Worry, anxiety, stress, and tension are parts of everyone’s life. But simply experiencing any of these at a normal doesn’t suggest anything out of ordinary. Anxiety problems only turn into something sinister once these cause the development of disorders that inhibit one’s ability to function normally.

There are many forms of anxiety disorders – the majority of them can often become severe enough as to affect every aspect of one’s life. All in all, there are six anxiety conditions that are considered major physical and mental health concerns.

{Generalized Anxiety Disorder or GAD}

Everybody worries to some degree, but the degree at which people with generalized Anxiety Disorder worry are everything but normal. Their worries, to say the least, are irrational, blown out of proportion and life-inhibiting.

Worries are often accompanied by physical symptoms such as muscle tension, trembling, sweating, hot flashes, among others. People with generalized anxiety disorder also often suffer from physical symptoms like light headedness, fatigue, frequent urination, nausea, sleep disturbances, diminished ability to focus or stay focused, and irritability.

{Panic Disorder and Panic Attacks}

Panic attacks are the hallmarks of an anxiety disorder called panic disorder and within this symptom alone are dozens of different psychological and physical symptoms, as well as emotional sensations. Not every symptom of either conditions are experienced by a patient though. Often, there are only a handful, usually four, that may occur during each attack.

Panic disorder patients report of the following physical psychological sensations while undergoing attack: chest pain or discomfort, shortness of breath, pounding heart, nausea, weakness or fatigue, tingling sensations, sense of detachment from reality and/or oneself, fear of going crazy and of losing control.

{Social Phobia or Social Anxiety}

Social phobia, otherwise called as social anxiety, is a form of anxiety disorder that makes people suffering from it specifically fearful of social situations wherein there are possibilities of being scrutinized by others. Often, people with social phobia fear or worry that they would not measure up to other people’s judgment or expectations.

{Phobias}

Intense irrational fear of objects or situations is what defines phobia. People suffering from phobia, especially adults, acknowledge that their fears are irrational and there is no real reason to fear that which makes them feel dreadful. Nonetheless, their fears are often so overwhelming that when faced with their objects of fear, they forget all reason. Instead of these fears being handled with logic, these are often permitted by lack of action to control them into more severe forms of anxiety and predisposed panic attack.

People with phobia usually end up responding in one of two ways – first, avoid the object of fear or situation, and second, deal with them by enduring with extreme distress and anxiety. Either way, phobia significantly interferes with a person’s normal functioning, routine, relationship and activities.

{Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder}

Ritualized behaviors or compulsions and obsessions or obsessive thoughts comprise this anxiety disorder. In the majority of cases, both occur in a person. However, in less than 20% of all case, patients only experience obsessions or compulsions.

Ritualized behaviors or compulsions are often performed to reduce anxiety, although in not a few cases, performing ritualized behaviors only worsen the anxiety.

{Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder}

PTSD is a form of anxiety problems that results from experiencing or witnessing extremely tragic, traumatic or terrifying event. Often, these experiences leave people suffering from PTSD emotionally numb to people they were once close to as well as consistently bothered by dreadful memories.