The 5 types of anxiety (what causes them, and symptoms)

Have you ever felt anxiety? Anxiety can appear at different times in life, caused by various factors or situations. However, when it comes to a central symptom within another more general disorder, we speak of an anxiety disorder.

Logically, as there are different types of anxiety, there are also different anxiety disorders. In this article we will know how anxiety is expressed in each of them, and what prevalence these have in the general population.

• We recommend you read: "The 16 most common psychological disorders in women"

Types of Anxiety (and disorders)

Anxiety is a psychophysiological state, and as such it integrates different spheres of the person, and includes behavioral, physical, cognitive and emotional symptoms. We feel anxious when we feel overwhelmed, whether due to work, family, daily problems, etc.

At the body level, this state of anxiety translates into: nervousness, irritability, tension, rapid breathing (or feeling short of breath), excessive sweating, etc.

However, we cannot speak only of one type of anxiety, but there are different types of anxiety. That is why there are also different types of anxiety disorders, depending on the characteristics of said anxiety, and the symptoms that it causes.

We are going to know the 5 most frequent anxiety disorders then.

1. Generalized Anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder)

The first of the types of anxiety that we are going to talk about is the anxiety present in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). In this case, it is a “diffuse” anxiety and, as the name suggests, generalized.

This means that the stimuli that cause anxiety in GAD are not well defined, but often it is the day to day itself that causes anxiety (everyday life situations, accumulated stress, etc.). Thus, a person who suffers from GAD will have difficulties concentrating, enjoying things and be calm in your daily life, as you will feel like an internal engine that never turns off, at the body level and mental.

In this way, when you have GAD, you have a lot of worries in your head, although they are concerns of things that either have no importance, or have no solution. GAD anxiety can significantly interfere with the patient's life.

2. Agoraphobia

The anxiety of agoraphobia is more of a feeling of intense fear, which is caused by being in public places or situations where it is difficult or embarrassing to escape (or it is difficult to get help in case of a panic attack). That is, the person with agoraphobia, in addition to having a panic about having a panic attack (and many times, having already suffered it), is afraid of suffering it and of not being able to receive help or escape.

This fear usually spreads to public places (not open, as is often thought). In this way, the person with agoraphobia avoids these places, resists them with strong anxiety or only attends them in company (or with an amulet on top).

As we can see, the types of anxiety can take many forms: fear, tension, hyperarousal... In this case, we are talking about a type of fear (which can also lead to anxious symptoms).

3. Panic disorder

Panic disorder carries with it another of the types of anxiety that we are seeing. In this case, it is a high anxiety, which is unleashed at a fever pitch as a result of having a panic attack. In order to diagnose a panic disorder, it is necessary that at least two panic attacks have occurred, and that they have been unforeseen (unexpected).

In addition to the above, the patient must meet at least one of these two criteria (according to DSM-5 [Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders]): present concern or concern about other panic attacks or their consequences, or exhibiting a significant change (maladaptive) in behavior related to the attacks (for example avoiding exercise physical).

Panic disorder may or may not be accompanied by agoraphobia. When it comes to panic disorder with agoraphobia, we are talking about the most prevalent anxiety disorder in the clinical population.

4. Social anxiety disorder (SAD)

The next of the types of anxiety that we find is that found in social anxiety disorder (SAD). In this case, as its name suggests, it is an anxiety associated with social stimuli (that is, people).

The person with SAD has a phobia (intense and irrational fear) to speak in public, to converse with new people, to introduce themselves to others in a group, etc.

That is, everything that involves social contact with other people. This is the classic social phobia (now called social anxiety disorder in DSM-5). Accompanying SAD, physiological symptoms (anxiety symptoms) may appear such as: sweating, hyperventilation, feeling short of breath, dizziness, etc., when the individual is exposed to a certain Social situation.

5. Specific phobia

Specific phobia is another anxiety disorder, where the main symptom is intense fear, disproportionate and irrational to a specific stimulus, which can be anything you can imagine (animals, storms, clowns, objects, weather events, situations, etc).

That is, you can have a specific phobia of anything. This fear is also accompanied by physiological symptoms, like other types of anxiety that we have seen: tachycardia, sweating, dizziness, etc. On the other hand, the person avoids the stimulus in question, or resists it with high anxiety.

Specific phobia is the most prevalent anxiety disorder in the general population.

Prevalence of anxiety disorders

As we have seen, there are different types of anxiety, and that leads to different anxiety disorders. Each of them, however, presents a different prevalence among the population. We are going to see the prevalence data for each of them, according to the ESEMeD-Spain (2006):

• Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): it has an annual prevalence (P.A.) of 0.5% and a vital prevalence (P.V.) of 1.89%.
• Agoraphobia: 0.3% annual prevalence and 0.62% vital prevalence.
• Panic disorder: 0.6% annual prevalence and 1.7% vital prevalence.
• Social anxiety disorder (SAD): 0.6% annual prevalence and 1.17% vital prevalence.
• Specific phobia: 3.6% annual prevalence and 4.52% vital prevalence.

Thus, we see how the most frequent anxiety disorder of all anxiety disorders is the specific phobia, within the general population.

• It may interest you: "10 relaxation techniques to combat anxiety"

Bibliographic references

• American Psychiatric Association -APA- (2014). DSM-5. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Madrid: Panamericana.

• Belloch, A., Sandín, B. and Ramos, F. (2010). Manual of Psychopathology. Volume I and II. Madrid: McGraw-Hill.

• Haro, J.M. et al. (2006). Prevalence of mental disorders and associated factors: results of the ESEMeD-Spain study. Originals, 445-451.