ANXIETY DISORDER
Anxiety is defined as a subjective feeling of apprehension or dread about the present or the future accompanied by a number of automatic signs and somatic symptoms like palpitations, dryness of mouth, tremors, headache, sweating, urinary frequency, etc. In anxiety disorders, anxiety occurs as a primary symptom, without any underlying organic illness or another psychiatric illness.
Depending on the pattern of anxiety, the disorder is divided into three types:
A. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), where anxiety is steady and persistent and not restricted to any particular situation.
B. Phobic Disorder where anxiety is paroxysmal arising is specific situations.
C. Panic Disorder where anxiety is paroxysmal and mounts up to a severe degree unrelated to any particular situation.
Symptoms of Anxiety
1. Somatic: Tremors, twitching, muscular tension, constriction of chest, fatigue, paraesthesia.
2. Autonomic: Palpitation, ‘missed beats’, dry mouth, dysphagia, eoigastric sensations (butterflies in the stomach), ‘flatulence’, diarrhea, shortness of breath, tachypnoea, urinary frequency, loss of erection, menstrual disturbances, flushing and pallor, sweating, cold extremities.
3. Psychological: Apprehension, restlessness, difficulty in concentrating, irritability
4. Others: Insomnia, lack of appetite, loss of sexual libido.
