Types of ​anxiety disorders

Panic disorder

Panic disorder is when panic attacks are recurrent, and your behavior and habits change as a result of the occurring panic attacks. If you have a panic disorder, you will be constantly worried about having another panic attack. You are mostly like to take several actions like getting a medical checkup months after the attack happened. People suffering from panic disorder also change their behavior because of the panic attack.

Specific phobias

We all fear certain objects, experiences, and animals. Learning to deal with it is a part of growing up. But some of us have an irrational fear of certain objects and animals, our fears are completely disproportionate to the danger these stimuli presented. Sometimes, the mere presence of these phobias, for example, on TV will trigger excessive alarm and fear. It is difficult to control these fears, even when we are aware of them because we feel like they are uncontrollable. These excessive reactions are known as specific phobias. They are often accompanied by panic attacks where people suffer from hot and cold flushes, dizziness, choking, fainting, nausea and chest pain.

Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) 

There are moments when we feel anxious like during a competitive game or when we are doing an exam which makes us more alert and work faster than we normally can.

GAD is a type of anxiety where people feel anxious and worried most of the time and not just when circumstances are stressful. The cause for concern can be anything related to their work, personal and social life, even seemingly normal activities like household chores cause stress and worry. The constant worrying and stressing is persistent and interferes in normal lives.

Who will deal with GAD and why?

Nearly 6 per cent of the population will deal with GAD in their lifetime. It can strike strike anyone at any age, including children though it commonly starts at around 30 years of age. Children experience GAD due to pressure to perform at school, sports, punctuality, even war and natural disasters.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Anxious thoughts influence behavior. Under normal circumstances, its a positive because we are more cautious in the right situations. But with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), these anxious thoughts persist, they continue to recur which prompts an unhealthy behavioral pattern.

Some of us can feel ashamed of our compulsions and chose to hide it rather than talk about it. Its harmful because it only delays seeking treatment. OCD can hurt in other ways, for example, children with OCD may not want to go to school due to shame about their compulsions which means falling behind peers in education.

3 percent of the population in Australia experience some sort of OCD in their lifetimes. All of us can experience OCD at any time of our lives even children as young as 6 and 7.

OCD has environmental and biological causes. Experts have made a connection between neurochemicals and abnormal levels of serotonin (the chemical responsible for transferring messages between the brain.