Anxiety versus anxiety disorders
Everyone gets anxious from time to time. Anxiety can help you stay safe. Anxiety also helps you perform better. For example, feeling anxious before an exam can assist you to stay alert, which helps you to do your best. For more info, check out the Anxiety fact sheet.
If this anxiety is interfering with many areas of your day-to-day life like schoolwork or relationships, it’s possible that you have an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders affect about 40 million Americans, so if you have an anxiety disorder you are definitely not alone.
What causes anxiety and anxiety disorders? Anxiety can be part your genetic and biochemical make up, as well as part of your personality. There are many things that can trigger anxiety, such as your environment, stressful situations like school exams, problems within the family, or a traumatic event.
Getting help for an anxiety disorder. There are a number of things you can do to help you manage an anxiety disorder. Follow the link related to the specific anxiety disorder to get more information on specific treatments: Anxiety disorders: types, causes and symptoms.
You can also look at the Anxiety Disorders of America website for more information.
Acknowledgement: This fact sheet was originally developed by youth and staff at ReachOut.com, a website that helps teens get through tough times.
