Home > About Anxiety > What is Anxiety?

What is anxiety?

Life is full of ups and downs... we are all affected by those around us, the situations we find ourselves in, our own 'inner worries', and everyday pressures.

With all these influencing factors, both internal and external to ourselves, it's perfectly natural that we get anxious from time to time, and so there's nothing wrong with a certain level of anxiety now and again.

We're human after all!

However, anxiety can, and often does have a detrimental effect on our lives if that level of anxiety becomes too intense, or happens too often. It can often be difficult to get on with your life if there is a constant anxiety, or if sudden, sharp bouts of anxiety (in the form of anxiety attacks or panic attacks) start to happen.

Anxiety attacks (or panic attacks)

An anxiety attack (or panic attack) is an intense form of anxiety that can often strike 'out of the blue', and will usually last for anything up to around 30 minutes at a time. While the anxiety attack (or panic attack) is happening, it can be very debilitating, not to mention very unpleasant.

Social anxiety (or social phobia)

Some forms of anxiety are more common than others. Social anxiety (or social phobia) for example, is generally accepted to affect around 10%-15% of the population, although some estimates would put this even higher!

Social anxiety (or social phobia) can be described at the 'fear of being judged', and often gives the sufferer the feeling that whatever they do or say is going to make others judge them negatively.

For a person suffering from social anxiety (or social phobia), this can affect almost every aspect of their lives... evenings out, shopping, going to work, going to school, using the telephone, meetings, or speaking in front of others can all be extremely difficult for someone with this kind of anxiety.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, often abbreviated to 'OCD' is really a combination of two separate parts... the 'obsession' part, and the 'compulsion' part.

The main reason that OCD sufferers find that it affects their life to the level it does, is because it's a 'cyclic' disorder, in that it tends to repeat itself over and over again.

With someone suffering from OCD, the 'obsessive' part tends to happen first, and often happens in the form of an 'intrusive' thought... a though that just appears in the mind, and is not under the control of the person. This thought will often be distressing, fearful or traumatic, and will trigger in that person a strong fear response.

The person then tries to find a way in which they can get rid of this intrusive feeling, and so they start to develop some kind of 'coping mechanism'. Usually this is in the form of some kind of 'ritual' type behavior, such as hand-washing, counting or checking, or avoiding odd numbers for example.

Of course, if this behavior relieves the anxiety in the mind of the sufferer, it only does so temporarily, and so within a short space of time, the intrusive thoughts will soon return, and the whole cycle starts all over again.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a type of anxiety disorder where the sufferer has an overall, underlying anxiety that affects everyday life.

A person suffering from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is often aware that the fear that they feel for everyday situations is irrational and disproportionate to the actual danger.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (often abbreviated to PTSD, and sometimes called Post-Traumatic Stress Reaction) is a form of anxiety that caused by the exposure to extremely stressful, often traumatic events that the sufferer finds it difficult or impossible to cope with.

Phobias

Very simply put, a phobia is an intense anxiety that has attached itself to a situation or object.

The sufferer of a phobia will often recognize that the level of anxiety that they experience when faced with their 'phobic' object or situation isn't proportional to the actual danger caused by the object.

Someone with the fear of buttons for example, might say "this is silly, it's only a bit of plastic, it can't hurt me", but the anxiety they feel when faced with a button is very real indeed.

Phobias are caused when the mind 'over-protects' us from something that it perceives to be a danger... going back the the person with a button phobia for example, they'll usually recognize that the button doesn't actually pose a real physical threat, but their mind 'over-protects' them from the danger that it perceives is there.

Depression

Depression is often an extremely debilitating result of anxiety which affects not only the individual, but also their family, their friends, their employment, their self esteem, and ultimately, restricts the enjoyment of their life.

People with depression often feel that they are 'alone', whereas in-fact this is far from the case, with as many as one in six people suffering with some form of depression at some point in their lives.

Get Involved

Whatever form of anxiety you are suffering from, the main thing to remember is that you're not alone!

On this website you'll find articles, news and resources on all kinds of anxiety related subjects, created by real people, for real people.

This is your website, and so there are lots of ways that you can get involved....

Maybe you have an anxiety experience of your own that you'd like to share with others... who knows, your story of how you cope with an anxiety could help and inspire others. Why not tell us your story.

Do you have an anxiety related article that you would like to submit? If it's an interesting, informative (and non-selling!) article, then submit your anxiety article for others to read.

If you would like to exchange messages with other like-minded people, or just read what other people have to say, take a look at our community area

And of course, if there are other subjects that you feel we could cover, please do let us know via our wishlist, and we'll make sure we cover it in the future.

If you have any other feedback for us, we'd be delighted to hear from you.

Get involved today! - We look forward to hearing from you soon!