Concern or caution is a healthy human response to a risk or threat to our everyday lives. Unfortunately, people can experience symptoms of anxiety, which is an unhealthy response to the same threat. Anxiety usually involved excessive worry and thoughts that are common amongst anxious people include 'what if's' (e.g. what if the worst happens), 'if x were to happen I wouldn't be able to cope' and 'I am losing my mind'. Often anxiety is coupled with physical symptoms and unhelpful behaviours in response to these symptoms. Physiological symptoms include: Shortness of breath; a tight chest; shaking; a pounding heart; a dry mouth; dizziness; nausea; loose bowels; muscle tension; fatigue; and butterflies in the stomach. When faced with these symptoms people often avoid going to the places that they believe will create the physical reactions, and sometimes will avoid leaving places of 'safety' all together.

Why Does My Body React In This Way When I Am Anxious?

Our bodies are designed to protect us so that we can continue to procreate and survive as a species. If we perceive a threat our bodies will gear us up to either fight this threat or to run away from it. At this point Adrenalin is released from our brains, which gets our hearts pumping faster and pumping blood around in the stomach and out to the muscles in our limbs (which help us to fight and run). Unfortunately this archaic system cannot decipher between what is really life threatening and what is an irrational fear. This explains why people experience often experience sweaty palms, butterflies in their stomach and a pounding heart in response to anxiety, because the body is working so hard. The good news is that when people are helped to see that what we perceive as a threat is not actually dangerous or not as much of a threat as we first thought, our bodies will not produce these symptoms of anxiety.

What Are The Different Types of Anxiety Disorders?

Unhealthy anxiety can often result in the development and maintenance of a number of anxiety disorders. Listed below are some of the main types of disorders associated with anxiety. This list is not exhaustive:

1. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
What is it?

The main feature of OCD is the reoccurrence of 'obsessions' and 'compulsions' that take up more than one hour per day and/or cause significant distress to the sufferer. Obsessions are unwanted reoccurring and distressing thoughts, images or ideas. Common obsessions include, but are not limited to, a fear of contamination from dirt or germs and fears of acting on uncharacteristically violent or inappropriate impulses e.g. having a thought that you want to harm a loved one with a knife and the fear that you might act on this thought.

A compulsion is an activity which is carried out usually in response to an obsession. The function of a compulsion is to reduce the anxiety felt from the obsession. Common compulsions include excessive hand washing and cleaning and ritually and repetitively checking knifes are locked away or out of sight. Some people only suffer from obsessions, whilst others suffer from a combination of obsessions and compulsions. OCD can be extremely distressing for the sufferer and for his or her family and friends.

How can I get help?

A therapist will be able to provide you with more information about OCD and the treatment available to you. For help to overcome you OCD you can read Overcoming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder by David Veale and Rob Willson or The OCD Workbook: Your Guide to Breaking Free from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder by Cherry Pedrick and Bruce Hyman. Please also call/visit OCD Action 0207 226 4000 (www.ocdaction.org.uk) and/or OCD UK 0870 126 9506 (www.ocduk.org) for further information.

Visit your GP for a referral to a cognitive behavioural therapist (please visit http://www.nacbt.org/whatiscbt.htm for more information about CBT) or to explore the option of the various medications available to treat OCD.

2. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
What is it?

This disorder is characterized by excessive, uncontrollable and often irrational worry about everyday things. People can be diagnosed with GAD if they suffer from overwhelming worry that persists, usually daily, for at least six months in addition to experiencing the physical symptoms of anxiety listed above.
Anxiety and worry arise when people believe that they are incapable of dealing with the things that they worry about. Research suggests that worry can be triggered by the perceived benefits of worry or by the negative effects of worry. Worrying can also be an attempt to avoid more severe distress. Other research suggests that people with GAD tend to be more intolerant of the uncertainty of certain situations.

How can I get help?

A therapist will give you more information about GAD, or you can consult Overcoming Anxiety by Helen Kennerley. Alternatively please visit The Anxiety and Panic Internet Resource (www.algy.com/anxiety).
Visit your GP for a referral to a cognitive behavioural therapist (please visit http://www.nacbt.org/whatiscbt.htm for more information about CBT) or to explore the option of the various medications available to treat GAD.

3. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
What is it?

PTSD is a response to a traumatic event. People with PTSD re-experience an event from the past through flashbacks and visual images which often involve intense fear and helplessness. These symptoms will last for at least a month following the traumatic event in order for a diagnosis of PTSD to be made. To be considered traumatic the event must have involved threatened, actual death or serious injury to self or others. Research suggests that PTSD develops when the person who has experienced the trauma perceives the event as a current and serious source of threat. Therapy can help to reevaluate these perceptions (amongst other methods) and other thoughts that are linked to the memory of what has happened.

How can I get help?

A therapist will give you more information about PTSD and develop a treatment plan with you, or you can consult Overcoming Traumatic Stress: A Self-help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioural Techniques by Claudia Herbert & Ann Wetmore or The PTSD Workbook by Mary-Beth Williams and Soili Poijula. Alternatively, please visit the National Centre for PTSD (www.ncptsd.va.gov).
Visit your GP for a referral to a cognitive behavioural therapist (please visit http://www.nacbt.org/whatiscbt.htm for more information about CBT) or to explore the option of the various medications available to treat PTSD.

4. Health Anxiety/Hypochondriasis
What is it?

In this disorder people perceive general health symptoms as more dangerous than they are. This is usually maintained when people repeatedly check their body, actively seek out changes in bodily sensations or avoid anything associated with poor health. This is often coupled with superstitious thinking and constant worry about their health. A cognitive behavioural therapist will help you to challenge your thoughts (amongst other treatment techniques) about the actual risk your symptoms pose to you, your need to 'know for sure' whether you are ill and explore how responsible you are for being vigilant about your health.

How can I get help?

A therapist will give you more information about Health Anxiety and how to overcome it, or you can consult Overcoming Health Anxiety by David Veale.
Visit your GP for a referral to a cognitive behavioural therapist (please visit http://www.nacbt.org/whatiscbt.htm for more information about CBT) or to explore the option of the various medications available to treat anxiety.

5. Phobias
What is it?

A phobia is an intense and irrational fear of something which the majority of people are able to tackle without extreme anxiety. Just being around the feared situation, object or thing can create the feelings of anxiety noted above and even panic attacks. People can be phobic of almost anything, however, 'Specific phobias' are linked to specific situations, such as being around spiders or heights. People can often feel anxious in anticipation of being in close proximity to the object of their fear. Specific phobias are often categorized into five subtypes:
a. Of animals
b. Of the natural environment (e.g. wind, thunder & lightening)
c. Of blood injury/injections
d. Situational (e.g. lifts)
e. Other uncommon or atypical phobias (e.g. noise). These phobias can sometimes overlap with other anxiety disorders such as agoraphobia and panic, health anxiety and social phobia.

One of the most effective treatments for phobias is cognitive behavioural therapy. This treatment will involve carefully and systematically working with your therapist to learn to face the fear in a gradual and controlled way, after imagining being in the feared situation. The eventual aim is to help the person overcome their phobia by reducing avoidance, which can perpetuate the situation and maintain the problem.

How can I get help?

A therapist will give you more information about your specific Phobia, how it is maintained and how you can help yourself overcome it. You can also consult The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund J. Bourne. Alternatively, you can visit (www.triumphoverphobia.com), (www.phobias-help.com) or (www.anxietyuk.org.uk), formally the national phobic's society.
Visit your GP for a referral to a cognitive behavioural therapist (please visit http://www.nacbt.org/whatiscbt.htm for more information about CBT) or to explore the option of the various medications available to treat anxiety.

6. Panic Disorder
What is it?

Many researchers believe that panic disorder is maintained because people misinterpret their bodily sensations as dangerous in some way, and so people develop a number of behaviours designed to keep themselves 'safe' from the threat of panic (e.g. changes in breathing, distraction, holding onto objects to prevent falling), which in turn feed into the problem. People with panic disorder tend to have fear of fainting, falling, vomiting, going crazy, having a heart attack or being suddenly incapacitated in some way, which is triggered by the first symptoms of the start of a panic attack.
With your input, a cognitive behavioural therapist will be able to provide you with a detailed explanation of what is causing your problem and the steps you can take to overcome it.

How can I get help?

A therapist will give you more information about this or you can consult Overcoming Panic by Derrick Silove. Alternatively, you can visit www.algy.com/anxiety or the Anxiety and Panic Internet Resource (www.algy.com/anxiety) for more information, help and advice.
Visit your GP for a referral to a cognitive behavioural therapist (please visit http://www.nacbt.org/whatiscbt.htm for more information about CBT) or to explore the option of the various medications available to treat Panic Disorder.

*Please remember that anxiety and all of the disorders listed are treatable with the correct intervention, so do not suffer in silence, get some help!