Now imagine that you are sitting in class and your name gets called. Suddenly your heart pounds, your hands shake, and all you want to do is run out the door. That’s not just nervousness — for some, its anxiety taking over.
It might be more than just worry and start interfering with daily life. It could be an anxiety disorder.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is our body’s natural response to perceived danger. From a biological point of view, anxiety activates the fight-or-flight response. This response is managed by the amygdala, a part of the brain that helps detect threats. When the brain senses danger, it sends signals to release stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. This causes temporary physical changes like a racing heart, faster breathing, and muscle tension.
But sometimes, anxiety starts going off even when there is no real threat, like worrying endlessly about a during a work meeting, a social gathering, or even while scrolling through texts. The threat may be small or non-existent, but the fear feels real.
Anxiety Disorder
What does anxiety really feel like?
- Physical: racing heart, shortness of breath, muscle tension, fatigue, trouble sleeping, digestive issues
- Emotional: constant worry, fear or dread, feeling overwhelmed
- Cognitive: overthinking, difficulty concentrating, imagining worst-case scenarios
How is an anxiety disorder caused?
Biological factors
- Genetics: If someone has a family history of anxiety, they might be more prone to develop it but that doesn’t mean they will. It means their brain is prone to be a bit more on edge.
- Brain: People with anxiety disorders often have brains that are more reactive to stress and less efficient at calming down
- Drugs or alcohol: Many people drink to “calm their nerves,” but alcohol is a depressant. While it might lower anxiety at the moment, alcohol disrupts sleep, alters brain chemistry, and can lead to rebound anxiety. Substance use can be both a cause and a coping method for anxiety, but it often makes things worse in the long run.
Environmental factors
- Trauma: Children who endured abuse or trauma or witnessed traumatic events are at higher risk of developing an anxiety disorder at some point in life. Adults who experience a traumatic event also can develop anxiety disorders. [1]
- Chronic stress: Having a health condition or serious illness can cause significant worry about issues such as your treatment and your future. [1]
- Other mental health disorders: People with other mental health disorders, such as depression, often also have an anxiety disorder. [1]
Personality traits and Learned behaviors
- Perfectionism is about believing anything less than perfect is a failure. This can cause constant self-criticism, which fuels the fear of making mistakes, and the pressure to perform well creates chronic stress.
- Low self-esteem: People with low self-esteem tend to doubt their abilities, fear judgment and assume others are better, smarter, or more capable. They may feel panicked before a meeting, and this pattern often leads to anxiety disorders when the pressure becomes overwhelming.
- Modelled anxiety: By learning anxious responses by observing parents, caregivers, or peers, children often internalize anxiety-driven behaviors.
Types of anxiety disorders
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
This is chronic, uncontrollable worry about everyday things — money, health, work, family, even when everything seems fine. People with GAD often describe it as “feeling like something bad is about to happen — all the time”.
They:
- Avoid news on TV, online, or in newspapers, limiting or skipping out on participation in activities that cause them worry
- Seek excessive reassurance or approval (particularly in children)
- Over-plan or prepare
- "Rehearse" or replay scenarios in their mind
For example, a person doing well at work but constantly feels like he is about to fail or that something terrible is about to happen.
Panic Disorder
People with panic disorder have frequent and unexpected panic attacks. These attacks are characterized by a sudden wave of fear or discomfort or a sense of losing control even when there is no clear danger or trigger, and they often include physical symptoms that might feel like a heart attack, such as trembling, tingling, or rapid heart rate. [3]
For example, A person is shopping and suddenly feels dizzy. His chest tightens, and he is convinced something bad is happening — even when he is safe.
Social Anxiety Disorder
Social anxiety disorder is an intense, persistent fear of being watched and judged by others. This fear can affect work, school, and other daily activities [4]. Talking, eating, or even walking in front of others can cause panic.
For example, avoiding speaking in meetings, eating in public, or attending social events not because you are shy but because of the fear of embarrassment.
Specific phobias
Specific phobia is an intense, irrational fear of something that poses little or no actual danger [5]. The fear goes beyond what is reasonable and can trigger anxiety just from thinking about the feared thing.
I have written a full blog on phobias if you want to dive deeper into how they develop and how to overcome them.
For example, even the thought of flying makes your palms sweat and your chest tighten — so you avoid travel altogether.
Separation Anxiety Disorder
Separation anxiety disorder is about being away from loved ones or fearing accidents or disasters happening while apart. It is common in children but also present in adults.
Its symptoms can be different depending on the child’s age. Children with this condition may refuse to go to school. Adults may miss work or have trouble focusing. [6]
For example, feeling anxious every time your partner leaves town or calling constantly to “make sure they are okay.”
Selective mutism
Seen mostly in children, this is when someone who can speak in certain environments (home) goes completely silent in others (school or public settings). This often overlaps with social anxiety and can significantly affect academic, social, or emotional development.
These different types of anxiety disorders can look and feel very different, but they all make everyday life more difficult.
Effects of anxiety disorders
Often, anxiety disorders involve repeated episodes of sudden feelings of intense anxiety and fear or terror that reach a peak within minutes (panic attacks) [1]. Due to which following effects can take place:
- You may avoid places or situations to prevent these feelings. [1]
- Anxiety disorders can also interfere with daily activities such as job performance, schoolwork, and relationships. [2]
- Avoidance behaviors and isolation
- Physical health effects: chronic fatigue, digestive issues, sleep problems
- Emotional burnout
- Depression (which often occurs with an anxiety disorder) or other mental health disorders
- Substance misuse
- Headaches and chronic pain
- Poor quality of life
- Suicide [1]
Methods to recover from anxiety disorders
Psychotherapy: Panic disorder is generally treated with psychotherapy (sometimes called “talk therapy”), medication, or both.
- Research the warning signs, learn about treatment options, and keep up to date with current research.
- If your anxiety, or the anxiety of a loved one, starts to cause problems in everyday life—such as at school, at work, or with friends and family—it is time to seek professional help. [3]
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure therapy are research-supported type of psychotherapy which teaches you different ways of thinking, behaving, and reacting to the feelings that happen during or before a panic attack. [3]
Mindfulness, journaling, exercise, deep breathing: Practicing a healthy lifestyle also can help combat anxiety, although this alone cannot replace treatment. Stress management techniques, such as exercise, mindfulness, and meditation, also can reduce anxiety symptoms and enhance the effects of psychotherapy. [7]
Support groups: Talking with others who face similar fears can reduce feelings of isolation, provide encouragement and offer insights on successful coping strategies. Have an honest conversation about how you are feeling with someone you trust [3].
If you have been feeling anxious for a while, or if your worries feel bigger than you can handle, you are not alone. Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health conditions—and also among the most treatable.
Resources:
[1] Anxiety disorders - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic
[2] Any Anxiety Disorder - National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
[3] Panic Disorder: What You Need to Know - National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
[4] Social Anxiety Disorder: What You Need to Know - National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
[5] Specific Phobia - National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
[6] Separation Anxiety Disorder: What It Is, Symptoms & Treatment
[7] Generalized Anxiety Disorder: What You Need to Know - National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
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