Anxiety disorders are the most common of all the psychiatric disorders. Approximately 40 million American adults suffer from these mental illnesses during any given year, according to the NAMI, the National Mental Illness Association.
More often than not, there are physical or mental illnesses, including substance abuse and alcohol addiction that can either accompany or even cover up the anxiety disorder. These may need to be treated before the anxiety can be dealt with.
Those suffering from anxiety disorders, depending on the severity and the underlying issues, can be very good at responding to proper treatment by well informed clinicians.
Types of Anxiety Disorder
The major classes of anxiety disorders are panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), overanxious disorder of childhood, anxiety disorder due to a general medical condition, substance abuse anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, phobias, agoraphobia with and without panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and anxiety disorder not otherwise specified.
Panic attacks and agoraphobia occur as a component of other anxiety disorders, and are diagnosed with different criterion that is established in the DSM-IV-TR.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
If someone is diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, it is because he doesn't fit the criterion of the other diagnoses. This disorder involves exaggerated worries, tensions and fears of impending disaster when there are no reasons for the provocation of such feelings. The diagnosis duration is for a patient who complains of such feelings for 6 or more months. There are accompanying sleep disturbances. There is a large list of physiological symptoms, including fatigue, headaches, difficulty swallowing, muscle tension and aching, nausea, sweating, irritability, twitching, trembling, lack of breath and even hot flashes. GAD is usually accompanied by depression or substance abuse. Medication and cognitive/behavioral therapy can applied with understanding that the related disorders must be also treated.
Excessive worry about common and usual problems that occurs for at least six months is an important factor in the diagnosis of the disorder, combined with physiological effects, such as sleep disorders, that cause problems with functioning well in daily activities.
Statistics of Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Twice as many women as men are found to have this disorder with 6.8 million American adults involved. Highest risks are between childhood and middle age, with some clue that genetics may have somewhat of a role in the disorder.
GAD rarely occurs alone, and has other anxiety disorders, depression and substance abuse as co-occurring disorders.
American Psychiatric Textbook on Anxiety Disorders
Kathleen Odenthal - Kathleen Odenthal began her writing career in 2010 with Demand Media Studios, writing as a contributor for eHow. After that, she branched ...
