Anxiety disorders

Anxiety disorders (in the past referred to as neuroses, English anxiety disorders ) are among very common mental illnesses characterized by the presence of an excessive, unpleasant and recurring feeling of anxiety . Unlike psychoses, there is no gross disturbance of the personality and disordered perception of reality.

Anxiety , like stress, is a normal human emotion. These are important defense and adaptation mechanisms that help us to concentrate and "do our best" in certain situations (an anatomy exam, giving bad news to a patient).

Anxiety is to some extent a normal reaction of the organism to stress, which has an adaptive function and mobilizes energy. However, it must not exceed the tolerable limit – i.e. last too long, occur frequently, be too intense and inadequate. We talk about anxiety disorders when these defense mechanisms exceed their physiological framework, i.e. they become pathological. In this case, anxiety is subjectively perceived as a very unpleasant feeling , often accompanied by vegetative symptoms ( sweating , tachycardia , tachypnea ). According to behavioral theory, incorrectly learned stress coping mechanisms lead to anxiety disorders .

The term anxiety disorder includes the following conditions:

1. phobic anxiety states;
2. other anxiety disorders;
3. obsessive-compulsive disorder ;
4. severe stress response and adjustment disorders.