When You’re Worried About How Much You Worry

These disorders come in many forms, like a panicked feeling in social situations or constant anxiety about your health, your job, or your family. If you can’t seem to shake something like this, talk to your doctor. She can work with you to figure out what’s going on and help you manage it.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

You may have unnecessary fears about simple, everyday things, like money, health, family, or work. You expect the worst, even when there seems to be little to worry about. It may be hard to control this kind of worry for months at a time. It can affect your sleep and concentration, and it may leave you feeling restless, tired, and irritable.

Social Anxiety Disorder

This is not simply shyness — you’re terrified of humiliating or embarrassing yourself in social situations. It typically starts in your teen years, and it can make social, professional, and romantic life almost impossible. You may feel powerless and ashamed.

Panic Disorder

A panic attack is a sudden rush of intense anxiety that seems to come out of nowhere. It can happen anytime, even while you’re asleep. If you have them regularly and are very afraid of having another attack, you could have panic disorder. It typically starts in early adulthood, and women get it twice as often as men.

Agoraphobia

In the past, this condition had been linked to panic disorder, but it’s now thought of as a separate disorder. You may stay away from public places where it seems hard to “escape,” like sports stadiums, the subway, or a shopping mall. In severe cases, it can be impossible for you to go outside your “safety zones” without serious anxiety.

Phobias

We all have things that scare us — like spiders, heights, elevators, or the dentist — but most people manage these fears. When a specific fear causes so much anxiety that it affects your daily life, it becomes a phobia.

Treatment: Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)

Most anxiety disorders are treated in similar ways. For example, this kind of therapy helps you learn about your condition and do things — like keeping a journal, meditation, or reflection — to understand and change certain thoughts and behaviors. It can take 12 to 16 weeks to notice signs that you’re feeling better.

Treatment: Exposure Therapy

The idea with this is to get rid of your fear by being around the thing that scares you in a planned, gradual way: The more you’re around it, the less anxious you’ll be about it. If you have social anxiety, it might be going to a restaurant. If you have an insect phobia, it might mean getting close to a picture of the bug and then actually getting near one.

source: https://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/ss/slideshow-anxiety-disorders