About Anxiety/OCRDs

Anxiety Disorders

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by excessive worries about a variety of day-to-day situations. The content of those concerns can include anything and everything, such as performance, perfectionism, keeping schedules/routines, health of self/others, world events, weather changes, the future, and unknown situations. A tell-tale sign of GAD is excessive reassurance-seeking ("Are you sure that's not going to happen? Are you sure I'm going to be okay?") and repeated "what if...?" questions.

Separation Anxiety Disorder: Separation anxiety disorder is characterized by concerns that bad things will happen to them or to their loved ones when they are separated. Worries can occur in anticipation of separation events (e.g., in the morning before school) and/or upon separating (e.g., dropoff at friend's house). Children may express their distress through physical symptoms (e.g., stomachaches), and often attempt to avoid being away from loved ones. They may also contact the loved one repeatedly when separated (e.g., texts/calls while in school).

Social Anxiety Disorder: Social anxiety disorder is characterized by an excessive fear of negative evaluation. Youth may be concerned with how others perceive them ("Are they mad at me? Do they think I'm stupid?"), that they may do something embarrassing ("They're going to all laugh at me"), or being negatively judged ("I let the whole team down - I'm not good enough"). Youth often withdraw and avoid social situations because of these fears.

Specific Phobias: Specific phobias can span a wide range of fears, but are generally characterized by an intense fear upon exposure to the feared object/situation. Common phobias can include dogs, vomit (emetophobia), heights, needles, and a variety of other situations.

Panic Disorder: Panic disorder is characterized by a recurrent worry about future panic attacks occurring. These youth tend to be extremely focused on (and concerned about) physical symptoms, such as heart palpitations, stomachaches, shortness of breath, dizziness, or shaking. Additionally, youth may start to avoid certain places for fear that it may trigger a panic attack. Treatment of panic disorder involves a specific type of exposures called interoceptive exposures, which focus on the feared physical symptoms.

OCRDs

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): OCD is a disorder characterized by obsessions (intrusive and unwanted thoughts, images, and impulses) and compulsions (repetitive rituals or behaviors done physically or mentally, typically in response to an obsession). Obsessions and compulsions vary from youth to youth, but common categories include contamination fears, "taboo" thoughts (sexual, aggressive, religious/moral), "just right" concerns, or ordering/arranging/symmetry behaviors.

Trichotillomania: Also known as hair pulling disorder, this condition is characterized by the repetitive removal of hair (by fingers, tweezers, or other means) from a variety of regions in the body (e.g., eyebrows, arm hair).