Types Of Anxiety Disorders: Mental Health

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

Types of anxiety disorders

Consider this hypothetical college student: When she sees two people whispering to one another, she immediately assumes that they're saying bad things about her. Her hypersensitivity to criticism is so great that she's terrified of speaking in public. When she has to give a class presentation, her heart beats rapidly, and she breaks into a sweat. She's so afraid of missing deadlines that she often lies awake worrying how she's going to get everything done. In addition, she's afraid of getting into an accident when she drives in the rain.

The diversity of these symptoms suggests a variety of anxiety disorders. It also underscores the need for careful detective work by an experienced professional as the surest way to an accurate diagnosis. Excessive sensitivity to criticism is a sign of social phobia. Fear of a particular, nonsocial thing (like driving in the rain) usually signals a specific phobia. But this person fears and dreads a lot of things, which would seem to indicate generalized anxiety disorder.

The distinctions among the many anxiety disorders are subtle, so it can be a challenge for even experienced clinicians to diagnose them. To further complicate matters, as many as half of those with anxiety disorders have at least two disorders. They may coexist, or one disorder may emerge many years after another has gone into remission. Yet making an accurate diagnosis is essential because each disorder requires a different therapeutic approach.

What follows is a detailed overview of each type of anxiety disorder: what it feels like; its symptoms, prevalence, and possible causes; and methods of treatment. This discussion is not a substitute for a professional diagnosis. It's simply designed to help you understand the main features of each disorder and current treatments. General categories of treatments are mentioned here, but specific medications and psychological therapies are discussed in depth in a later section (see "Treating anxiety").

Last updated:	September 05, 2008