There are many different types of psychological disorders all over the world. The number one most common psychological disorder in the United States is anxiety. Anxiety effects more than three million people a year in the United States alone. Anxiety, however, affects everyone in some way everyday. This disorder could be passed by genetics or be developed by personality or life events.
Anxiety comes in many different ways at many different times. Generalized Anxiety Disorder is diagnosed by excessive worrying about numerous amount of different scenarios for a long period of time. Some people with this disorder may worry about some problems they may not be able to control themselves, for example, money, family situations, work, health related problem, and many other worries. This disorder is different for everyone depending on how advanced the disorder is. About one-third of the population with an anxiety disorder gets treatment for it.
An everyday anxiety could be worrying about paying bills or important life experiences. With anxiety you will constantly be worrying about this to the point where it interferes with your everyday life and you can not function because you cannot keep your mind straight. For the longest time in humanity, our body will set off alarms to tell us what not to do or if it is alright to do. These alarms may not be seen to others, for example, rapid heartbeat, sweating, shaking and many other ways.
Another form of anxiety is a panic disorder. Panic disorder is a sudden attack of terror or panic. These can cause nausea, hard time breathing, shaking and many other symptoms. These panic attacks can escalate quickly after ten minutes and could last for hours. A panic attack could be passed genetically or randomly show up later in life while no one else in the family has no symptoms. Researchers are looking for better ways to find treatments. These attacks can happen without a trigger due to prolonged stress.
Social Anxiety is another disorder and can affect many people. Social anxiety is a fear of public embarrassment and social situations. Symptoms of this disorder could be fright, fear of humiliation and many other problems. This can act up at any time in your day and can last for hours to all day. A way to avoid these problems could be staying home, but it is a problem to do that because you could get behind in class or at work.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is another anxiety disorder that is not as common. OCD can be characterized by many different actions and thoughts. Some actions could be constant cleaning, distressing, or constant checking on simple objects in the house. One could constantly check the stove or have to open and close a door a certain amount of times before leaving the house. There are many symptoms to an OCD disorder that some people may have and they may not be diagnosed with an obsessive compulsive disorder, they may have small symptoms.
On the other hand, you could get a form of anxiety form specific phobias. For example, you can get shaken up from flying on a plane for the first time or simply climbing up an open staircase. These fears can cause you to do many unnatural solutions, for example, you can start crying, rapid heartbeat, or trembling.
There are many different types of anxiety that may play a role in your everyday life, however, they can come from genetics or you can develop over time. Anxiety is a fight-or-flight characteristic, therefore you could have a panic attack or any other form of anxiety from a simple trigger.
Researchers are not sure what causes anxiety disorders likes these ones above. However, anxiety is like any other form of mental illness, they are triggered by a combination of things, including changes in your brain and environmental changes, stress, and can even come from your genes. The disorders could be passed down families and could be caused by a simple brain chemistry malfunction. You may have symptoms worse than others that complicate your everyday activities, call your doctor immediately if you can not control breathing, etc. Your doctor will examine you and talk about your medical history. They may give some simple tests to throw out any medical illnesses that may cause these symptoms. However, lab tests cannot diagnose an anxiety disorders. If your doctor cannot find any medical reason for these symptoms, they may send you to a psychologist, or mental health doctor.
