GENERAL ANXIETY DISORDER refers to persistent and excessive worry about a number of areas in person’s life.
The person is overly concerned about money, health, relationships, performance at work with no obvious reason and has difficulty to control it.
General Anxiety Disorder causes chronic irritability, nervousness, tension, restlessness, headaches, and the individual experiences trouble to concentrate on everyday tasks.
PANIC ATTACKS are not physically dangerous but they can be very scary.
People who are suffering panic attacks experience sudden and intense fear lasting between five minutes to a half-hour often accompanied with physical symptoms as chest pain and discomfort, rapid breathing, feeling breathless, sweating, feeling very hot or cold, feeling sick, feeling faint or dizzy, tingling fingers, shivering or shaking, racing heart and irregular heartbeat.
PHOBIA is a marked fear or anxiety about a specific object or situation (e.g., flying, heights, animals, seeing blood). The phobic object or situation almost always provokes immediate intense fear or anxiety. The individual actively avoids the situation. Active avoidance means the individual intentionally behaves in ways that are designed to prevent or minimise contact with phobic objects or situations. Avoidance behaviours are often obvious – an individual who fears blood refusing to go to the doctor or an individual who fears snakes refusing to look at pictures that resemble the form or shape of snakes.
Many individuals with specific phobias have suffered over many years and have changed their living circumstances in ways designed to avoid the phobic object or situation as much as possible. Individuals with specific phobia often recognise their reactions as disproportionate. The specific phobia may cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
WORK ANXIETY relates to stress caused by work and job performance that leads to anxiety. Certain symptoms include excessive and irrational worrying, trouble falling asleep, tiredness and fatigue, dry mouth, sweating, a pounding/racing heart, shaking and trembling, overreacting to situations on the job, focusing too much on negative aspects of the individual’s job, struggling to concentrate, procrastination.
Causes of work anxiety may include: dealing with workplace bullying or conflicts, challenging deadlines, difficulties in maintaining relationships with coworkers, lack of expertise or management skills, long-hour shifts, having a demanding managers, overly high workload, having a lack of direction on tasks, experiencing unfair treatment and discrimination, low income.
If the individual lives with work anxiety, the effects of their life may include reduced job performance, low quality of their work, conflicts with their co-workers, losing of work-life balance, family and relationship issues, turning down opportunities, feeling what you do doesn’t make a difference, feeling isolated, experiencing job loss, planning less effectively, avoiding innovation, low moods, depression.