Living with the Extreme Fear Created by Anxiety Disorders Essay

Examples of anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, specific phobias and separation anxiety disorder. It’s possible that an individual can have more than one anxiety disorder. Individuals who suffer from anxiety disorders have a distinct fear of social situations; this worry is often centered on a fear of being judged by others, or behaving in a way that might create unease.

Known as a mental disorder a phobia is a persistent fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that leads to compelling desire to avoid it. Phobias tend to affect the way people live their lives, for example, their working and social environments, considering that they last for a very long time and are capable to cause intense psychological physical stress. It is considered today the most common mental and anxiety disorder in the United States (Matig Mavissakalian & David H. Barlow 1981 pp 2). There are many phobias such as: the fear of aging, fear of changing, fear of clowns, fear of getting fat, fear of being in closed spaces, etc.

A phobic disorder is marked by a persistent and irrational fear of an object or situation that presents no realistic danger. Agoraphobia is an intense, irrational fear or anxiety occasioned by the prospect of having to enter certain outdoor locations or open spaces. For example, busy streets, busy stores, tunnels, bridges, public transportation and cars. Traditionally agoraphobia was solely classified as a phobic disorder. However, due to recent studies it is now also viewed as a panic disorder. Panic disorders are characterised by recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety that usually occur suddenly and unexpectedly (Weiten, 1998).

What is an anxiety disorder?- Anxiety is “a mental health disorder characterized by feelings of worry or fear that are strong enough to interfere with one's daily activities...” Anxiety disorders involve more than temporary fear or worry. There are numerous disorders involving anxiety, which includes: social phobia, panic disorder, separation anxiety disorder, etc.

A phobic disorder is marked by a persistent and irrational fear of an object or situation that presents no realistic danger. Agoraphobia is an intense, irrational fear or anxiety occasioned by the prospect of having to enter certain outdoor locations or open spaces. For example, busy streets, busy stores, tunnels, bridges, public transportation and cars. Traditionally agoraphobia was solely classified as a phobic disorder. However, due to recent studies it is now also viewed as a panic disorder. Panic disorders are characterised by recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety that usually occur suddenly and unexpectedly (Weiten, 1998).

The dictionary defines Anxiety as “A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome”. There are several recognized types of anxiety disorders. One type is Panic disorder; this condition makes people have feelings of terror that strike suddenly and repeatedly with no warning. Other symptoms of a panic attack include sweating, chest pain, palpitations, and a feeling of choking, which may make the person feel like he or she is having a heart attack or "going crazy." The second type is Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD); People with OCD are plagued by constant thoughts or fears that cause them to perform certain rituals or routines. The disturbing thoughts are called obsessions, and the rituals are called compulsions. An example is a person with an unreasonable fear of germs who constantly washes his or her hands. The third type is Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition that can develop following a traumatic and/or terrifying event, such as a sexual or physical assault, the unexpected death of a loved one, or a natural disaster. People with PTSD often have lasting and frightening thoughts and memories of the event and tend to be emotionally numb. The fourth type is Social anxiety disorder, also called social phobia, social anxiety disorder involves overwhelming worry and self-consciousness about

Definition: Agoraphobia is the fear of being in a situation where there may be lack of an escape or help, and may result in embarrassment and humiliation. (MedicineNet, 2013) This may include being in a public or open place; like in a crowd, standing in line, being in some mode of transportation, being on a bridge, or being out alone. (Psych Central Staff, 2013) Often, those with Agoraphobia need the presence of a companion to leave their house or venture to specific places. Anxiety is accompanied when one is placed in these threatening situations and they will experience panic-like symptoms or a panic attack. This fear will cause one to entirely avoid these places or situations and become more reclusive to decrease the panic attacks.

Social fears are considered an anxiety disorder and include excessive self-consciousness in social situations. Some people can fear being judged so much they avoid specific situations. All of these fears seem simple but they are quite difficult to overcome. On the other hand, there are some weird phobias that are hard to understand if you don't have them such as Hylophobia- fear of trees. Nomophobia- fear of being without mobile phone coverage.

Anxiety disorders: People with these types of disorders suffer anxiety and respond to certain objects or situations with fear or terror. Anxiety disorders include: Phobias, Compulsive Disorder, Panic Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress

Psychological Explanations of One Anxiety Disorder Phobias are an example of an anxiety disorder and the psychological explanations of these are cognitive, psychodynamic, behavioral and social factors. The Behavioral, Psychodynamic and social factors of the psychological explanation will be discussed in greater detail. Behavioral explanations say that all behaviour is learnt whether it is normal or abnormal and this approach has been applied to humans and animals.

This type of Anxiety Disorder has a direct correlation relating to social situations. A person experiencing this disorder has a chronic fear of other people’s perceptions of them. They are especially likely to avoid any situation where they are being observed by others such as giving presentations or activities that must be performed in front of an audience, large or small. In extreme circumstances where social anxiety disorder exists, a person will avoid social situations all together and will become a “hermit” in their own individual abode. This disorder is impairing to one’s normal life functioning because it often affects a person’s ability to perform the essential duties in a work environment. It also deters them from engaging in typical conversations because the fear of being embarrassed or judged is so extreme (Fleming, 2012).

Agoraphobia is the fear of going to places or being in certain situations that might cause panic, helplessness, and/or embarrassment. Agoraphobia develops after one has experienced two or more panic attacks and then will not want to go to those places again in fear of another attack. Certain situations that are prone to cause panic are then avoided by avoiding people that may trigger an attack, which in turn can cause the victim to fear leaving their house. Anticipated fear will cause one to avoid going to places or attempt to face their fears (Staff).

There are some people who have stage fright. They are afraid of a specific situation, such as speaking in public. They are afraid of being judged, watched, and criticized by others. These people may be suffering from Social Anxiety Disorder which is also called Social Phobia. Social Anxiety disorder is a devitalizing disorder that is known by a fear of social or performance situations including the possibility of being scrutinized (Furmark 2002,p 84; Schneier 2006, p 1030). It is the second most common type of anxiety disorder. This kind of Disorder usually occurs in adolescence but it can occur at any time. Anxiety is an intense nervousness about something with uncertain outcomes.

‘Social phobia is characterised by intense and persistent fear of social situations in which scrutiny and embarrassment could occur’. (Orsillo & Hammond 2001, p.159) The individual with social phobia often feels they are being looked at, studied and critically analysed. Social anxiety is unlike other phobias in that it has the constant likelihood of being verified as being true. (Beck 2005, p.151)

However, phobia can even cause people to risk their health. For example, the fear of dentists can leave people suffering from it willing to risk the health of their teeth in order to avoid having to go through an exam or procedure ( MacKay). When one knows about an upcoming confrontation, it can be the reason why one can not sleep or finds it hard to focus on important tasks. Due the change in daily routine, this unrealistic fear can interfere with the ability to socialize, work, or go about everyday life, brought on by and object, event or situation. But even animals have anxieties and phobias just as every human being (www.phobia-help.de). A phobia is an irrational fear, one knows that the object or situation, one is scared off, can not hurt one, but one is still afraid. A reason for this is that the human mind can not distinguish what is real and imaginary. When one has uncontrollable anxiety attacks, he loses rational judgement, leading to complicated problems. However, anyone can develop a phobia, men and women, teens and young adults, and elderly lady or a one-year-old boy (MacKay).