Everyone can feel anxious sometimes, but people with anxiety disorders often experience fear and worry that is both intense and excessive. These feelings are typically accompanied by physical tension and other behavioral and cognitive symptoms. They are difficult to control, cause significant distress and can last a long time if untreated. Anxiety disorders interfere with daily activities and can impair a person’s family, social and school or working life.

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An estimated 4% of the global population currently experience anxiety disorder (WHO 2024. In 2019, 301 million people in the world had an anxiety disorder, making anxiety disorders the most common of all mental health disorders (WHO 2024. 

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Symptoms of anxiety disorders

may include:

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• Trouble concentrating or making decisions

• Feeling irritable, tense or restless

• Experiencing nausea or abdominal distress

• Having heart palpitations

• Sweating, trembling or shaking

• Trouble sleeping

• Having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom

 

Interventions used during psychotherapy can be an essential treatment for anxiety. These interventions can help people learn new ways of thinking, coping or relating to their anxiety, to others around them and/or to the world. They can teach people how to face the situations, events, people or places that trigger their anxiety.