Anxiety

It involves recurrent panic attacks and an overwhelming combination of physical and psychological symptoms like palpitations and rapid heart rate, sweating, trembling or shaking, shortness of breath, chest pain, dizziness, light-headedness, feeling of choking, numbness or tingling.

A specific phobia is an excessive and persistent fear of a specific object, situation or activity that is generally not harmful. People with phobias know their fear is excessive, but they can’t overcome it. These fears cause so much distress that some people go to extreme lengths to avoid what they fear. In any given year an estimated seven to nine percent of U.S. adults have a specific phobia.

The fear of being in situations where an escape may be difficult in the event of panic symptoms. The fear is out of proportion to the actual situation and lasts generally six months or more. A person with agoraphobia can experience fear while using public transportation, being in open spaces, being in enclosed places, being in a crowd or while being outside the home alone.

It involves feeling significant discomfort in social interactions. People with this disorder will try to avoid the situation or endure it with great anxiety. Common examples include an extreme fear of public speaking, a fear of meeting new people or a fear of eating in public. In any given year an estimated seven percent of U.S. adults have a specific phobia.

A person with separation anxiety disorder is excessively fearful or anxious about separation from those with whom he or she is attached. A person with separation anxiety disorder may be persistently worried about losing the person closest to him or her, may be reluctant or refuse to go out or sleep away from home without that person, and may experience nightmares about separation. In any given year an estimated one to two percent of U.S. adults have separation anxiety disorder.