Types of Anxiety Disorder

There are six different types of anxiety disorder, each has its own characteristics: generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a chronic worry or fear over almost everything without even knowing why. They feel anxious from day to day activities and are troubled that bad things will happen. People with GAD show symptoms such as stomach upset, fatigue, restlessness, and insomnia.

Panic disorder is repeated, unexpected panic attacks, and fears that panic episodes will likely to happen. People with panic disorder are likely to have agoraphobia, or fear of being in places where help or escape will be difficult in case of another panic attack. People with agoraphobia are also afraid of being trapped in confined places such as an airplane or crowded areas such as a shopping mall.

Phobia is excessive, irrational, and exaggerated fear over simple things that generally present little or no danger. Common phobias are heights, snakes, spiders, dark, and flying. People with phobias tend to avoid the things they are afraid of in order to escape anxiety attacks. However, avoidance only strengthens the phobia.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder that happens after a life-threatening or a traumatic event. People with PTSD show symptoms such as hyper-vigilance, avoiding situations or places that remind them about the event, nightmares and flashbacks about the things that happened, startling easily, and isolation.

Social anxiety disorder or social phobia is fear of being seen negatively by others or fear of getting humiliated in public by other people. Social anxiety is often mistaken as an ordinary extreme shyness. People with this kind of disorder usually isolate themselves from others or event and places where crowd usually gathers. Stage fright is the most common type of social anxiety.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD is a condition where a person has unwanted behavior or thoughts which appear to be impossible to control. People with OCD can have certain obsession such as worries that they might hurt someone or that they have forgotten to turn the lights off. They can also have uncontrollable compulsion. The most common is washing of hands repeatedly.

Do you experience anxiety attacks?

• Are you always worried, tense, and on the edge?

• Do you feel like you are in danger whenever you are in confined places?

• Are you afraid of mingling with strangers, meeting new friends or even meeting relatives?

• Do you feel that something bad or catastrophic will happen if certain things are not done according to plan?

• Do you experience worry, fear and anxiousness that affect your relationship, work, healthy, and other responsibilities?

• Do you feel irrational fear but couldn’t shake it?

• Does your anxiety force you to avoid everyday situations and activities?

Do you anticipate and plan for the future or do you worry about what’s around the next corner?

When life hands you a lemon, do you make lemonade or do you complain about the size of the lemon?

Do you see the glass as half empty, half full, or perhaps just not big enough?

Let’s look at a few ways to be a worrier, and see if you recognize any thing in your self. Then we’ll look at how to be a warrior.

How to Be a Worrier

We all worry. It’s a part of life. It’s what we do with our worries that make the difference.

In order to be a championship worrier however, you need to adopt a few of the following traits:

Worry. A lot. Raise it to an art form. Believe it makes a difference.

Anticipate the worst in every situation, then drag your mind and emotions into the future as if it’s really happening right now.

Really, honestly believe that worrying enough can actually change something.

Do nothing about your worries. Take no action at all.

Make your ongoing question in life “what if…..?”, and then make no plans for what if.

Your motto is “survive the day.”

You worry that you don’t know enough about something and are afraid to learn.

You spend 95% of your time worrying about a problem and a mere 5% on solving it.

How to Be a Warrior

Before I give you a few traits of a warrior, it might be useful to explain what I mean by the term warrior. What I don’t mean is someone who picks fights, enjoys hurting people, or walks around with a sword and shield.

What I do mean is someone who takes on life as a challenge and lives to get the very most out of each day, for themselves and those they care about.

Here’s a few traits of a warrior:

When you have a fear, you face it. It’s the quickest way to make it go away.

Your motto is “seize the day.”

If you don’t know, you ask!

You spend 95% of your time, energy and resources solving a problem, and no more than 5% of your time worrying about the problem.

You know that the sure-fire cure for worry is ACTION.

You know how to think and problem solve in creative ways, called “thinking outside the box” in the business world.

You have an almost insatiable curiosity about the world.

You have the unique ability to look at something that has always been there, and see something that no one else has seen before.

You have what Stu Weber in his book “Tender Warrior” calls a “provisionary heart.” This is the ability to look at the future, anticipating patterns and trends, and then not only prepare to survive but thrive as well.

If you find your self identifying with the traits of the worrier more than the traits of the warrior, here’s two things you can do about it:

1) stop worrying about it, and then

2) practice and adopt the traits of the warrior. Try them on and see what you can do with each of them.