Condition : Anxiety

Condition Anxiety

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is a natural response to threats that causes you to feel worried, nervous, concerned, or uneasy.

When anxiety becomes difficult to control and affects your everyday life, then you may have an anxiety disorder. Panic disorders and phobias (fear of something specific) are types of anxiety disorder.

Examples of anxiety disorders include:

generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) – often feeling very anxious about lots of different things
social anxiety disorder (also known as social phobia) – a fear of social situations
selective mutism – being unable to speak in certain social situations
agoraphobia – a fear of being in situations, such as on a bus or in a crowd, where help or an easy escape might not be available
body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) – worrying about flaws in your appearance

It’s common to have more than one type of anxiety disorder at the same time.

Alongside feelings of stress or worry, common symptoms of anxiety disorders include:

faster, irregular, or more noticeable heartbeat (palpitations)
feeling lightheaded or dizzy
stomach problems
chest pain
trembling or shaking
numbness or pins and needles
feeling tense, nervous, or irritable
problems with concentration
getting tired easily
difficulty sleeping (insomnia)
being unable to relax or enjoy leisure activities
avoiding situations that create anxiety
panic attacks (sudden, intense episodes of anxiety and fear where you may have a racing heartbeat and feel faint, sick, or breathless)

People with anxiety often also have, or go on to develop, other mental health conditions, such as depression and eating disorders.

Anxiety is also linked with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), which is when you can’t stop unpleasant thoughts and feel you need to do a particular action to get temporary relief from the feelings those thoughts bring.

Children and young people

If you are looking for help with anxiety in children then please visit:

Anxiety in children

What causes anxiety?

We have evolved to feel anxious when we’re in danger so that our ‘fight, flight, or freeze’ response will be triggered to protect us. This response involves the release of hormones which make you feel more alert and increase your heart rate so blood can quickly get where it’s needed most (to enable you to run away or fight).

If you have an anxiety disorder, this response is being triggered at times when there is no real threat, and the feelings it brings are very strong or last for a long time.

It’s not fully understood what causes anxiety disorders, though it’s believed that a mixture of things can trigger them, including: