42. Types of Anxiety: Part 2

I am going to list and briefly describe some of the anxiety disorders included in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition). A few things to note about anxiety disorders before I do, though:

Anxiety disorders offer descriptions of symptoms, not causes. They are a way of understanding how a person has responded to circumstances they have been through. They give language to the things a person experiences. They are not labels or stigmas. They are not, generally, lifetime diagnoses. They are descriptions of the way a person is feeling and responding at that point in time. Through one or more treatment methods, including counseling, medication, changes in circumstances, coping skills, improvements in protective factors, increased self-awareness and reflection, and more, a person may feel vastly better and no longer meet criteria for their diagnosis over time. A person also may resonate with one or more of the anxiety disorders, but not necessarily meet full criteria for a diagnosis. No matter what your circumstance, I’m a big believer that if you want to learn and grow, there are an abundance of opportunities for you to do so. Whether that’s through counseling, self-reflection, mindfulness practices, support groups, or anything else in between - it’s all about trusting yourself to seek out whatever feels helpful to you.

All of that said, here are some types of anxiety. I’m not going to list specific DSM-5 criteria here. I’m just going to give some general descriptions to help you give language to what you may be experiencing or have experienced in the past.

Generalized anxiety: Anxiety about a number of different things and situations. To meet criteria for a diagnosis, you must have struggled with this for a period of 6 months or more.

Social anxiety: Anxiety experienced in social situations. Can manifest as anxiety about socializing in general, about specific situations where you feel on display, and/or being extra aware of how you are being perceived in social situations.

Specific phobia: Anxiety about a specific object/situation. I.e. Fear of flying, small spaces, water, spiders, heights, etc. To meet criteria for a diagnosis, the anxiety must lead to significant distress and/or impairment in your functioning.

Obsessions and compulsions: Persistent, fearful, intrusive thoughts (obsessions) accompanied by behaviors that help the individual manage the severity of the thoughts (compulsions). Common examples of compulsions are repeatedly checking that doors are locked or the stove is off, stopping frequently to make sure you haven’t run someone over, washing hands or refusing to touch doorknobs, repeating a prayer, or tapping rituals.

Illness anxiety: Repeatedly fearing becoming ill, despite reassurance from medical professionals that nothing is wrong. May manifest as continual visits to doctors and being told nothing is wrong, or avoiding going to doctors altogether for fear of being told bad news.

Separation anxiety: Fear of being left alone to care for oneself. Most commonly recognized as children, but can be present in adults too - can manifest as “clinging” in relationships, being afraid to be alone, needing to check up on the person when they are gone.

Post-traumatic stress: Living in a state of hypervigilance (being on edge and prepared for the worst to happen) as a result of having lived through a traumatic experience or someone you know having a traumatic experience. Can also possibly manifest from having heard about a traumatic experience happening to someone you don’t know (i.e., a news story). It’s less likely that a person would develop full PTSD from hearing about a news story, but of course we know this can definitely impact our mental health.

Adjustment anxiety: Anxiety experienced during a time of transition and change. These could be situational anxieties that don’t last long, but they could also unearth some deeper anxieties that the person wasn’t aware of or thought they’d moved past.

Some more notes on this:

I was fairly vague in these descriptions because I don’t want anyone to self-diagnose without individual help from a professional. If you think you might meet criteria for one or more of these diagnoses, please consider seeking out a counselor to learn and walk through the process together. If you already have a counselor and haven’t discussed your diagnosis (if you use insurance), your counselor can fill you in if you ask. But don’t feel the need to ask unless you feel like it would be helpful - you can do really great work in therapy without ever knowing your official diagnosis. But as a client, you do have a right to know your diagnosis if you would like to.

To meet criteria for a mental health diagnosis, your anxiety must be out of proportion to what is typical for the situation. For example, with social anxiety, it’s very normal to be anxious before public speaking. But if your anxiety is severe to the point that you have panic attacks every time you have to do a presentation, or you fake being sick (or actually get sick) when you have to speak, that would be considered out of proportion to the typical response. If it’s leading you to not be able to carry out your responsibilities or hindering your life in ways that bother you, it would generally be a great idea to seek out professional help so you can get back to living the way you want to.

At the same time (following this example), if you get anxious before presentations to a fairly typical level but would still like to learn some ways to cope and be less anxious so you can bring your best self to these moments, you can absolutely benefit from therapy or whatever other modality you choose to help decrease your anxiety. You don’t need a diagnosis to grow or to make your life better. That’s what is so great about destigmatizing mental health and counseling.

Whatever you find yourself struggling with, there are ways you can help yourself. We’ll continue to explore that through this series!