Anxiety

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is a normal response to threats that you may face in your life. It can make you feel edgy, restless, nervous or worried. Anxiety can be good because it’s our mind’s way of telling us we might be unsafe or be in a situation where we can get hurt. But for some people, that feeling of danger is there all of the time, without a threat being around, and it cannot be controlled.

Different types of anxiety

Everyone feels anxiety differently. It may be a feeling of worry, and for others, it can be frightening panic attacks. People can have anxiety for short periods of time, or in more severe cases, for years.

There are different kinds of anxiety disorders, depending on how you feel and how it affects your life.

These include:

  • Acute stress disorder – a reaction to a traumatic event
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder – the ongoing result of a traumatic effect
  • Generalised anxiety disorder – when people worry too much about things when there is no obvious reason to worry
  • Panic disorder – when people suffer panic attacks
  • Phobia disorders – when people have an unnecessary fear of an object or situation, so they avoid it altogether
  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder – a need to always think about the same thing causing the need to act in a particular way.
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