Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental health disorders we face today, with nearly 1 in 5 adults experiencing symptoms of anxiety in a year. We also see anxiety numbers being nearly twice as high in women as in men, but both experience anxiety at high levels (as shown in this breakdown by rehabseekers).
Anxiety isn’t just rising in adults; it is rising in most segments of the population. There are many different factors for this in our modern world, including a better understanding of anxiety and how it presents itself across demographics.
In this article, I want to explore with readers the five most common anxiety disorders adults experience and seek mental health support for. If you relate to what you read here, it might be worth considering reaching out to a mental health professional.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is often a stress response (or a response to perceived stress) that shows up in physical, emotional, and mental symptoms and reactions. It is often characterized by feelings of worry, apprehension, and fear. For those who get it, it can be like a feeling of impending doom or catastrophe, as if the world may fall apart. Anxiety is a feeling that we are unsafe or facing something difficult.
These feelings often lead to physical symptoms like increased heart rate, rapid breathing, sweating, nausea and other GI issues, shaking, exhaustion, and more. Often, people experiencing this anxiety can struggle with sleep, both falling asleep and staying asleep.
When anxiety levels rise, many of us tend to act accordingly through avoidance of triggers and changes in behavior patterns that might lead to trigger exposure.
What defines a disorder?
When we look at anxiety, there are levels we all experience, either situationally or more ongoing, that don’t necessarily constitute a disorder.
We consider it an anxiety disorder if it has a significant daily impact on a person’s level of functioning, often in multiple areas of life. Though many times with anxiety, that impact is severe in an area of life, but not in others, and can still be a disorder.
The disorder of anxiety comes in how it impacts our ability to function in our daily life, in our jobs, in our families, in social situations, etc. That dysfunction is how we most readily identify disorder.
Why might anxiety disorders be on the rise?
Some societal factors impact the rise of anxiety in adults. Financial pressure, politics, and shifting social landscapes all play a role in how we interact with our world and can potentially increase anxiety.
As mentioned above, financial pressure and economic realities also contribute to rising levels of anxiety. As we see the economy ebb and flow and shift, it can lead to contributions in feelings of worry and fear, especially around meeting needs and future stability.
Easy and unfettered access to information via 24-7 news cycles and social media also feeds into rising anxiety rates. With constant access to what is happening around us, people to compare ourselves to, and trends that feel impossible to keep up with, we can be overwhelmed by the information overload.
Identifying Top Five Anxiety Disorders
There are several anxiety disorders defined in the DSM. The current edition of the DSM that clinicians are using for diagnosis and treatment is the DSM-5-TR. It is through this that we can classify and categorize mental health disorders. That said, it is possible to experience these symptoms and actions of anxiety without having a disorder, even when that anxiety impacts your life. This DSM is our diagnostic guide, and it’s just that, a guide.
How do we identify these top five anxiety disorders? What are they?
Generalized Anxiety Disorder is one of the most common anxiety disorders experienced. GAD is marked by excessive, pervasive worry or fear across many areas and topics of life. This anxiety isn’t necessarily about anything specific, and it occurs often and over a variety of concerns.
Generally, a therapist would inquire about six months to identify this one, by identifying other symptoms such as difficulty sleeping, constantly feeling worried, feeling exhausted, tension, irritability, and more.
Social Anxiety Disorder is another pervasive disorder that is on the rise. This used to be referred to as Social Phobia but is expanded in the DSM-5. This disorder is likely on the rise due to pandemic fallout, changes in technology, and changes in society. Social Anxiety Disorder is marked by noticeable anxiety regarding social situations.
A main concern we see in this type of anxiety is fear of scrutiny, rejection, or judgment. It is also one of the anxiety disorders marked by a pattern of trigger avoidance–meaning those suffering from Social Anxiety Disorder often shift behavior to avoid the social situations that cause the anxiety.
Phobias are another common kind of anxiety disorder experienced. A phobia is an extreme and irrational fear or aversion to something specific. It is this specific thing that increases the anxiety symptoms, which leads to panic and avoidance. Examples might include heights, spiders, frogs, injections, and more. Phobias are marked by exposure to the thing causing immediate anxiety/fear.
Panic Disorder is another major anxiety disorder that is commonly seen in clients. It is diagnosed with individuals who experience recurring, unexpected panic attacks. (A panic attack is a sudden experience of mental, emotional, and physical symptoms of anxiety. They are marked by things like a racing heart, palpitations, shallow breathing, shaking, dizziness, nausea, chills, tightening of the chest, feeling like they are “going crazy,” fear of death, etc.)
These recurrent panic attacks come with a recurring, consistent fear that one will happen again. That is the other major mark of panic disorder. A person who has experienced multiple panic attacks would experience the fear that one will happen again at any time.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is not an anxiety disorder under the anxiety classification as of the DSM-5. Instead, it is its own collection of disorders, which are primarily rooted in anxiety or cause anxiety symptoms. OCD has a lifetime prevalence of 2.3% among adults (according to mentalhealth.com).
OCD is classified by obsessions–continuous, intrusive negative thoughts–and compulsions–behavior often engaged in to alleviate obsessions. Though OCD can be marked by either of these, a typical diagnosis often includes both. These obsessions and compulsions would take up a significant amount of time and energy for those suffering.
Living With And Managing Anxiety Disorders
Many people live with and manage anxiety every day. Many people find treatment for anxiety disorders to be helpful.
There are a few methods of treatment for anxiety, which can be worked through with mental health professionals.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy CBT is a goal-oriented modality that aims to challenge and change negative thoughts and their corresponding maladaptive behaviors.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ACT emphasizes accepting negative thoughts and feelings and increased commitment to your values and goals.
Exposure Therapy Exposure therapy is about sequential exposure to trigger stimuli to decrease anxiety responses. This is often used with phobias and can be helpful in many anxiety disorder situations.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy DBT is a modality that focuses on mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness
Along with treatment, there are a few ways those suffering from anxiety can cope long-term and reduce the daily symptoms. These include things like:
- Journaling
- Mindfulness
- Meditation
- Breathing exercises
- Community connection
- Lifestyle behaviors including sleep, nutrition, body movement
Next Steps
Anxiety is a widely experienced mental health struggle. These are some of the most common experienced disorders, and they can be managed and treated with mental health support. A therapist can also help identify the best coping techniques for clients and integrate faith into those techniques, which can bolster how they work for individual clients.
If you see yourself in any of these disorders outlined, just know you’re not alone. Talking to a mental health professional and seeking treatment can make a huge difference in healing from anxiety. Please reach out to us here at Seattle Christian Counseling and find a therapist to help your journey today.
Photo:
“Blurred Vision”, Courtesy of Christopher Ott, Unsplash.com, CC0 License
