As many of you know there are six different types of anxiety disorders. Social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, post traumatic disorder, general anxiety disorder and the broad category of phobias. Of all these terrible disorders general anxiety disorder is perhaps one of the worse since it incorporates many of the symptoms and characteristics of the others.

Having general anxiety disorder or GAD is like visiting an all you can eat buffet of anxiety disorders but without the overwhelming sense of satisfaction at the end. I know this first hand since this is the diagnosis given to me over four years ago.

As a GAD sufferer you are likely to have panics attacks, phobias, fear of social settings, fear of disease, basically a little bit of everything.

Not only will GAD sufferers experience symptoms associated with other anxiety disorders that may also have the other disorders. So you just don’t get panic attacks too, it’s more like you have panic disorder too.

We should note however that almost all anxiety disorders overlap in someway – this is why they all fall under the umbrella term anxiety disorders. But GAD is truly a catch all for anxiety symptoms and for this reason it is particularly difficult to endure.

In my own experience it is rarely just one thing that makes me feel bad when my anxiety acts up. Over time I have also experienced an evolution of my anxiety since I find that my source of fear has changed.

When I was a little younger it was all about my sanity and the fear of going crazy. When I became wise to anxiety and how it works I found that anxiety in fact does not cause craziness. This shift in understanding lead to other problems because apparently my anxiety needed a home and it chose health concerns as it’s new address.

You may also find that as a GAD sufferer you may bounce back and forth between phobias and different sources of worry. Anxiety makes no sense in that way. One minute you have a plethora of physical symptoms absent all mental distress – then you have the exact opposite or both.

That’s what makes GAD such a difficult condition to have. It’s like being friends with a hardcore Gemini in that you just don’t know which type of it you’ll have on any given day. But how do you know if what you have is GAD?

This is a tricky question to answer and honestly it can only be answered by a professional. In other words don’t rely on the web to self diagnose. Chances are that your suspicions about having GAD or some other anxiety disorder are accurate, but you should nonetheless talk to a licensed therapist or doctor and allow them to make that determination.

Now I will provide a disclaimer on this one because even with a professional opinion making that determination is somewhat subjective because ultimately it is you providing the information about what type of nervous disorder you have – kind of a catch 22.

Having an anxiety disorder is not like having a broken leg or some other ailment that can be tested or measured somehow. Knowing whether or not you have anxiety disorder is really just you telling someone how you feel and think and having them give an educated guess at what may be causing your problems.

Either way if you don’t know go find out – you would be surprised at the amount of relief you will feel after you know what you have.

For a very long time that was my primary source of angst. I just didn’t know what was happening to me and why I was having semi out of body experiences and other kinds of strange, scary, and frequent bouts of intense fear events.

But once you know what you have you can focus your search for information on that disorder and find ways to help yourself manage the nasty symptoms you deal with.

In terms of treating GAD it all goes back to treating anxiety itself. This is true of all the different types of anxiety disorders. Possible treatment options include therapy (acceptance), exercise, balanced diet, a positive attitude and temporary anti-anxiety drug use if needed. Personally I am not a fan of the drug option since I don’t think they will solve your issues – however I am no judge and you have to do what makes you feel better.

Healing is a vey individual thing because no two people will find the same way to effective anxiety management. The key I think is to be open minded and to try various forms of treatment, sometimes at the same time, to make sure that you get where you need to be.

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