ANXIETY DISORDERS

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·         Generalized anxiety disorders:
o   excessive anxiety and worry occurring for at least 6 months and affecting many areas of a person’s life,
o   inability to control worry,
o   considerable distress or impairment in social occupational or other important areas of life; 
o   the presence or more of the following- restlessness feeling on edge, being easily fatigued, difficulty concentrating, mind goes blank, irritability, muscle tension, sleep disturbance
·         Panic disorders:
o   Shortness of breath or feeling of being smothered;
o   Dizziness unsteadiness or faintness;
o   Trembling shaking or sweating;
o   Heart palpitations or a racing heart rate;
o   Choking nausea or stomach pain;
o   Numbness or tingling flushing or chills;
o   Chest pain or discomfort;
o   A sense of strangeness of being detached from oneself surroundings; fear of going crazy losing control or dying.
·         Phobias:
o   Acrophobia – fear of heights;
o   agoraphobia – fear of open places and unfamiliar settings;
o   aqua phobia – fear of water;
o    claustrophobia – fear of closed places;
o   xenophobia – fear of strangers:
o   Social situations,
o   performance situations
·         Post traumatic  stress:
o   Exposure to a traumatic event that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or threat to the physical integrity of self or others;
o   A response to the event that includes intense fear helplessness or horror;
o   Persistent re experiencing of the traumatic event in the form of recurrent and distressing thoughts or dreams or behaving or feeling as if the traumatic event were actually happening again, or intense psychological or physiological reactivity when exposed to cues that symbolize or resemble the event;
o   Persistent symptoms of increased arousal such as hyper vigilance, irritability, sleep difficulties, difficulty in concentrating and exaggerated startle response not present before the trauma;
o    Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma along with numbing of general responsiveness;
o    Symptoms of more than a month’s duration can cause significant distress or impairment in spheres of interpersonal relationships and work.

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