Anxiety disorder

What is anxiety disorder?

Everyone gets anxious from time to time. But if you worry so much that you can't enjoy anything, your anxiety may have become an illness. Doctors call this illness generalized anxiety disorder. We'll call it anxiety disorder for short. We've looked at treatments for adults and for children and teenagers.

If anxiety is keeping you from enjoying life, you can get treatment.

Many people who have anxiety disorder don't realize it. They just think they are born worriers. ¹ Or they may think they have a physical illness. This is because anxiety disorder can give you symptoms such as headaches or palpitations (when you can feel your heart beating too fast). ²

If you have anxiety disorder, you can get help. There isn't a cure for this condition, but there are good treatments that can help you control your anxiety, and not have anxiety controlling you. ²

Key points for people with anxiety disorder

• Anxiety disorder is a real illness, and it can be treated.
• If you have it, you can't stop worrying, usually about ordinary, everyday things.
• Anxiety disorder is quite common, but many people don't realize they have it. Doctors find it hard to recognize, too.
• There's no cure for anxiety disorder, but treatment should help you control your worries.
• There are two kinds of treatment that work: "talking treatments" (or psychotherapy) and treatment with drugs.
• The best kind of psychotherapy is called cognitive behavioral therapy.
• Anxiety disorder can happen to children and teenagers, as well as adults.

There are some useful questions you can ask yourself if you think you may have problems with anxiety.

When worry becomes an illness

Anxiety is a normal human emotion. We all worry at times about things such as money, our families, or our jobs. But some people get more anxious than others.

Anxiety becomes an illness when you worry so much that it interferes with your life. You can't stop worrying even though you try. You probably worry over lots of different things, like work or school, your family, or your health. Your worry is out of proportion, and it makes you feel ill and tired. 

Doctors say you have an anxiety disorder if you worry too much on most days for at least six months. Your anxiety may make it hard for you to live life normally. You might find it difficult to get a job, go to college, or make friends.

Researchers don't really know what happens in your brain when you have anxiety disorder. X-rays or blood tests can't show what's wrong. But that doesn't mean that what you're going through isn't real.

Anxiety and other mental health problems

If you have anxiety disorder, it's likely that you've already had another mental health problem, such as depression. Many people with anxiety disorder have another mental illness at some point in their lives.

Some of these extra problems are similar to anxiety disorder.

Sometimes these illnesses lead to problems with alcohol or drug abuse. If you have problems with alcohol or drugs, tell your doctor and get treatment.

Anxiety disorder: why me?

Your doctor won't be able to tell you why you have anxiety disorder. We don't know exactly what causes it, but scientists believe that many things may play a part. They are studying how we are affected by our genes, stressful experiences, everyday worries, and unhappiness in childhood. They're also looking at the balance of chemicals in the brain. All these things seem to affect how much you worry and how anxious you are.Studies show that some things can make it more likely that you will get anxiety disorder. You may be more at risk if you:

• Lose a parent when you are very young
• Experience stressful events, such as the death of someone close, divorce, or the loss of a job
• Have more than the usual number of constant daily hassles to cope with, such as car repairs, household tasks, or missed appointments, and find these more stressful than other people
• Get bullied
• Live through a disaster, such as a flood, hurricane, or plane crash
• Are a woman. Women are twice as likely as men to have anxiety disorder.

Your chances of having anxiety disorder may also be higher if you are:

• Unemployed
• A homemaker. About a quarter of women with anxiety disorder don't have a job outside the home
• Separated, divorced, or widowed.

However, we don't know whether any of these things actually lead to anxiety disorder, or whether having anxiety disorder just makes you more likely to fall into some of these groups.

It's possible, for example, that people with an anxiety disorder find it hard to get or keep a job. Or they might find relationships difficult, and so are more likely to separate or divorce.