Everyone experiences anxiety – it is an alerting signal, warning us of impending danger and enabling us to take measures to deal with the threat. But anxiety becomes maladaptive when the intensity is out of proportion to the situation, it interferes with daily living and it is beyond voluntary control.
Anxiety disorders are among the most common childhood and adolescent disorders and affect girls twice as often as boys. Generalised anxiety disorder, Panic attacks, Social phobia (often associated with Selective Mutism), School phobia, Post traumatic stress disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive disorder all fall under the umbrella term: Anxiety disorders.