Anxiety Disorder

anxiety Anxiety is fundamentally a form of fear. It is usually characterized by exaggerated or unnecessary worry.

Everyone experiences such feelings at times – whether it’s waiting for the results of a medical test or attending a job interview. But in normal circumstances, these are short lived.

Many anxiety disorders are confined to one specific aspect of someone’s life like their health or job. While most people may have an appropriate concern over such matters, those with an anxiety condition unrealistically magnify the likelihood of a negative outcome and its potential consequences.

For some people, anxiety becomes almost constant. They worry and feel fearful about a wide range of matters, their daily lives are adversely affected and they may even forget what it felt like to live without the insidious feeling that something bad is going to happen. For them, negative thinking has become a way of life. In such cases, the person is likely to be suffering from Generalized Anxiety Disorder or GAD for short. This condition affects almost 5% of the current UK population.

Phobias, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress are all closely related to anxiety.

Anxiety conditions are fueled by distorted thinking, dwelling on the negative and exaggerating risk. The sufferer usually confuses a probability with a possibility. Therapy, particularly CBT and counseling, can help the person to avoid the thinking distortions that lead to that confusion.

As the great Mark Twain once said: “I have worried about many thousands of things in my life… one or two of them… actually happened.”

Social anxiety

Social anxiety – sometimes called social phobia – is a particularly common form of anxiety and can be mild, moderate or severe.

In mild cases the sufferer may dislike public speaking, having to make work presentations or be the center of attention at their birthday party.

In severe cases the sufferer may avoid almost any social interaction and become very reclusive and isolated. Depression may also become a side effect.