Other anxiety disorders
Panic disorder
Panic disorder means that you get recurring panic attacks. A panic attack is a severe attack of anxiety and fear which occurs suddenly, often without warning, and for no apparent reason. The physical symptoms of anxiety during a panic attack can be severe and include: a thumping heart, trembling, feeling short of breath, chest pains, feeling faint, numbness, or pins and needles. Each panic attack usually lasts 5-10 minutes, but sometimes they come in 'waves' for up to two hours.
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
If you have generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) you have a lot of anxiety (feeling fearful, worried and tense) on most days. The condition persists long-term. Some of the physical symptoms of anxiety (detailed above) may come and go. Your anxiety tends to be about various stresses at home or work, often about quite minor things. Sometimes you do not know why you are anxious. In addition, you will usually have three or more of the following symptoms:
- Feeling restless, on edge, or 'keyed up' a lot of the time.
- Tiring easily.
- Difficulty concentrating and your mind 'goes blank' quite often.
- Being irritable a lot of the time.
- Muscle tension.
- Poor sleep (insomnia). Usually it is difficulty in getting off to sleep, or difficulty in staying asleep.
Mixed anxiety and depressive disorder
In some people, anxiety can be a symptom when you have depression. Other symptoms of depression include: low mood, feelings of sadness, sleep problems, poor appetite, irritability, poor concentration, decreased sex drive, loss of energy, guilt feelings, headaches, aches, pains, and palpitations. Treatment tends to be mainly aimed at easing depression, and the anxiety symptoms often then ease too.
See separate leaflet called 'Depression' for more details about depression.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) consists of recurring obsessions, compulsions, or both. Obsessions are recurring thoughts, images, or urges that cause you anxiety or disgust. Common obsessions are fears about dirt, contamination, germs, disasters, violence, etc. Compulsions are thoughts or actions that you feel you must do or repeat. Usually a compulsion is a response to ease the anxiety caused by an obsession. A common example is repeated hand washing in response to the obsessional fear about dirt or germs.
Other examples of compulsions include: repeated cleaning, checking, counting, touching, hoarding of objects.
See separate leaflet called 'Obsessive-compulsive disorder' for more details.
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