Anxiety disorders are very common!
Anxiety Disorders
This includes a variety of disorders which present with common symptoms of anxiety. This category consists of Generalized Anxiety disorder (GAD), Phobias, Panic disorder, and agoraphobia.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are no longer included in the anxiety disorder category according to DSM5. They are classified in obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, and trauma and stress-related disorders respectively despite presenting with anxiety as a major symptom.
Common Symptoms
Apprehension and worries about future misfortune, feeling on edge, difficulty in concentration, restlessness. Motor tension: feeling the urge to move and fidgety, trembling, tension headache, muscle tension and inability to relax. Autonomic over-activity: lightheadedness, sweating, heart racing, difficulty in breathing due to a tens chest, butterfly in the stomach and upset, dizziness, and dry mouth.
Although anxiety is a normal mind reaction to unexpected events, severe in intensity and long-lasting anxiety which impacts your social and personal function should be considered as a disorder.
Phobia
Phobia is a common presenting symptom so that it is the most common psychiatric disorder in women and second most common in men over 25 according to American Psychiatrist Association. There are several types of Phobia which are classified into three categories of social phobia, specific phobia, and agoraphobia. Frequently, people tend to not revealing their phobia due to embarrassment which often ends up to more adverse consequences and impacts their lives seriously. People with social phobia feel intense fear and anxiety when they are supposed to attend a social event. Agoraphobia causes people’s fear when they are about to be in a public and crowded situation.
I usually apply CBT and methods of behavior therapy like systematic desensitization for the treatment of phobias.