preview

What are Anxiety Disorders?

Better Essays

ANXIETY DISORDERS

Introduction:
Anxiety disorders are a constellation of mental disorders which is marked by extreme feelings of apprehension and trepidation. It is a syndrome which has both physical and psychological modules. Psychological symptoms include anxiety that is beyond the control of the subject, impatience, disturbed sleep patterns, difficulty in staying focused, and hypervigilance. Physical symptoms include sweating, palpitations and dry mouth.
Although a bit of apprehension is common among normal people, the level of anxiety and fear displayed by the patients of this disorder is beyond the usual response to the triggering events. In due course patients suffering from anxiety disorder happen to face severe psychological and physiological distress and it hampers their daily activities, inter-personal relationships and can also lead to underachievement and underperformance in their academic and professional pursuits.

Age/Sex ratio:
• Anxiety disorder is more common in females compared to males.
• The female to male ratio is 3:2.
• Approximately 5.2 % females have symptoms of anxiety disorder globally.
• Approximately 2.8 % males suffer from anxiety disorder.
• Most of anxiety disorders subtypes have relatively earlier age of onset.
Panic disorder has bimodal age of onset, once in 15-24 age group and another in 45-54 age group.
• Social phobia has its age of onset before 20 years of age.
• Agoraphobia has its age of onset in late teens to early adulthood.

Get Access