Medical professionals can, not only diagnose someone with anxiety, with a little probing they can actually categorize the anxiety into one of three groups, these are general anxiety, phobia disorder and panic disorder.

Within these three groups there are other conditions or disorders that you may hear of, these conditions fit the “guidelines” of what each group entail and are placed accordingly. By having three categories or groups medical professionals have been able to prescribe the correct treatments more easily.

General anxiety

General anxiety, called generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is the most common of all anxiety and affects around 3.5% of the population.

Generalized anxiety disorder is more than the anxiety we feel in everyday life, the person suffering will find they exaggerate the tension they have over something affecting their life, and will find the anxiety is persist for long periods of time.

The person suffering with generalized anxiety disorder will normally have trouble controlling their feelings, they may have trouble concentrating, have trouble sleeping, tension built up in the muscles and can be edgy and irritable to the point of being unreasonable.

Sufferer cannot always pinpoint the reason for the anxiety although most cases revolve around work life, financial worries or relationship issue.

Phobia disorder

Phobia disorder, mostly commonly called social phobia disorder or social anxiety disorder, phobias regard the anxiety a person feels when in social situations.

Social phobia disorder is caused by a person being over conscious of others scrutinizing them in the daily tasks they carry out. The sufferer becomes fearful of being watched and has feelings of embarrassment over simple actions as they feel they are being judged.

Over time this anxiety can cause large affects in the way a sufferer lives on a day-to-day basis and they become reclusive and try to stay away from social settings. The sufferer will usually see they have a problem but find it difficult in try to overcome it due to not wishing to be in a position where they may have to enter in to counseling.

Sometimes this disorder can be mistaken for a panic disorder because those who suffer with phobias can sometimes suffer panic attacks as a symptom.

Panic Disorder

Panic disorder, also known as a panic attack is not a prolonged feeling of anxiety like generalized panic disorder or social phobia disorder.

Panic disorder comes in the form of intense period of anxiety, this normally starts without warning and causes feelings of breathlessness, trembling, heart palpitations, excessive sweating and in some cases a feeling of sickness.

The panic attack will make the sufferer feel the flight or fight response our body puts us through when huge amounts of adrenaline are pumped round the body under moments of intense stress.

While experiencing a panic attack for the first time the sufferer may feel like they are having a heart attack or another type of dangerous medical condition.

The length of time a person suffers a panic attack can vary quite a lot, but generally they only last for short periods of time.