While we all experience anxiety to some level on a daily basis and this is quite normal when faced with tasks and upsets in our daily life. Some people suffer from extreme anxiety. In cases such as this the anxiety becomes severe and prolonged and will gradually begin to interfere with the person's day to day life and the way they live.

People who suffer from anxiety of this nature are said to be suffering from an anxiety disorder. In the majority of cases a doctor's help will need to be sought and the person will have to take medication or therapy in order to combat the anxiety.

So what is anxiety?

Anxiety, when extreme in nature has many different feelings, to the sufferer they all cause extreme distress of different levels. Basically put, extreme anxiety causes a feeling of absolute dread. Although there might not be any reason for the person to feel this way and this makes the distress felt much more intense. The more a person thinks about the distress then more anxious they become and around goes a vicious circle.

What are the symptoms of anxiety?

The symptoms of anxiety do vary from person to person and also the intensity of the feelings also differs from person to person. The symptoms of anxiety or an anxiety attack relate to what is known as the flight or fight response. The symptoms include a feeling of dread, a very uncomfortable feeling in the pit of the stomach or even nausea or sickness. A feeling of pains in the chest and heartburn or indigestion may occur; the person might get pains in their chest that can lead them to think they are having a heart attack. Along with this there can be a shortness of breath and a tingling feeling in the hands and fingers. They could have a feeling of being disorientated, dizzy or of the world suddenly caving in on them. Along with the physical feelings the person could also suffer from psychological feelings such as insomnia, feeling exceptionally tired, not being able to concentrate on anything for a long period of time, not feeling in control of your actions and a feeling as though you are going mad.

What causes anxiety disorder?

There are many reasons why a person can suddenly have an anxiety attack, if the attack goes away and you don't pay much attention to it then nothing more needs to be done. However, if you take notice of the strange feelings and pay them attention they don't deserve then this will be the beginning of a vicious circle. The most common cause of an anxiety attack is stress; however other factors such as losing a loved one or the breakup of a marriage or even bullying in school can be the onset.

Types of anxiety disorders

There are many different types of anxiety disorder depending on the circumstances which caused the anxiety will depend of the classification. Common anxiety disorders include acute stress reaction, adjustment reaction, posttraumatic stress disorder and phobias.