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Common Types of Anxiety Disorders

  • Writer: Vanessa Mukoo
    Vanessa Mukoo
  • Dec 20, 2021
  • 7 min read

Updated: Dec 21, 2021


image source: Unsplash


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Anxiety is a negative mood state that can be characterised by feelings of worry and fear. It is often accompanied with an increased heart rate, muscle tension, uneasiness, and apprehension about the future. Anxiety is a natural part of life and can be beneficial for us by motivating us to perform better. For example, if a person is anxious about an important exam coming up or about a date with a new person then, naturally that anxiety will drive them to study hard for the exam or be their best self on the date. In this scenario, anxiety can be considered a good thing. However, some people tend to experience anxiety so intensely that it starts to disrupt their lives. In the above example, if the person is overly anxious, it might cause them to fail their exam or fumble with nervousness the entire time on their date. In this case, anxiety is interfering with the person’s life in a significant way and thus, can be considered a disorder.


What causes anxiety?


Anxiety is caused due to a number of factors such as:


  • Genetics: there isn’t a single type of gene that causes anxiety but genetic or neurobiological factors such as a family history of anxiety can make someone more susceptible to developing an anxiety disorder


  • Psychological vulnerabilities: if someone had a troubling or traumatic childhood, it can significantly affect the way they view the world. They might perceive everything to be unpredictable, stressful, and even dangerous. This can cause an anxiety disorder


  • Medical conditions: medical problems like heart disease, diabetes, thyroid problems, respiratory disorders, substance abuse (drug misuse), and chronic pain can predispose someone to an anxiety disorder


  • Environmental stress: having to live through stressful events like family problems, worldwide pandemics (such as COVID-19), and even natural calamities can cause trauma and anxiety


Anxiety disorders are of various types and intensities. This article will discuss 4 common types of anxiety disorders and treatments available for anxiety disorders.


Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)


As discussed above, anxiety can cause feelings of fear or worry. For someone with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), these feelings of worry and fear are so excessive that they are difficult to turn off. People with GAD find themselves worrying about the smallest of things that sometimes may seem unreasonable. The physical and mental symptoms of GAD include:


  • Difficulty concentrating

  • Having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep or both

  • Feeling threatened by situations that aren’t actually threatening

  • Fatigue and exhaustion

  • Muscle tension

  • Rapid heartbeat

  • Irritability

  • Agitation and restlessness


The 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) specifies some criteria based on which a person can be diagnosed with GAD which are:


  • A person experiences excessive worry and anxiety more often than not for a good proportion of the day for at least 6 months


  • The worry experienced is extremely challenging and uncontrollable at times and easily shifts from one topic to another


  • The anxiety is accompanied by at least 3 of the symptoms discussed above (for adults) and one of the symptoms discussed above (for children)


Sometimes, people with GAD tend to believe that their anxiety regarding unpredictable or stressful situations makes them feel in control of what’s ahead of them. They create all sorts of “what if-” scenarios that don't make them reach a reasonable solution or answer to their concerns. For instance, if person ‘A’ spends the entire time worrying about the safety of their loved one ‘B’ when B goes out and B returns home safely, then person A with GAD might reason that the safe and sound return of person B is because of person A’s “vigilance.” In this case, person A fails to understand that person B would have returned home even if person A was doing something fun like watching a movie instead of worrying about person B.


Thus, people diagnosed with GAD often miss out on enjoyable and fun events. According to a general population survey of approximately 150,000 adults in 26 countries, generalised anxiety disorder has a combined lifetime prevalence of 3.7%, 12-month prevalence of 1.8%, and 30-day prevalence of 0.8%. The disorder is significantly more prevalent and impairing in high-income countries than in low- or middle-income countries.


Panic Disorder (PD)


If you’ve ever been in a near-accident or something that took you by surprise, then you must have felt a gush of sensations such as a racing heartbeat, chest or stomach pain, or shortness of breath. This startling reaction is also known as the “fight or flight” response. It is our body’s natural reaction to fear or a stressful situation and quite literally prepares you to either fight or escape the threat. This type of reaction does not cause too much harm if we’re aware of what was causing it. But, for some people, the “fight or flight” or a panicky response emerges out of the blue even when there is no apparent threat present. This can be called a “false alarm” because even if there is no stressful situation ahead of you, you may still find yourself excessively worrying, shaking, crying, or sweating.


In order to receive a diagnosis of panic disorder (PD), along with panic attacks, a person must experience 4 or more of the following symptoms:


  • Chest pain

  • Hot flashes

  • Fear of dying

  • Excessive sweating

  • Fear of losing control or going crazy

  • Feeling of choking

  • Feeling dizzy and unsteady

  • Nausea or abdominal pain

  • Shortness of breath

  • Trembling or shaking


All these signs and symptoms cause a person to decipher even natural physical sensations in a damaging way. This creates a vicious cycle of constant panic. Thus, a person may start to avoid a situation that has a possibility to arouse these symptoms. For example, someone who feels a choking sensation might avoid wearing high neck sweaters.


When talking about panic disorder and avoidance of certain situations, it is crucial to bring up “agoraphobia” that is often accompanied with panic disorder. Agoraphobia can be defined as an overwhelming urge to escape certain places or situations that tend to cause fear and embarrassment. Usually, people with agoraphobia develop it after having one or more panic attacks. Symptoms of fear include being in an enclosed space such as an elevator, using public transportation, standing in a crowd or waiting line, or even being in open spaces such as parking lots and bridges.


Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)


Social anxiety disorder (also called social phobia) is a type of mental disorder that causes extreme anxiety due to social interactions. For instance, for someone who does not have social anxiety, giving a speech in front of a large audience can cause a little bit of nervousness at best. But, for someone with social anxiety disorder, this situation is so mortifying that it becomes significant enough to be a criteria for the diagnosis of SAD. This is a highly common anxiety disorder that affects up to 13% of the general population. There isn’t a specific cause of social anxiety disorder, rather, a number of factors contribute to this condition. Being bullied as a child, having an overly insensitive and critical parent, family conflict, and sexual abuse can all be causes for SAD.


Diagnostic criteria for SAD include:


  • You always experience fear and anxiety in certain situations

  • You feel that you will be humiliated or embarrassed by others because of the way you act

  • This fear and anxiety cause significant distress in your life

  • This fear is not in proportion with the actual posed threat of the situation

  • This intense anxiety has lasted for 6 months or longer


The specific situations capable of triggering social anxiety can be starting or maintaining a conversation, giving a speech, using public spaces like bathroom stalls, and displaying assertiveness such as asking someone to change an undesirable or offensive behaviour. If your social anxiety is triggered only during performance-based actions (such as giving a speech), then you would be diagnosed with SAD performance only. Research says that social anxiety is more prevalent among women than men. It is, therefore, recommended that clinicians regularly screen girls and women aged 13 and older for anxiety disorders because early intervention is beneficial.


Specific Phobia


Specific phobia can be defined as an intense and irrational fear of something that is not likely to cause actual harm or danger. These types of phobias are long-lasting and affect our ability to normally function at work, school, or other social settings. This fear is so consuming that it prevents us from properly enjoying life events. There are 4 major categories of specific phobia:


  • Situational type (such as travelling in an aeroplane or being in an enclosed space)

  • Natural environment type (such as heights or thunderstorms)

  • Blood-injury-injection (BII) type (such as needles or medical procedures)

  • Animal type (like a fear of dogs or spiders)


…and a 5th category namely


  • Others (includes phobias that do not fit into the 4 major subtypes, like fear of choking, vomiting, loud noises, clowns, etc.)


Reactions to these phobias cause a surge of panic and increased heart rate or blood pressure. They may make you feel helpless or powerless, nauseated, dizzy, sweaty, and cause difficulty breathing. However, people with BII-type phobia may experience the opposite such as a decreased heart rate and blood pressure and may cause you to even faint. Causes of specific phobia can range from genetics to temperament and life experiences. The DSM-5 specifies the following diagnostic criteria for specific phobia:


  • The person exhibits unreasonable and excessive fear by a specific object or situation. This fear is persistent and intense


  • This phobia must not be caused by any other disorder. In order to receive a diagnosis of a specific phobia, a therapist or doctor would have to rule out the possibility of other conditions like agoraphobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)


  • The phobia significantly affects the individual’s social and personal life


  • The individual goes out of their way to avoid a particular situation or tries to endure it with great distress


  • The symptoms of specific phobia must persist for at least 6 months


What are the treatments of anxiety and related disorders?


There are many effective treatments available for anxiety and related disorders. One such treatment could be exposure therapy (for a specific phobia) which involves a gradual exposure to the things or situations that an individual fears. Eventually, after continued exposure to a certain thing, the individual may not remain as petrified of it and overcome the fear. For example, if a patient is afraid of spiders, in exposure therapy, a therapist can first decide to show the patient a picture of a spider on a screen and eventually a hard copy picture of a spider. After a few weeks, the therapist may hand the patient a plastic spider or the patient is made to hold even a real spider. This is how exposure therapy helps patients get over their irrational phobias.


Another treatment option could be CBT (cognitive-behavioural therapy) which helps people identify negative thought patterns and effectively change or correct them. Patients learn how to properly analyse a situation and appropriately deal with their anxiety. Medications like anti-anxiety drugs or antidepressants can also be beneficial for anxiety disorders (except specific phobia) but can cause relapse if medications are stopped. However, the effects of talk therapies like CBT have been found to be more durable than medications.


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