ANXIETY, ANXIETY DISORDERS, PANIC ATTACKS, & PTSD

If you are here because you’re concerned about anxiety, you are not alone! Tens of thousands of people have visited this page.

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health disorders. Recently, reports of sustained anxiety have skyrocketed both among children and adults. It has become an epidemic.

Panic Attacks, Panic Disorder, and PTSD are anxiety disorders that have additional specific symptoms that you can see below.

FACTS ABOUT ANXIETY DISORDERS

Everyone experiences the dictionary definition of anxiety: “a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome” from time to time.

Anxiety becomes a disorder when the amount and/or frequency of the feelings of anxiety (i.e., tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure) interfere with the ability to participate in daily life.

Anxiety disorder is the most common mental health disorder and has become a major public health concern worldwide.

The complexities and challenges of modern life have led many to experience chronic stress that, when left unalleviated or treated, can become an anxiety disorder.

According to recent studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of anxiety disorders is the following:

1 in 3 adolescents ages 13-18
Half of young adults ages 18-24
1 in 4 in adults over 18

Anxiety disorders are highly treatable, yet only about 1 in 3 people gets treated.

Anxiety disorders include the following specific disorders:

Generalized anxiety disorder
Child or adult separation anxiety
Panic disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Specific phobia
Social phobia
Agoraphobia
Selective mutism (inability to speak in certain situations)
Hoarding

Frequently experiencing the following signs of anxiety or anxiety attacks signals an anxiety disorder.

GIVE OR GET HELP!: Helping Someone Experiencing Anxiety/Panic Attack/PTSD especially Grounding Activities.

SIGNS / SYMPTOMS OF ANXIETY OR ANXIETY ATTACK

Frequent worry and/or apprehension
Thinking excessively/obsessively about potential future problems/challenges
Talking excessively about worries about the future
Feeling overwhelmed
Feeling like things are out of control
Negative self-talk
Feeling inadequate
Feeling unprepared
Frequently cancelling plans
Difficulty being productive
Difficulty sleeping
Excessive sleeping
Mental exhaustion
Working or studying excessively
OCD-type behaviors – counting, repeating, creating rigid rituals, obsessive arranging, washing, cleaning, etc.
Fear of specific thing, place, situation – e.g., going to school, going to bed, driving on the highway
Thumb or pacifier-sucking beyond toddlerhood
Sucking/chewing on clothing
Self-harm including
- Cutting
- Scratching
- Burning
- Biting
- Digging fingernails into skin
- Hitting/punching self
- Breaking bones from repeated self-injury
- Carving messages/symbols into skin
- Piercing skin
- Ingesting harmful substances
- Inserting objects under skin
- Wearing long sleeeves and pants in hot weather to hide signs of self-harm
Picking at skin and hair pulling
Appetite disturbances (under- or over-eating)
Irritability
Excessive crying
Hives
Nausea, throwing up
Heartburn
Abdominal cramping
Diarrhea
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Rapid heart rate or pounding heart
Sweating
Needing to urinate frequently
Fidgeting with objects or body parts, like hair twisting or cuticle picking
Foot tapping, leg shaking, finger tapping
Rocking
Trembling or shaking throughout body
Shortness of breath or tightness in your throat
Chills
Hot flashes
Chest pain
Pain in back and/or neck
Headache
Dizziness, lightheadedness or faintness
Numbness or tingling sensation

Concerned about the signs above? Go here to give or get help!: Helping Someone Experiencing Anxiety/Panic Attack/PTSD especially Grounding Activities.

SIGNS / SYMPTOMS OF A PANIC ATTACK

Signs of an anxiety attack (SEE ABOVE) plus
Sense of impending doom
Fear of loss of control or death
Startling
Feeling of unreality or detachment
Uncontrollable hysterical crying
Uncontrollable hysterical laughing and/or crying
Inability to move or moving very slowly
Inability to talk or talking very slowly or softly
Feeling heavy
Breathing rapidly, seeming to hyperventilate, or gasping for air
Needing to curl body into a ball, wrap arms around oneself, sit in a corner against the walls, and/or rock back and forth

FACTS ABOUT POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD) AND COMPLEX POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (CPTSD)

7-8 people in every 100 will develop PTSD in their lifetime.
More women than men have PTSD.
PTSD can manifest months or years after experiencing a trauma.
Children can have PTSD.
Not everyone with PTSD experiences flashbacks.
Complex PTSD (or CPTSD) results from a series of traumas or prolonged trauma.

Some of the above from “Nine Surprising Facts about PTSD” by Marijke Vroomen Durning, RN

SIGNS / SYMPTOMS OF POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD) AND COMPLEX POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (CPTSD)

POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)

Signs of ANXIETY and PANIC ATTACKS (SEE ABOVE) plus
Having frightening intrusive thoughts or flashbacks, reliving the bad experience
Nightmares
Hyperarousal and trouble concentrating
Panic attacks brought on re-experiencing trauma
Irrational anger/lashing out verbally, committing physical violence
Avoidance of trauma reminders

COMPLEX PTSD (CPTSD)

Signs of PTSD (SEE ABOVE) plus
Believing the world is unsafe
Loss of trust in oneself and/or others
Feeling stuck, unable to make plans or move forward with them
Difficulty controlling emotions
Experiencing rage, depression, suicidality

Concerned about the signs above? Go here to give or get help!: Helping Someone Experiencing Anxiety/Panic Attack/PTSD.