Everyone gets anxious once in a while: before a big party we are hosting, or when we have to speak in front of a group at work or church or give a presentation at school. A little anxiety can be a good thing because it makes us focus and concentrate on the task. However,too much anxiety can be disabling . Sometimes the anxiety is natural or normal; other times it is unreasonable. For example, small children naturally have anxiety doing something new or encountering an experience (like sleeping in the dark) on their own without the parent or trusted caregiver present. They may even have fears of a monster under the bed, or waken with nightmares. All these are normal developmental anxieties which children experience. Other anxiety poses a problem however; such as a persistent or unusual fear of school, fear of other people, obsessive fears of death or injury or illness, or unreasonable fear of rejection or failure or dirt / germs. The following are profiles of various types of anxiety problems which some people encounter at various stages of life.

Social Phobia
  • This anxiety pattern consists of a noticeable, continuing fear of one or more social or performance situations.
  • It involves fear that the person will act in a way that is embarrassing or humiliating and is especially of note if someone else is watching the performance or social interaction. This anxiety may provoke a panic attack ( a definite period in which there is a sudden onset of intense fear, anxiety or even terror, otten associated with a sense of impending doom.( CLICK HERE FOR MORE ABOUT PANIC). In social phobia the person realizes that their fear is unreasonable or extreme (though in children, they may not be able to realize this fact).
  • The person either endures the feared situation experiencing extreme stress and anxiety, or avoids it at all cost.
  • This avoidance and the distress itself over the feared situation, interferes significantly with the person's life in personal, social, educational or work related areas.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
  • This anxiety pattern is characterized by marked obsessions which cause distress and anxiety and /or by compulsions (behaviors they feel compelled to perform mentally or actually) which are meant to assuage the anxiety. It is characterized by:
    1. attempts to ignore or suppress the thoughts, impulses or images.
    2. recognition that the thoughts or impulses are a product of their own thinking and not some outside influence or force.
    3. feeling driven to perform certain rituals (like hand washing or tapping or counting or straightening, or fixing something over and over. Checking or repeating words silently or praying or talking to oneself may also be used as a way of fending off the anxiety.
    4. Usually the person realizes that the feelings and thoughts and behaviors are unreasonable, though this does not apply to children.
    5. The obsessions and /or compulsions cause significant distress and are time consuming, and /or interfere with the person's normal routine, or schedule, social activities or occupational involvement.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
  • The person has experienced or been exposed to a traumatic event in which both of the following characteristics were involved:
    1. it was an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical safety of the self or others.
    2. the person's response involved helplessness, fear, terror, or horror.
  • The event(s) are reexperienced repeatedly in one or more of the following ways for over 1 month:
    1. recurrent and intrusive distressing recollections of the event, including thoughts, images, and perceptions, which causes significant impairment or distress in areas of life functioning.
    2. recurrent nightmares or distressing dreams of the event.
    3. acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring, including possible dissociation, hallucinations, delusions, or flashbacks.
    4. intense psychological distress at exposure to internal or external cues that represent or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event, including some physiological reactivity.
  • Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general responsiveness as noted by 3 or more of the following:
    1. efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings or conversations associated with the trauma.
    2. efforts to avoid activities, places or people that elicit recollections of the event(s).
    3. inablilty to recall some important part of the event.
    4. a significant decrease in interest or participation in activities which were important before the trauma.
    5. feelings of detachment or estrangement from others.
    6. restriction of ability to express or feel a normal range of feeling (feeling stuck on one emotion such as anger or sadness; or unable to feel love or warmth).
    7. a sense of doom or expectation that there is no future for them (no career, marriage, children, or normal life span).
  • Persistent symptoms of increased arousal as indicated by 2 or more of the following:
    1. difficulty falling or staying asleep
    2. irritability or outburst of anger
    3. diffiuctly concentrating
    4. hypervigilence (on alert all the time)
    5. exaggerated startle response
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (including overanxious disorder of childhood)

The essential feature of GAD is excessive anxiety and worry more days than not in a period of at least 6 monts; about a number of events or activities, such as work or school performance. The following are also present:

  • an inability to control or stop the worry
  • worry or anxiety associated with 3 (for adults) or more (1 for children) of these characteristics:
    1. being restless or keyed up or on edge
    2. being easily fatigued
    3. problems concentrating or finding that the mind 'goes blank'
    4. irritability
    5. muscle tension
    6. sleep disturbance
  • the worry or distress is not associated with another clinically discernable condition (such as panic disorder or social phobia, etc.)
  • the disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (such as, medication or alcohol), nor does it occur exclusively during some other condition like depression, psychosis, or as associated with delayed development.
Separation Anxiety Disorder

The essential feature of this disorder is excessive anxiety about separation from home or from those persons to whom the person is attached. (The anxiety is considered excessive, because it is greater than would be expected for the person's age or developmental level). This disorder is only diagnosed when it has been present more than 4 weeks; began before age 18; and causes significant distress and/or impairment in daily functioning. In addition it is usually characterized by some of the following:

  • persistent and excessive worry about losing or harm coming to, people that are dear to the person.
  • reluctance to go to school or elsewhere because of the fear of separation.
  • afraid to be alone without attachment figures or significant adults.
  • continuing reluctance to go to sleep without being near or with an adult attachment figure; refusal to sleep away from home.
  • repeated nightmares about separation or loss.
  • repeated complaints of physical ailments or symptoms (headache, stomach ache, nausea, vomiting), when separated from major attachment figures.


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