Anxiety Symptoms
What Anxiety?
symptoms
Some common symptoms of anxiety disorders include:
- Excessive fear and worry.
- Dry mouth
- Muscle tension
- Nausea
- Irregular heartbeat
- Difficulty sleeping
- Cautious, avoidant behavior
- Panic attacks
Types of Anxiety Disorders
- Generalized anxiety disorder.
- Social anxiety disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Panic disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (a type of trauma and stressor-related disorder)
- Other anxiety disorders (separation anxiety, specific phobias, agoraphobia, selective mutism)
Generalized Anxiety Disorder: (GAD)
Symptoms of GAD include:
- Restlessness
- Irritability
- Fatigue
- Concentration difficulties
- Muscle tension, soreness, and ache
- Difficulty sleeping
Adults must experience a minimum of three of the above symptoms, in addition to anxiety or worry, to be diagnosed with GAD. Children only need one of the above symptoms, in addition to anxiety or worry, for a diagnosis.
Social Anxiety Disorder:
Symptoms of social anxiety disorder include:
- Disproportionate fear and anxiety in one or more social situations
- Blushing
- Sweating
- Trembling
- Rapid heart rate
- The feeling of “mind going blank.”
- Self-judgment and self-consciousness
- Nausea
- Avoiding social situations, or experiencing intense fear during them
- Impairment in social, occupational, and other areas of functioning
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Social anxiety disorder can look different in children. Notably, for children the anxiety must occur in peer situations, and not just with adults. Symptoms can manifest as tantrums, freezing, crying, clinging, and refusal to speak.
People can either experience general social anxiety disorder, or performance-specific social anxiety disorder (such as when speaking or performing in front of an audience).
Social anxiety disorder can look different in children. Notably, for children the anxiety must occur in peer situations, and not just with adults. Symptoms can manifest as tantrums, freezing, crying, clinging, and refusal to speak.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) involves recurring, unwanted thoughts that lead to specific and repeatable actions, which interfere with daily life. OCD is no longer classed as an anxiety disorder in DSM-5, but its symptoms cause anxiety. For that reason, professionals associate OCD with anxiety disorders.
Symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder include:
- Obsessions: Thoughts and worries that are recognized as excessive but won’t stop. Obsessions commonly include a fear of germs, fear of losing something, aggressive or taboo thoughts, desire for symmetry or order, and more.
- Compulsions: Repeatable behaviors performed to relieve anxiety and typically related to the obsessions. Compulsions commonly include counting, excessive cleaning or hand washing, overly precise ordering and arranging, repeated checking, and more.
- Minimum one hour per day spent on obsessions and compulsions, and they cause significant distress or impairment in important areas of your life.
OCD typically emerges either in childhood or young adulthood and will occur earlier in boys than girls.
Panic Disorder
Symptoms of a panic attack include:
- Sweating
- Chills
- Trembling
- Shortness of breath
- Heart palpitations and rapid heart rate
- Feeling smothered or choked
- Feelings of impending doom or death
- Chest pain
– Panic attacks by themselves do not constitute a mental health diagnosis. They occur in many mental health conditions, including panic disorder.
Someone who has panic disorder will experience repeated panic attacks, intense anxiety around future panic attacks, and avoidant behaviors around situations that could induce a panic attack.5
To be diagnosed with panic disorder, at least one panic attack must be followed by a month-long period of persistent worry about additional attacks or avoidant behaviors.1 For example, this could mean not going to the grocery store for months because you experienced a panic attack there.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Symptoms of PTSD include:
- Detachment from others
- Irritability
- Hypervigilance
- Difficulty concentrating
- Difficulty sleeping
- Exaggerated startle response
- Difficulty remembering the traumatic event.
- Negative beliefs about oneself or the world
- Persistent negative emotions such as fear, horror, and guilt
- Persistent inability to feel positive emotions such as happiness and satisfaction.
- Self-destructive behaviors
- Avoidance of triggers associated with the traumatic event.
- Intrusive symptoms, such as recurrent and involuntary memories, distressing dreams, dissociative reactions or flashbacks, psychological distress when exposed to triggers.
Children can experience PTSD differently from adults, due to developmental differences. The DSM-5 categorizes children aged 6 and younger as having PTSD with certain symptoms that are unique to the way children may manifest the disorder. Some studies have shown that instead of acting distressed by the traumatic event or intrusive symptoms, some children may appear excitable or “over-bright.”
Other Anxiety Disorders
- Separation anxiety disorder
- Specific phobia
- Selective mutism in children
- Agoraphobia
- Substance/medication-induced anxiety disorder
- Anxiety disorder due to another medical condition
Complications
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