We steadily feel a certain level of anxiety in response to common stresses. The anxiety plays a protective role by making us to put more energy and attention on things that strongly impact our well-being. The effect of anxiety only becomes destructive when it starts to become the center of a person's daily life. Under some situations, mental health workers think of anxiety to be a serious clinical issue. The trouble for most is in perceiving when anxiety crosses the threshold from normal to disruptive. Indeed, the casual use of the term anxiety belies its complexity as a whole group of disorders recognized by mental health physicians and noted by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Diagnosis of severity range in from mild variants (e.g. generalized anxiety disorder or GAD), to more serious ones (e.g. obsessive compulsive disorder or OCD). Alleviation of symptoms of intense anxiety illness, if not the total cure, is a goal which will require an understanding the nature, origins and type of anxiety.

Everyday stressors, encompassing events such as changing jobs or ending a career, are all sources of anxiety. Nervousness, jumpy feelings, and extra attention to detail are responses to these circumstances of normal intensity of anxiety. In contrast, much more intense versions of these feelings overwhelm those suffering from an anxiety disorder. Tellingly, physical symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, trembling and sweating afflict people with anxiety disorders.

The DSM-IV lists a substantial number of conditions that are grouped under the umbrella term "anxiety. For the purpose of conferring to sufferers some understanding into their disorder, and to illustrate the complexity of the disease three anxiety-related diseases are given here. With apparently little trigger the first condition, called "panic attack", makes sufferers prone to sudden onset of panic accompanied by copious sweating and chest pains. Unlike "panic attacks", the second example is the condition of OCD, which makes sufferers feel low-level, persistent fear which compels them to repeat actions in an attempt to alleviate the fear. In the final example: people who are struck by "social anxiety disorder" cannot interact with others in a normal setting, instead feeling fear and embarrassment when among these people. Such fears typically center on the possibility of being a target for ridicule.

To identify and categorize anxiety disorder, a psychiatrist relies on visual inspection, interview responses to inquiries, and a list of symptoms associated with the disorder. Questions about bad dreams, problems sleeping, level and persistence of feelings of fear will be asked by the health worker. The list of apparently subjective criteria suggests such a diagnosis is not an easy task. But the sum effect of combination symptoms can convince the psychiatric health worker the case of and kind of anxiety disorder, even though each symptom alone does not signal unequivocal evidence of anxiety condition.

The fundamental reasons for all these anxiety disorder is the ultimate question on the minds of many. As is true for many psychiatric disorders, the answer is unclear because of our incomplete understanding of the nature and biology of the mind. Three sorts of fundamental causes are frequently cited: environmental, neurochemical, and genetic. Those who think anxiety to be largely rooted in environmental causes think it is like diabetes. Type II diabetes is theorized to be caused by adopting a lifestyle characterized by habits that result in obesity. Insulin resistance and thus diabetes are thought to be a response of the body to the environment. Similarly, anxiety disorders can arise from physiological responsesi to long-term stress-inducing situations. Relatedly, brain chemistry is believed to be the fundamental cause of anxiety disorders. Stress chemicals that reduce "calm" signals, under tranquil circumstances, are released by brain cells. If the release of chemical become dysregulated, the brain may be subjected to unending stimulation and anxiety levels can spiral out of control. Finally, some believe that anxiety disorders are borne out of genetic makeup. Indeed, anxiety seems to occur in parent-child relationships, constituting the proof of the theory. The complexity of anxiety disorders imply correct diagnosis can yield a difference in obtaining the correct treatment.