Anxiety disorders are incredibly common. About 1 in 3 people experience at least one anxiety disorder over the course of their lifetime. And more often than not, someone who suffers from one disorder will suffer from more than one.
Many mental disorders fall under the greater anxiety umbrella: phobias, social anxiety, PTSD, OCD, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and even childhood disorders like separation anxiety and selective mutism. These classifications come from the DSM — the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
The DSM is considered the official authority on what’s what in the realm of psychology and was last updated in 2022. Although there are diagnostics that allow clinicians to differentiate, say, social anxiety from agoraphobia, anxiety disorders share a common root.
“With anxiety disorders, there’s this over-active signal in the brain,” says Debra Kissen, clinical psychologist and CEO of the Light on Anxiety, a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) treatment center. “It’s saying, ‘Oh no, something’s wrong,’ when most of the time things are OK.”
Why someone might develop one anxiety disorder and not another — or any anxiety disorder at all — is something researchers are still investigating. However, experts are making progress in learning how your genes and your environment interact to affect your mental health.
