What are the different types of anxiety disorders ?

Anxiety can show up in individuals in various ways and may even be a comorbidity of another health condition. In fact, many of us experience anxiety when we have something coming up – such as a work presentation or event. It may even be beneficial in some situations, as it can keep us alert.

However, excessive anxiety can lead to stress and burnout. It can also be a secondary effect of an existing condition such as depression. It’s also not uncommon for neurodiverse individuals to experience anxiety - as found in a study by National Autistic Society - where 47% of autistic people fall into the severe anxiety category based on the GAD (Generalised Anxiety Disorder) diagnostic criteria.

What types of anxiety disorders are there?

There are different types of anxiety disorders that affect mental health in various ways. They may even exhibit similar symptoms but have some key situational differences.

Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)

People with generalised anxiety disorder typically experience excessive worry that interferes with their daily life over a period of time. They may feel on edge, experience tension in their body, restlessness and have trouble concentrating on daily tasks.

Social anxiety disorder

Social anxiety disorder was previously called social phobia. This type of anxiety arises when an individual feels extreme anxiety and discomfort in social situations such as gatherings or crowds. They may feel anxiety about feeling rejected, looked down upon or even fear being humiliated in front of people. This can make meeting friends, eating out or even speaking to a store clerk challenging.

Panic disorder

Panic disorder is a type of anxiety disorder that brings on unexpected panic attacks, which can be distressing for the individual. They can happen without warning and affect both a person’s mental and often physical health. In some cases, there’s no obvious trigger.

Health anxiety

Health anxiety is when someone worries about being or getting ill, to the point where it’s often a sole focus. It’s also known as hypochondria. An individual may regularly and obsessively check for signs of ill health, ask others if they’re not well, avoid certain activities, or not trust their doctors when running tests.

Phobias

Some people have phobias of things like flying, spiders, small holes in objects, needles, public speaking and many other things. It becomes classed as a phobia when the individual is faced with their phobia and experience excessive fear and worry.

Agoraphobia

Agoraphobia is the fear of being in places that you can’t escape from. Sharing similarities with social anxiety, agoraphobia may involve someone being scared to travel on public transport, go shopping, or even leave the house altogether. According to the NHS, in the UK, around 2 in 100 have panic disorder, and it’s estimated that a third of this figure will go on to develop agoraphobia. It’s also been noted to be twice as common in women than in men.

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD)

BDD is an anxiety disorder related to our body image. An individual may experience excessive worry about their physical appearance and amplify what they perceive as flaws that others simply can’t see. BDD can have a huge impact on self-esteem and can even cause individuals to avoid social situations due to how they see themselves.

Perinatal anxiety

Perinatal anxiety is a type of anxiety experienced before or after giving birth. If it’s experienced while you're pregnant, this is antenatal or prenatal anxiety. If it's in the year after giving birth, this is known as postnatal or postpartum anxiety, but some people may experience both.

High functioning anxiety

Although high functioning anxiety isn’t a recognised condition, it’s essentially where someone experiences anxiety and worry, but outwardly appears to maintain a high level of performance at work and in their personal lives. The individual may secretly be struggling behind the scenes, and sometimes, this anxiety can build up and lead to burnout if it’s not managed.

What causes anxiety disorders?

The cause of anxiety disorders isn’t fully understood, though it’s believed that certain life experiences or even trauma could be a trigger. There’s also evidence to suggest that anxiety disorders can be inherited.

It’s also not uncommon for anxiety to be experienced when going through a health condition or withdrawal from drugs, alcohol or even medication.

Treatments for anxiety disorders

Treatment for anxiety disorders isn’t a one-size fits all approach. After all, we all experience the world differently, have our own upbringings, genetic makeup and different tolerances to external stimuli.

1. Talking therapy

Areas such as counselling, psychotherapy, person-centred and CBT all fall under the talking therapy umbrella. Talking therapies are often recommended to help an individual make sense of their unique experience with anxiety, build healthy coping strategies and talk about their anxiety disorder in a safe place.

CBT

CBT for anxiety is often recommended in managing symptoms. This is because it teaches you specific skills to improve your symptoms over time by challenging your thoughts to overcome them.

2. Medication

In some cases, a GP will prescribe medication to help manage anxiety symptoms. Some people may take this alone, while some may try a two-pronged approach of talking therapy and medication.

Supporting someone with an anxiety disorder

It can be distressing to witness someone going through a hard time. It can be particularly difficult to navigate supporting an individual with an anxiety disorder as you may be fearful of making them feel worse. Here are some ways you can support them without passing judgement, arousing stigma or pressuring the individual to open up.

Encourage them to seek support

If someone has been experiencing prolonged feelings of anxiety, or you suspect they have an anxiety disorder, it’s important to encourage the individual to seek professional help. It’s also important not to push this upon the person but rather ask questions like “have you sought help for how you’re feeling?”.

Offer to help research help and support

If the individual shows a willingness to seek help but appears overwhelmed at the thought, then offer to research help with them. Whether that’s finding out more about the Employee Assistance Programme on offer, searching through a counselling directory or booking a GP appointment, it can help the individual feel supported.

Provide workplace accommodations and support

If an individual’s anxiety disorder is causing them to lose focus, miss deadlines or take more leave from work than usual, then it’s worth looking into what can be done to support them. Employers have a duty of care for their employees, and if it’s clear someone’s wellbeing is suffering at work, then they should look into what support can be provided.

This could look like implementing:

• Light duties

• Separate working zone (such as a quiet working zone)

• Flexible working hours

• More frequent breaks

•Limited client contact

Encourage wellness activities

If you have a wellness initiative like meditation, lunchtime massages, yoga or the like that doesn’t involve necessarily socialising heavily with others, you could encourage the individual to break up their working week with an activity. Alternatively, if you offer a wellness budget, it would be worth reiterating this to them to ensure they use it for a wellbeing activity or subscription of their choice.

Validate their feelings

Although you may not understand exactly what the individual is going through, you can still validate their feelings and concerns. Using affirming statements and showing active listening can make them feel heard. If it seems appropriate, it may even be worth asking what particular struggles have been like, how long they’ve been feeling this way and what may have started it – so you can get a better understanding of what they might be going through.

Educate yourself

If you’re unaware of anxiety and/or anxiety disorders, it’s worth educating yourself on them. While you won’t become an expert, having a basic understanding can help you identify when anxiety manifests in someone at work, and possibly even yourself.

Schedule regular check-ins

Helping someone with an anxiety disorder is no tick-box exercise. By scheduling regular check-ins with the individual, you can use the time to ask how they’re doing, what support you can provide, or simply given them space to chat.

How can HA | Wisdom Wellbeing help someone with an anxiety disorder?

An Employee Assistance Program (EAP) can be a valuable support system for individuals with anxiety disorders by offering confidential, short-term and solution-focused counselling. Plus, all of this can be offered at no cost to the employee. By giving the individual access to this valuable care and resource, they can access counselling support at a time they need it most. At HA | Wisdom Wellbeing, we understand poor mental health can strike at the worst of times. That’s why our EAP service runs 24/7, 365 days a year. Our qualified counsellors can help individuals understand their anxiety disorder, build coping skills, resilience and a place to talk about their feelings in a judgement-free environment.

Conclusion

Anxiety disorders can be difficult to navigate and often isolating without the right support. If you have an individual in the workplace with an anxiety disorder, diagnosed or not, it’s important to try to understand how anxiety affects their work and what barriers can be broken down to enable them to work at their best.