Those with generalized anxiety disorder experience non-specific persistent fear and worry and become overly concerned with everyday matters.

Generalized anxiety disorder is "characterized by chronic excessive worry accompanied by three or more of the following symptoms: restlessness, fatigue, concentration problems, irritability, muscle tension, and sleep disturbance".

A person may find that they have problems making daily decisions and remembering commitments as a result of a lack of concentration and/or preoccupation with worry.

[21] Individuals with a phobia typically anticipate terrifying consequences from encountering the object of their fear, which can be anything from an animal to a location to a bodily fluid to a particular situation.

[23] With panic disorder, a person has brief attacks of intense terror and apprehension, often marked by trembling, shaking, confusion, dizziness, or difficulty breathing.

These panic attacks are defined by the APA as fear or discomfort that abruptly arises and peaks in less than ten minutes but can last for several hours.

In some cases, a heightened awareness (hypervigilance) of body functioning occurs during panic attacks, wherein any perceived physiological change is interpreted as a possible life-threatening illness (i.e., extreme hypochondriasis).

Panic disorder is commonly comorbid with anxiety due to the consistent fight or flight response that one’s brain is being put under at such a high repetitive rate.

[25] Agoraphobia is a specific anxiety disorder wherein an individual is afraid of being in a place or situation where escape is difficult or embarrassing or where help may be unavailable.

Roughly 7% of American adults have social anxiety disorder, and more than 75% of people experience their first symptoms in their childhood or early teenage years.

[28] Social anxiety often manifests specific physical symptoms, including blushing, sweating, rapid heart rate, and difficulty speaking.

It can also result from long-term (chronic) exposure to a severe stressor—[33] for example, soldiers who endure individual battles but cannot cope with continuous combat.

[15] Post-traumatic stress disorder research began with US military veterans of the Vietnam War, as well as natural and non-natural disaster victims.

Separation anxiety is a normal part of development in babies or children, and it is only when this feeling is excessive or inappropriate that it can be considered a disorder.

[42][45] Their symptoms could be related to external events they fear, such as their home burning down because they forgot to turn off the stove, or they could worry that they will behave inappropriately.

[45] The compulsive rituals are personal rules they follow to relieve discomfort, such as needing to verify that the stove is turned off a specific number of times before leaving the house.

[43] Risk factors include family history, being single, being of a higher socioeconomic class, or not being in paid employment.

[46] People with selective mutism stay silent even when the consequences of their silence include shame, social ostracism, or even punishment.

[48] Generally, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the recommended approach for treating selective mutism, but prospective long-term outcome studies are lacking.

Generally, symptoms must be present for at least six months, occur more days than not, and significantly impair a person's ability to function in daily life.

Symptoms may include: feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge; worrying excessively; difficulty concentrating; restlessness; and irritability.

[7] All screening questionnaires, if positive, should be followed by clinical interview including assessment of impairment and distress, avoidance behaviors, symptom history and persistence to definitively diagnose an anxiety disorder.

Specific interventions have been tested to educate parents with young children on how to care and prevent a disorder like anxiety from becoming a bigger issue in their child’s teen to adult life.

[69] For people experiencing the physical and mental symptoms of an anxiety disorder, stigma and negative social perception can make an individual less likely to seek treatment.

[81] A 2015 Cochrane review of Morita therapy for anxiety disorder in adults found not enough evidence to draw a conclusion.

[7][72][83] For adults, there is no good evidence supporting which specific medication in the SSRI or SNRI class is best for treating anxiety, so cost often drives drug choice.

[7] Benzodiazepines may also be used with SNRIs or SSRIs to initially reduce anxiety symptoms, and they may potentially be continued long term.

[91] Lifestyle changes include exercise, for which there is moderate evidence for some improvement, regularizing sleep patterns, reducing caffeine intake, and stopping smoking.

[92] A meta-analysis found 2000 mg/day or more of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as fish oil, tended to reduce anxiety in placebo-controlled and uncontrolled studies, particularly in people with more significant symptoms.

Anxiety disorders in children are often more challenging to identify than their adult counterparts, owing to the difficulty many parents face in discerning them from normal childhood fears.