Anxiety disorderWhat is anxiety? As defined by Glencoe's Understanding Psychology, anxiety is a general state of fear or unease that a person feels in response to real or imagined danger. Anxiety affects 19 million Americans each year, and anxiety disorder is the most common mental illness in America. There are many types of anxiety disorders such as: panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias and a few others. Although there is no cure for anxiety disorders, there are treatments to reduce symptoms. Panic disorder is a type of anxiety disorder that consists of feelings of sudden fear, overwhelming fright, and fear of death. Panic disorder can be hereditary, but it can also be the result of a stressful event that occurred shortly before the feeling of panic appeared. Symptoms of panic disorder include: chest pain, heart palpitations and shortness of breath, dizziness and unreality, feeling choking, choking and nausea. Many of these symptoms can occur in a person without having panic disorder at all. Panic disorder attacks are often called "panic attacks." Panic attack victims have all reported that the panic attack lasted for what seemed like several hours, but in reality the attacks only lasted a few minutes. People with panic disorders often have a phobia of never wanting to leave the house, also known as agoraphobia. Panic disorder is very treatable and can be treated with either cognitive behavioral therapy, medication, or a combination of both. Cognitive behavioral therapy involves talking about what the patient feels during a panic attack, but also putting the person in a stressful situation and helping them to... middle of paper . .....what the anxiety disorder does is not progress and gets worse. Anxiety can also exist with another mental or physical disorder such as substance abuse, eating disorders, depression and many others. In rare cases, cancer and heart disease can also be accompanied by anxiety disorders. Often people just think of anxiety disorder as one disorder, but anxiety disorder as it used to be has many different types and each of these different types is characterized by different symptoms. www.helpguide.org/mental/panic_disorder_anxiety_attack_symptom_treatment.htmhttp://www.anxietypanic.com/ocdfacts.htmlhttp://www.anxietypanic.com/phobiafacts.htmlhttp://phobialist.com/http://psychology.about. com/od/phobias/f/dis_phobiadef.htmhttp://helpguide.org/mental/phobia_symptoms_types_treatment.htm