Anxiety & Depression
Depression
Depression is a mood disorder in which the individual experiences persistent depression, lack of desire in daily life, and often altered sleep, altered appetite, decreased initiation ability, irritability, thoughts of being useless, difficulty in concentration, and thoughts about death. Following these symptoms, individuals usually become withdrawn, more passive, and increasingly avoid activities. Approximately 25-30% of all women and 15-20% of all men suffer from depression at some point in their lives.
Social Phobia
Social phobia is an anxiety syndrome characterised by fear and anxiety associated with various social situations. Approximately 13% of the population meet the criteria for this diagnosis at some point in their lives. People with this anxiety disorder are so afraid of being judged negatively by others or making mistakes in these situations that it negatively impacts the quality of their life. Anxiety can occur before, during, and/or after social situations.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Generalised Anxiety Disorder, also known as GAD, is an anxiety disorder that affects about 6% of the population at some point in their lives. This anxiety syndrome is characterised by persistent and generalised anxiety. The anxiety can be highly variable between different individuals with this diagnosis and it can interfere with the individual's overall quality of life. Catastrophic thoughts tend to be associated with terrorist attacks, assaults, and deaths, but they can also include excessive anxiety about everyday things like being late for work or not being able to find a parking space. Anxiety syndrome occurs when the catastrophic thoughts are excessively controlling causing suffering in everyday life.
Panic Disorder
Panic disorder is an anxiety syndrome in which the individual has sudden anxiety attacks that seem to come out of nowhere. These attacks generate fear of new attacks and/or the effects of these attacks on the individual. To protect themselves from new attacks, individuals with this diagnosis typically make changes in their daily lives to reduce the risk of a new panic attack. The fear of panic attacks and the altered daily life reduces the individual's overall quality of life. Around 6% of the population will develop a panic disorder at some point in their lives.
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is a fear of places where an individual experiences it is difficult to get away. Typical environments for this to occur are crowded places, public transport, cinemas, squares, bridges, queues, and shopping malls. Agoraphobia often leads to avoidant or altered routines for individuals who suffer from this anxiety disorder. Over the course of a lifetime, approximately 1-2% of the population develops agoraphobia. It is common for individuals with agoraphobia to also suffer from panic disorder or social phobia.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterised by obsessive-compulsive and/or compulsive behaviours. These obsessions and compulsions cause anxiety when they occur or when the individual attempts to resist them or is prevented from carrying out their compulsion. These obsessions and compulsions consume a significant proportion of the individual's daily life in terms of time and energy and cause suffering for the individual and/or their environment. Approximately 2% of the population develops an obsessive-compulsive disorder in the course of their lifetime.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition that an individual may develop after experiencing a traumatic life event. In PTSD, the individual experiences a combination of heightened vigilance, fear of traumatic reminders, involuntary re-experiencing the trauma, fragmented trauma recollections, nightmares, and anxiety/fear of things that remind them of trauma. These challenges cause suffering for the individual and make it difficult for them to cope with everyday life. Depending on the type of trauma, developing PTSD afterwards is common or very common. About 9% of the population develop PTSD in the course of their lifetime.
Specific Phobia
Specific phobia is an exaggerated fear of a situation or an object. Some common specific phobias include spiders, snakes, confined spaces, needles, blood, and heights. People with specific phobias avoid coming into contact with what they are frightened of, or even things that remind them of it. The specific phobia causes a diminished quality of life and distress for the individual. About 13% of the population suffers from a specific phobia at some point in their lives.
Hypochondria
Hypochondria is an excessive fear of a serious illness such as cancer or stroke. People with hypochondria are preoccupied with fears related to illness, causing a negative impact on their own and/or others' quality of life. For example, people with hypochondria often visit a doctor to get answers about whether they suffer from the disease they are worried about. They examine themselves, ask the environment for reassurance or avoid situations in which there is an increased risk of illness. About 1-5% of the population develop hypochondria at some point in their lives.
Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)
Dysmorphophobia, also known as BDD, is an anxiety disorder characterised by a person's excessive preoccupation with their own appearance, resulting in a reduced quality of life. People with BDD spend a lot of time on actions that relate to their appearance. These may consist of checking how they look, comparing themselves to others, avoiding seeing themselves, or trying to improve their appearance in various ways. BDD can often be mistaken for social phobia as several symptoms overlap. About 1.5% of the adult population has BDD.