Clinical Syndromes - Anxiety Disorders

1. Anxiety sensitivity refers to the fear of behaviors or sensations associated with the experience of anxiety. Bodily sensations related to anxiety are misattributed as a harmful experience causing more intense anxiety or fear.
2. A somatic symptom disorder is a diagnosis requiring symptoms of physical illness or injury which cannot be explained fully by a general medical condition, the direct effect of a substance, and are not attributable to another mental disorder.
3. Hypochondriasis refers to worry about having a serious illness. This debilitating condition is the result of an inaccurate perception of the condition of body or mind despite the absence of an actual medical condition.
4. Panic attacks are periods of intense fear or apprehension of sudden onset accompanied by at least four or more bodily or cognitive symptoms such as heart palpitations, dizziness, shortness of breath, or feelings of unreality.



Someone who is experiencing a panic attack, being calmed down and reassured by another person.

   

5. Panic disorder is characterized by recurring panic attacks, causing a series of intense episodes of extreme anxiety during panic attacks.

Generalized anxiety disorder has been linked to disrupted functional connectivity of the amygdala and its processing of fear and anxiety.

   
6. Generalized anxiety disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by excessive, uncontrollable and often irrational worry, that is, apprehensive expectation about events or activities.
7. Social anxiety disorder is an anxiety disorder characterised by an intense fear in one or more social situations causing considerable distress and impaired ability to function in at least some parts of daily life.
8. A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder, usually defined as a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding, typically disproportional to the actual danger posed.
9. A specific phobia is any kind of anxiety disorder that amounts to an unreasonable or irrational fear related to exposure to specific objects or situations.

Dermatophagia - extreme nail biting / biting of skin occurs in some people with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

10. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a mental disorder where people feel the need to check things repeatedly, have certain thoughts repeatedly, or feel they need to perform certain routines repeatedly.
11. Obsessions are thoughts that recur and persist despite efforts to ignore or confront them.
12. Compulsions are acts performed persistently and repetitively without necessarily leading to an actual reward or pleasure.