The Five Major Types of Anxiety Disorders
The term “anxiety'' gets thrown around quite a bit these days. Partially because it’s become more acceptable to openly discuss mental health issues, but also because it seems to be turning into a catch-all for expressions of discomfort.
There is normal anxiety which is intermittent and is expected based on certain events or situations. However, problem anxiety tends to be chronic and irrational and interferes with many life functions. Avoidance behaviour, incessant worry, and concentration and memory problems may all stem from problem anxiety. In my last blog I mentioned the five major types of problem anxiety:
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Panic Disorder
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Social Phobia (or Social Anxiety Disorder)
Let’s dive deeper into these five disorders.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
People with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) tend to worry excessively and uncontrollably about daily life events and activities in a way that extends beyond what would be considered typical concern.
They often experience uncomfortable physical symptoms, including fatigue and sore muscles, and they can also have trouble sleeping and concentrating. People with GAD may anticipate disaster and may be overly concerned about money, health, family, work, or other issues. Individuals with GAD find it extremely difficult to control their worry.
Causes of and risk factors for GAD may include: a family history of anxiety, recent or prolonged exposure to stressful situations, including personal or family illnesses and excessive use of stimulants, etc.
If you come to me with a desire to work on your own manifestation of GAD, we will dig into your family history, earliest memories of these experiences, the physical, emotional and spiritual impacts this has had on you and more. My work with clients is not meant to replace other therapies but is meant to complement and speed up the work that’s underway.
Long-term strategies for coping with anxiety (this is not an exhaustive list):
Identify and learn to manage your triggers
Therapies, including hypnotherapy, somatic and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
Daily or routine meditation
Nutrition and supplementation to keep your body and mind healthy
In extreme cases, ask your doctor about medications
If you’ve struggled with GAD, have you tried any of these strategies? If so, what has worked for you?
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
It’s far more complex than the assumption that someone who likes things clean and orderly has OCD. In fact, we throw the term around with complete disregard of the true depth of dysfunction OCD can cause.
OCD is a disorder in which people have recurring, unwanted thoughts, ideas or sensations (obsessions) that make them feel driven to do something repetitively (compulsions).
OCD obsessions are repeated, persistent and unwanted thoughts, urges or images that are intrusive and cause distress or anxiety. Someone with OCD might try to ignore them or get rid of them by performing a compulsive behaviour or ritual. These obsessions typically intrude when you're trying to think of or do other things and often have themes to them, such as:
Fear of contamination or dirt
Doubting and having difficulty tolerating uncertainty
Needing things orderly and symmetrical
Aggressive or horrific thoughts about losing control and harming yourself or others
Unwanted thoughts, including aggression, or sexual or religious subjects
Examples of obsession signs and symptoms include:
Fear of being contaminated by touching objects others have touched
Doubts that you've locked the door or turned off the stove
Intense stress when objects aren't orderly or facing a certain way
Images of driving your car into a crowd of people
Thoughts about shouting obscenities or acting inappropriately in public
Unpleasant sexual images
Avoidance of situations that can trigger obsessions, such as shaking hands
Compulsions are repetitive behaviours that a person feels driven to perform. These repetitive behaviours or mental acts are meant to reduce anxiety related to the obsessions or prevent something bad from happening. However, engaging in the compulsions brings no pleasure and may offer only temporary relief from anxiety. People with OCD may make up rules or rituals to follow that help control their anxiety when having obsessive thoughts. These compulsions are excessive as with obsessions, typically have themes, such as:
Washing and cleaning
Checking & Counting
Orderliness
Following a strict routine
Examples of compulsion signs and symptoms include:
Hand-washing until your skin becomes raw
Checking doors repeatedly to make sure they're locked
Checking the stove repeatedly to make sure it's off
Counting in certain patterns
Silently repeating a prayer, word or phrase
There is a looping quality that my clients with OCD have compared to a record skipping over the same part of a song repeatedly, but they have no way of lifting the “needle” playing these thoughts over and over again. The most effective treatments for OCD are Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and/or medication. Depending on the severity, some people may need long-term, ongoing or more intensive treatment.
As with all emotional work I do, when I’m working with someone with OCD, we dive deep into the roots of where that strategy began in order to recall the lessons needed to be learned while releasing the triggers. I believe this work can be done in combination with other therapies for maximum effectiveness.
Panic Disorder
Panic disorder refers to recurrent, unexpected panic attacks followed by at least one month of constant concern about having another panic attack or the consequences of a panic attack.
Panic attacks are characterized by an intense wave of fear that is unexpected, debilitating, and has an immobilizing intensity. Physiologically, the heart pounds, a person might feel like they can’t breathe like they're dying or going crazy. They are accompanied by heart palpitations, sweating & trembling and are rooted in a family history of panic attacks or panic disorder, major life stress, and traumatic events such as sexual assault or a serious accident.
The visual that comes to me when thinking of a panic attack is one of a giant wave, coming at you, threatening to drown you; the panic comes from trying to hold back the wave, but the ocean is vast and can’t be contained. In a safe setting, visualizing a surrender to the wave can help you uncover what lies beneath the panic and eventually bring a deep sense of peace.
If you work with me, we learn to ride the wave...
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event, either by experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. Most people associate PTSD with combat veterans, but there are no limitations to what can cause PTSD.
Physiologically, PTSD causes a chemical imbalance in the brain that occurs when someone experiences trauma. Glucose is a protective biochemical that provides a veil of protection for the sensitive brain and neurological tissue. If there isn’t enough glucose stored in the brain to feed the central nervous system and to protect the brain from the corrosive effects of adrenaline and cortisol released during stress, emotional upheaval can create lasting effects.
Having PTSD or any of the other faces of anxiety discussed in this article doesn’t relegate a person to living in a constant tortured state of mind anymore. Nourishing body, mind and soul with proper nutritional, emotional, and soul-healing support, helps people reclaim their vitality and live fulfilling lives.
I use hypnosis and Timeline Therapy to explore the roots of PTSD, allowing you to explore the event and release the emotional triggers while retaining the learnings from the event.
Social Phobia (or Social Anxiety Disorder)
Social anxiety is more than just being shy; people with social phobia report the occurrence when having to perform in front of, or have to be around others. Examples of how it may look to an outside observer are blushing, sweating, trembling, the person may show a rigid body posture, make little eye contact, or speak with an overly soft voice. The person may be feeling a rapid heart rate, or feel their “mind going blank” in these situations and even report feeling nauseous or sick to their stomach. In extreme cases, it can be debilitating.
Times social phobia tends to show up are when:
Meeting new people
Talking to co-workers or friends
Inviting others to do things
Going to social events
Dating
Being assertive
Expressing opinions
Talking on the phone
On your own, you can try some relaxation techniques, such as breathing exercises for stress reduction, break down challenging situations into smaller parts and work on feeling more relaxed with each part. You can try to focus on what people are saying rather than just assuming the worst.
As with the other forms of anxiety outlined above, the approach I would take with an individual would be to start with the physical sensations and use them as a roadmap to the underlying cause and find the root of the issue. Timeline Therapy™ can be extremely helpful for each of these.
If you struggle with any of the forms of anxiety discussed in this article, I want to reassure you that you are not broken. Your wiring is just different. It also doesn’t mean that you’re a victim of these patterns forever. These patterns were created as adaptation and protection strategies at some point in your development; perhaps you were abused, neglected or were just present to a dysfunctional family and household.
Dr. Gabor Mate explains that during our dependent and vulnerable childhoods we develop the psychological, behavioural, and emotional composite that we later mistake for ourselves. This composite, which we call the personality, often masks a real person with real needs and desires. The personality is not a fault—in stressed environments, it evolves primarily as a defence, a defence that can turn saboteur.
We are not here to be fixed, rather we are here to grow and heal and reveal who we truly are at our core. Part of the human experience includes hardships and challenges. It’s one of the things that helps us appreciate the good stuff as well as carve out the parts of ourselves that aren’t authentic and that we took on in order to belong to particular dynamics or to please others.
Anxiety shows up when we are out of alignment and hyper aware of our surroundings. The gift in this is increased empathy and sensitivity towards others when they are encountering challenges. There are always gifts in the challenges, and don’t let anyone tell you that you’re broken, including yourself.