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Recently anxiety states have been subdivided into distinct entities
- Panic disorder with agoraphobia
- Panic disorder without agoraphobia
- Social phobia
- Post traumatic stress disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Generalized anxiety disorder or General anxiety disorder
From a common man’s perspective these disorders generally accompany some of the following symptoms: dyspnea, palpitations, chest pain, smothering or choking, dizziness, feelings of unreality, paresthesias, hot and cold flashes, sweating, faintness, trembling or shaking.
- General anxiety disorder requires the presence of unrealistic or excessive anxiety or worry accompanied by at least 3 symptoms and duration of 6 months. And it must cause clinically significant distress or functional impairment. Clinically the anxious mood must continue for at least a month.
- Before calling it generalized the patient is check for not suffering from phobias or obsessive compulsive disorder or any physical or mental disorder like hyper-thyroidism, major depression, or schizophrenia. If the patient is diagnosed to be suffering from any of this then the treatment follows accordingly.
Formerly it was a “waste basket” category into which all other forms of anxiety were placed. More recent research indicated persons meeting criteria for generalized anxiety disorder had more frequents traumatic events in their history than those who did not meet the criteria.
There is a significantly higher rate of generalized anxiety disorder in women than men. Research indicated being 25 years or older, being previously married, being unemployed, being a homemaker increase the risk of this disorder. Studies also found substantial evidence for impairment due to generalized anxiety disorder. It was seen that 82 percent of those with lifetime generalized disorder reported that they sought help or took medicine for it else the disorder interfered with their life.