5 Types of Anxiety

Hello friends!

Many people have doubts about what is anxiety and what is not anxiety. To better understand what is the mental illness with the highest incidence in the world, it is interesting to move on to the definitions. In this text, we will clarify what anxiety is and describe, in detail, the 5 main types. These definitions are important so that we can undo some misunderstandings and misunderstandings about the subject.

In common sense, people use the word anxiety as synonyms for words ranging from fear, dread to nervousness and worry. As we easily find this type of conception on the street and in the office, we have to make everything clearer and more precise.

See also – All About Anxiety Course (Free Video Lesson)

When we go to study Freud’s works, almost all published over a hundred years ago, we find the use of the word anxiety. However, if we read it in German, we will see that the word used by the father of psychoanalysis is distress, which, in my opinion, would be better translated distress. But the editors translated it into English that way and from English, we had the Portuguese translations.

The word distress has the following meanings: fear, phobia, cowardice, anguish. So that the popular use of the word anguish and the word anxiety would have this semantic field. To be more clearly defined, I believe it is necessary to distinguish between fear and anxiety.

According to Beck, we must make a difference by the criteria below:

“Fear is a primitive automatic neurophysiological state of alarm involving the cognitive appraisal of imminent threat or danger to an individual’s safety and integrity”, whereas anxiety “is a complex cognitive, affective, physiological and behavioral response system (i.e. , threat mode) that is activated when events or circumstances are considered highly aversive because they are perceived as unpredictable, uncontrollable events that could potentially threaten an individual’s vital interests”.

In other words, fear is an organism’s response that is automatic – and instinctive – against imminent danger. For example, if someone is robbed with a gun to their head, it is natural that there is a fear of dying at that moment. Anxiety, in turn, is understood as a more diffuse and permanent state in which there would be a possible threat (real or imagined) but which does not materialize as the person who does not leave the house (agoraphobia) due to possibility of being attacked.

In addition to fear (which would be at the bottom of anxiety), we find other factors in the anxious state such as “aversion, uncertainty, helplessness, inability to obtain desired results”.

5 Types of Anxiety

Although the above definitions are useful and already describe the difference between fear and anxiety, it is still necessary to go deeper and understand the differences between groups of people who have different types of anxiety.

After all, a person who is afraid of being contaminated by germs and washes his hands every five minutes has a very different type of anxiety from a person who has a panic disorder (and feels like he is having a heart attack), just as this anxiety is different from the person who has social phobia and is terrified of public speaking.

According to the DSM-IV and cognitive-behavioral psychology, there are 5 types of anxiety:

1) Panic disorder (with or without agoraphobia)

In this type of anxiety, the individual feels strong sensations that he is about to die, as if he were having a heart attack or else, he feels that he is losing control, that he is going crazy or losing consciousness. After having a panic attack, a cycle can be created, with the fear of having a new panic attack, the anxiety of having another anxiety attack.

2) Generalized anxiety disorder

Generalized Anxiety Disorder or simply GAD is not as connected to specific bodily sensations as in the previous type. In GAD, stress or excessive worries can be raised as causes of thoughts and feelings that elicit anxiety. Deep down, the fear in generalized anxiety is of a catastrophic end to worries or situations that are perceived as threats.

3) Social Phobia

Social phobia (or social anxiety) is one of the most common types of anxiety and it always happens in public situations, based on the evaluation that others may have of a given performance. It can be an oral presentation like in a meeting, lecture or seminar or it can be in an informal conversation. The person with social phobia feels great anxiety in social situations, as if they were about to be negatively evaluated, humiliated or embarrassed.

4) Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD, in turn, is considered another type of anxiety because it brings to the person suffering from this evil the fear of losing control or being responsible for something terrible for themselves or others (guilt). What elicits anxiety in OCD is not a specific situation, but thoughts and feelings that come from “inside”, that is, thoughts and feelings that seem to come from outside, are intrusive, obsessive – as if there were an external obsessor – and , with that, the person feels that he will not be able to stand it and feels constantly anxious.

5) Post-traumatic stress disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD is caused by trauma, by a terrible event that actually happened in the individual’s history. Anxiety, then, comes from fear of thoughts, memories or symptoms related to the traumatic experience.

Conclusion

As we can see, the 5 Types of Anxiety are quite different from each other. A question that may arise after this description concerns the treatment.

Well, depending on the type of anxiety, medication treatment (with psychiatrists) may be the most indicated to start with, while in other cases, psychotherapy – combined or not with medication treatment – ​​will be the most indicated.

For those who are unable to seek treatment, whether from a doctor or a psychologist, due to lack of financial conditions or lack of professionals from both areas in health clinics or other institutions, I recommend an excellent book by the creator of cognitive psychology , Aaron Beck, called “Overcoming Anxiety and Worry,” by Artmed Publishers. It is a book aimed directly at the patient who suffers from anxiety, so that he can better understand his symptoms, carry out self-assessments and get help through complete techniques of cognitive psychology to overcome his difficulties.

Of course, in many cases it is absolutely essential to consult a psychologist and a doctor, however, I have found this book to be an excellent ally, also useful in cases where consultations are not possible.

See also – All About Anxiety Course (Free Video Lesson)

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