Everyone experiences stress, which can lead to anxiety. This can occur when you're about to give a presentation in front of all of your coworkers, about to walk down the aisle at your wedding or about to attend to your first college class. Some stress is normal and even healthy, because your body is equipped to deal with some levels of stress. However, when fear and worry significantly impact your social and occupational functioning, you might have an anxiety disorder.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
According to the Mayo Clinic, generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by constant worry, restlessness, fatigue, irritability and many physical symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, sweating and nausea. The emotional symptoms can have a big impact on your functioning. If you're irritable on a regular basis, you may not be able to maintain or develop long-lasting, healthy relationships. Your mood could cause problems in your marriage, with your parents and with your children. Constant worry also disrupts your ability to concentrate and complete tasks at work and at home.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder that is characterized by obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors. The emotional symptom of obsessive, upsetting thoughts impacts a person's daily functioning, because they have to address or deal with the thoughts every time they pop up. For example, someone with this disorder may obsessively think and worry about being clean, which causes them to wash their hands 20 times before eating.
Panic Disorder
The emotional symptoms of panic disorder include intense fear, worrying about having future panic attacks and feelings of loss of control. When someone experiences a panic attack, they may feel as if they're going to die. This can lead some people to fear of having panic attacks in public, which can develop into agoraphobia. The person can become too worried to leave her house to even do basic things such as go grocery shopping.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an anxiety disorder triggered by a traumatic event such as being raped or fighting in a war, consists of many emotional symptoms such as flashbacks, nightmares, scary thoughts, feeling numb, feelings of guilt and depression and feeling tense. These emotional symptoms can have a significantly negative impact on a person's life. For example, someone with this disorder who was raped may freeze if she sees or smells anything that reminds her of the incident. She might not be able to concentrate at work, have sexual relations with her husband or take care of her children until treated.
Social Phobia
Someone who is diagnosed with social phobia would have emotional symptoms such as intense worry about talking in front of other people and meeting new people. He might not be able to give a report at work or meet his girlfriend's parents without feeling extremely uncomfortable and thinking about the interactions for hours afterward.
