What are anxiety disorders?
There are various conditions ('disorders') where anxiety is a main symptom. You may have an anxiety disorder if anxiety symptoms interfere with your normal day-to-day activities, or if worry about developing anxiety symptoms affects your life. About 1 in 20 people have an anxiety disorder at any one time. The following is a brief overview of the main anxiety disorders. Some people have features of more than one type of disorder.
Reactions to stress
Anxiety can be one of a number of symptoms as a reaction to stressful situations. There are three common types of 'reaction' disorders.
Acute reaction to stress - sometimes called ('acute stress reaction')
'Acute' means the symptoms develop quickly, over minutes or hours 'reacting' to the stressful event. Acute reactions to stress typically occur after an unexpected life crisis such as an accident, bereavement, family problem, bad news, etc. Sometimes symptoms occur before a known situation which is difficult. This is called situational anxiety. For example before: an exam, an important race, a concert performance, etc.
Symptoms usually settle fairly quickly, but can sometimes last for several days or weeks. Apart from anxiety, other symptoms include: low mood, irritability, emotional ups and downs, poor sleep, poor concentration, wanting to be alone.
Adjustment reaction
This is similar to the above, but symptoms develop days or weeks after a stressful situation as a reaction or 'adjustment' to the problem. For example, as a reaction to a divorce or house move. Symptoms are similar to acute reaction to stress but may include depression. The symptoms tend to improve over a few weeks or so.
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