How to deal with anxiety

The family of anxiety disorders include generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder and agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and post traumatic stress disorder. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is the most common and is characterised by persistent, excessive worrying about everyday events and activities which the person finds difficult to control.

While most people worry about everyday things such as family, work pressures, health, or money, worrying about these kinds of things does not typically get in the way of everyday functioning. However, people with GAD find that their worry is excessive (they worry more about a situation or scenario than others do or “blow things out of proportion”), difficult to control, and pervasive (the worry begins about a specific event but then extends to all similar or related events). GAD often results in occupational, social, and physical impairment, as well as emotional distress.