We may use anxiety and fear as synonyms in our colloquial use. According to clinical terminology, anxiety is an unpleasant emotional state for which the cause is either not readily identified or seemingly uncontrollable or unavoidable. Fear always occurs in presence of an observed threat. Anxiety disorder is actually a collective name for several types of abnormal fears and anxieties like:

• Generalized anxiety disorder
• Panic disorder
• Phobias
• Agoraphobia
• Social anxiety disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Post traumatic stress disorder
• Separation anxiety

We often use the term anxiety attack when we try to mean panic attack. Very often, we also use this term to mean the generalized anxiety disorder or GAD. GAD is characterized by excessive, uncontrollable and often irrational worry about every thing and this is often disproportionate to actual source of worry. They often exhibit different physical symptoms such as fatigue, fidgeting, headache, nausea, numbness in hands and feet, muscle tension, muscle aches, bouts of difficulty in swallowing, breathing,. There will be trembling, twitching, irritability, sweating, insomnia, hot flashes and rashes.
In panic attack, there are small intervals of intense fear and the symptoms shown are more or less similar to those given above. American Psychological Association has defines panic attacks as discomfort that abruptly arises, peaks in ten minutes, can last for hours and can be triggered by stress, fear and even exercises, although the real cause is not always apparent. These attacks leave the patient in real fear of the next attack.

The treatment for anxiety disorder is usually similar for all cases. The treatment should be taken only from a qualified psychiatrist, who is either a Doctor of Medicine (MD) or a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO). They have the right to prescribe medicines as well as to provide psychotherapy. The anxiety disorder is really quite common and has hence triggered a good deal of research due to which there are several alternative treatments for anxiety disorder.

The best treatment for anxiety disorder is cognitive behavior therapy along with pharmaceutical treatment. However, not all patients can fully respond to this particular therapy. For them the panic-focused psychodynamic psychotherapy is an effective treatment plan. Other than that, self-help tricks and life style changes can help in controlling the anxiety attack.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is actually a combination of cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy and has turned out to be a powerful tool in the hands of psychiatrists in the treatment of anxiety disorder. It is a combination of cognitive and behavioral therapy. Cognitive actually stands for our thought process. It teaches us to control our thoughts and mould them such that they flow into safe channels, so that the thoughts that trigger anxiety attack cannot formulate in our mind and if they do, they are driven away.

The behavioral therapy, on the other hand, teaches the patient to have enough will power in order to gain control over his irrational behavior by different methods. The methods may be: exposure method, self-help tricks etc. In it, they are first taught to expose themselves to the situation that causes the panic and then they learn to control that anxiety with self-help methods.

The psychodynamic theory is actually based on Freud's theory. It takes into consideration the fact that all of our traumatic emotions that we don't wish to remember remain concealed in our subconscious mind with the help of the defense mechanisms. If we can smoke these hidden emotions into the open, that is into the conscious mind and then tackle them openly, we can effectively control the anxiety attacks. The therapy helps the patients to become aware of their unconscious conflicts and fantasies and then helps them to identify the defense mechanisms that cause the continuation of the symptom.  Beth Kaminski