Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders involve excessive fear, anxiety, or related behavioral disturbances that can interfere with a person's everyday life.
Everyone experiences fear and anxiety at times. However, an anxiety disorder involves symptoms that become excessive, persistent, or disruptive and can interfere with:
Work or education
Relationships
Social activities
Sleep
Everyday activities
A person's ability to function normally
Phobias
A phobia is an intense and persistent fear of a particular object, situation, or activity.
The fear is much greater than the actual level of danger and can cause a person to avoid the thing they fear.
Examples can include fears of:
Animals
Heights
Flying
Injections
Certain situations
The important point is that a phobia becomes a psychological problem when the fear or avoidance significantly interferes with a person's life.
Obsessions and Compulsions
Obsessions
Obsessions are recurring and unwanted thoughts, urges, or mental images that cause distress or anxiety.
A person may find that the same thought keeps returning even when they do not want it to.
Compulsions
Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts that a person feels driven to perform, often in response to an obsession.
For example, a person may repeatedly check something because they are afraid that something bad will happen if they do not check it.
The cycle can become:
Obsession → Anxiety/Distress → Compulsion → Temporary Relief → Obsession returns
This pattern is an important feature of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
Mood Disorders
Mood disorders involve significant disturbances in a person's emotional state.
They can involve periods of:
Severe sadness
Hopelessness
Loss of interest or pleasure
Extreme elevation of mood
Increased energy
Impulsivity
Major Depressive Disorder
Major depression can cause a person to experience overwhelming:
Sadness
Despair
Hopelessness
Loss of interest
Loss of pleasure
A person may also experience changes in sleep, appetite, energy, concentration, and other aspects of everyday functioning.
One important symptom is anhedonia, which means a reduced ability to experience pleasure from activities that were previously enjoyable.
Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorders involve significant changes in mood, energy, activity levels, and functioning.
Some people with bipolar disorder experience alternating periods of mania or hypomania and depression, although the exact pattern varies between individuals.
Mania
During a manic episode, a person may experience:
Excessive or unusually elevated mood
Very high energy
Increased activity
Reduced need for sleep
Rapid thoughts or speech
Increased confidence
Impulsivity
Risk-taking behavior
Bipolar Disorder and ADHD
Some symptoms of mania can look similar to symptoms associated with ADHD, such as:
Impulsivity
Increased activity
Difficulty slowing down
Rapid speech
Difficulty concentrating
However, bipolar disorder and ADHD are different disorders.
One important distinction is that ADHD is generally a neurodevelopmental disorder with persistent symptoms, whereas manic episodes are distinct periods of significant mood and behavioral change.
Therefore, it is important to study both the similarities and differences rather than assuming that the disorders are the same.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is classified in the DSM under Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders.
PTSD can develop after a person experiences or is exposed to a traumatic or extremely stressful event.
Examples of potentially traumatic experiences can include:
Assault
Abuse
Serious accidents
Combat
Natural disasters
Serious injury
Threats to a person's life or safety
Not everyone who experiences a traumatic event develops PTSD.
Trauma and the Mind
A traumatic experience can continue to affect a person's thoughts, emotions, memories, and behavior even after the event has ended.
Symptoms may include:
Nightmares
Flashbacks
Distressing memories
Avoiding reminders of the event
Difficulty sleeping
Being constantly alert or on edge
Difficulty concentrating
Negative changes in thoughts or mood
Emotional distress when reminded of the trauma
A person may feel as though the traumatic event is still happening even though it occurred a long time ago.
PTSD and Memories
Traumatic memories can remain distressing for a long time.
A person may:
Think about the event repeatedly.
Have unwanted memories.
Experience nightmares.
Have flashbacks.
Feel emotionally or physically distressed when reminded of what happened.
Struggle to stop thinking about the event.
It can sometimes feel like the mind is “stuck on repeat”, with the same memories or thoughts returning again and again.
However, people's responses to trauma are different.
Some people experience symptoms for a long time, while others gradually become better able to cope with their memories and symptoms. Recovery does not necessarily mean that the memory disappears. A person may continue to remember what happened while finding that the memory becomes less overwhelming or easier to manage.
PTSD Severity and Diagnosis
When professionals assess PTSD, they do not simply ask whether someone has experienced something frightening.
They consider the person's symptoms, their duration, their impact on everyday functioning, and whether the symptoms meet established diagnostic criteria.
The severity or nature of a traumatic experience can influence a person's response, but there is no simple rule that a particular event will automatically cause PTSD.
Two people can experience the same event and respond very differently.
Important Point About Anger
Anger by itself does not mean that someone has PTSD.
A person may swear, lose patience, become irritable, or become angry without having a mental health disorder.
However, irritability and angry outbursts can occur as symptoms associated with PTSD in some people.
For example, someone who becomes easily frustrated or angry may be experiencing a number of different things, including personality, stress, learned behavior, poor emotional regulation, or another mental health difficulty.
It would not be appropriate to diagnose PTSD simply because someone has anger or a short temper.
Key Takeaways
Anxiety Disorders
Excessive fear or anxiety → distress and interference with everyday life
Phobias
Extreme fear of a particular object or situation → avoidance and disruption
Obsessions and Compulsions
Unwanted recurring thoughts → distress → repetitive behavior or mental act
Major Depression
Persistent low mood, hopelessness, and/or loss of pleasure → significant impact on life
Bipolar Disorder
Episodes of mania/hypomania and depression → major changes in mood, energy, and behavior
PTSD
Traumatic experience → possible lasting changes in memories, emotions, thoughts, and behavior
The Big Idea
Psychological disorders are more than ordinary emotions or behaviors.
Feeling anxious, sad, angry, frightened, or energetic is part of being human. A disorder is considered when symptoms become persistent, severe, distressing, or disruptive enough to meet established diagnostic criteria and significantly affect a person's functioning.
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