Types Of Anxiety & When to Seek Therapy

If you read last month’s blog, you learned about the differences between stress and anxiety. You also learned about how anxiety involves fear based on anticipation of a threat, and how anxiety differs from anxiety disorders. In this blog we’re going to get into the different types of anxiety disorders and when you might want to seek therapy to help manage the anxiety you’re experiencing. Although my counseling approach of choice, Narrative Therapy, isn’t very focused on diagnoses - knowing about the different kinds of anxiety can help enrich our life story and gain a deeper understanding of our lived experience.

Types of Anxiety

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5) recognizes 6 major anxiety disorders:

• Separation Anxiety Disorder

• Specific Phobia

• Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia)

• Panic Disorder

• Agoraphobia

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Separation Anxiety Disorder

Although most diagnosed in children, Separation Anxiety can be found in adults. This can look like prolonged and excessive fear and worry surrounding being separated from home or people they care about, worries about the well-being of those they care about, worries about something happening to themselves that would take them from home or those they care about, and physical symptoms (headaches, stomach aches) when separation does occur.

Specific Phobia

In this type of anxiety, we typically would see fear about a specific situation or object that is intense and disproportionate to the actual danger that is posed, and occurs almost every time the situation or object is encountered. The intensity of fear may differ based on the anticipation or actual presence of trigger, and at times the fear can lead to panic attack symptoms. Someone dealing with a Specific Phobia would tend to actively avoid the situation or object.

Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia)

Those diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder would experience intense fear surrounding being judged or scrutinized mostly every time a social situation comes up. There is a persistent fear that others in a social setting will notice anxiety symptoms and negatively judge the person. There can also be an avoidance of social situations, as a result.

Panic Disorder

Not to be confused with an “expected” panic attack (trigger can be identified), Panic Disorder refers to recurrent panic attacks that occur with no identifiable trigger (unexpected). Symptoms of a panic attack can include:

• sweating

• heart palpitations

• shortness of breath or feelings of choking

• chest pain

• feeling dizzy, light-headed, trembling, or shaking

• nausea

• numbness, tingling, heat, or chills sensations

• derealization/depersonalization (feelings of unreality/being detached from self)

• fear of losing control or dying

Agoraphobia

Oftentimes Agoraphobia is confused with Social Phobia in that the person experiencing the symptoms may avoid social settings. Agoraphobia differs from Social Phobia in what the fear actually surrounds. Rather than the fear of being scrutinized, those dealing with Agoraphobia fear being unable to escape situations like open/enclosed spaces, crowds or lines, or public transportation in the event of panic attack, embarrassing, or incapacitating symptoms.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

This type of anxiety is, as it’s named, less specific in terms of what the fear and worry focus on. The intense and excessive worry may be related to various aspects of their life such as their job, relationships, everyday responsibilities, health, and/or finances. This worry is typically difficult to control and may cause fatigue, decease in concentration, sleep disturbance, feelings of being on edge or physically tense, and/or irritability.

When to Seek Therapy

Throughout your life you may have been able to identify with aspects of each of the brief descriptions above. Most people can. What classifies each type of anxiety listed above as a disorder, rather than everyday anxiety, is the length at which the symptoms are experienced, the intensity, and how much impairment and distress is caused in an individual’s life due to the symptoms.

You also might find yourself wondering if you have to meet a diagnosis in order to seek therapy and my answer to that is absolutely NOT. If you find yourself experiencing anxiety at any level, you may benefit from learning how to cope through therapy. One of my treatment specialties is working with anxious thinking, whether it meets a diagnosis or not. Throughout my website, you can read more about how I approach working with anxiety - here and here! If you want to learn how to manage anxiety and cope with worries that you’re grappling with, reach out to set up a consultation!

Tina Leboffe, MA, LPC, NCC, AAC

*Please note that this blog is for your information only and does not constitute clinical advice or establish a client-counselor relationship.