breath, feelings of impending doom or being out of control.
• Phobia Related Disorders – extreme fear of or aversion to a specific object or situation out of proportion to the actual danger or risk from it. People experience irrational fear of it, take active steps to avoid it, experience extreme anxiety if it occurs.  Types include: Specific or simple phobias (of something like flying, heights, animals (spiders!), injections, blood), Social Phobia (or social anxiety disorder) where people have a fear of social interactions, Agoraphobia where people have an intense fear of transportation, open spaces, enclosed spaces, crowds or being outside alone, Separation Anxiety Disorder where people have fears about being parted from people who they are attached to.
• Obsessive-compulsive Disorder – where people perform specific repeated behaviours or tasks as a result of recurring irrational thoughts.
• Illness Anxiety Disorder – also known as hypochondria – anxiety about your health.
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – is anxiety following a traumatic event.

There are charities such as AnxietyUK which provide support for people suffering from anxiety.