my anxiety gives me anxiety

Anxiety disorders include disorders that share features of excessive fear and anxiety and related behavioral disturbances. Fear is the emotional response to real or perceived imminent threat, whereas anxiety is anticipation of future threat. Obviously, these two states overlap, but they also differ, with fear more often associated with surges of autonomic arousal necessary for fight or flight, thoughts of immediate danger, and escape behaviors, and anxiety more often associated with muscle tension and vigilance in preparation for future danger and cautious or avoidant behaviors. Sometimes the level of fear or anxiety is reduced by pervasive avoidance behaviors. Panic attacks feature prominently within the anxiety disorders as a particular type of fear response. Panic attacks are not limited to anxiety disorders but rather can be seen in other mental disorders as well.

What Is Acute Stress Disorder?In the weeks after a traumatic event, you may develop an anxiety disorder called acute stress disorder (ASD). ASD typically occurs within one month of a traumatic event. It lasts at least three days and can persist for up to one month. People with ASD have symptoms similar to those seen in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

What Causes Acute Stress Disorder?
Experiencing, witnessing, or being confronted with one or more traumatic events can cause ASD. The events create intense fear, horror, or helplessness. Traumatic events that can cause ASD include:

• death
• a threat of death to oneself or others
• a threat of serious injury to oneself or others
• a threat to the physical integrity of oneself or others

Approximately 6 to 33 percent of people who experience a traumatic event develop ASD. This rate varies based on the nature of the traumatic situation.

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The symptoms of ASD must include:

• Dissociation
• Reliving the trauma
• Avoidance
• Anxiety or increased arousal

Treatment varies
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