TYPES OF ANXIETY DISORDERS
Panic
People with panic What is a panic attack?
disorders have had A person having a panic attack feels:
one or more panic • Apprehension leading to intense fear
attacks and are • Sensation of “going crazy” or of
anxious and fearful losing control
about having future • Physical signs of distress: racing
attacks. heartbeat, rapid breathing,
dizziness, nausea, or sensation of
heart attack or imminent death
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Phobias
People with phobias Agoraphobia
avoid situations that • Fear and avoidance of
produce severe anxiety situations, people, or
and/or panic. There places where it would be
are three main types: unsafe to have a panic
attack: malls, grocery
stores, buses, planes,
tunnels, etc.
• In the extreme, inability to
leave the house or even a
specific room
• Begins after a panic
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attack but can continue
for years even if no other
attacks occur
Other Types
Generalized Anxiety
• Uncontrollable
unproductive worrying
about everyday events
• Feeling impending
catastrophe even after
successes
• Inability to stop the
worry–anxiety cycle:
e.g., Irene’s fear of
failure about school
relationships and
health even though
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everything seemed fine
• Physical symptoms of
muscle tension
When/why do panic attacks occur?
Panic attacks can be:
• Situationally bound: Always occurring in the
same situation, which may lead to extreme
avoidance of triggering people, places, or
events (see specific and social phobias)
• Unexpected: Can lead to extreme
avoidance of any situation or place felt to
be unsafe (agoraphobia)
• Situationally predisposed: Attacks may or
may not occur in specific situations
(between situationally bound and
unexpected)
Specific Phobia Social Phobia
• Fear of specific object • Fear of being called for
or situation that some kind of
triggers attack: “performance” that
heights, closed may be judged:
spaces, insects, speaking in public,
snakes, or flying using a public
• Develops from restroom (for males),
personal or vicarious or generally interacting
experience of with people
traumatic event with
the triggering object or
situation or from
misinformation
Posttraumatic Stress Obsessive-Compulsive
• Fear of reexperiencing a • Fear of unwanted and
traumatic event: rape, intrusive thoughts
war, life-threatening (obsessions)
situation, etc. • Repeated ritualistic
• Nightmares or actions or thoughts
flashbacks (of the (compulsions) designed
traumatic event) to neutralize the
• Avoidance of the intense unwanted thoughts: e.g.,
feelings of the event Richard’s attempts to
through emotional suppress “dangerous”
numbing thoughts about sex,
aggression, and religion
with compulsive washing
and cleaning rituals