Having an anxiety disorder is not the same thing as experiencing anxiety. Anxiety and fear can be normal, adaptive responses to stressful and scary situations. Anxiety symptoms can also occur in the context of other mental and physical disorders or as effects of medication or drugs of abuse. In anxiety disorders, however, the feelings of anxiety or fear are recurrent, excessive, consistent, and persistent. They may also be accompanied by other symptoms, like sleep disturbances or panic attacks.
Anxiety disorders are defined by the 5th edition of the American Psychological Association (APA)’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) as a group of disorders "that share features of excessive fear and anxiety and related emotional disturbances".[11] The most common anxiety disorders in adults are specific phobias, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and agoraphobia.[12]