Psychology
ADHD in adults: signs, assessment and treatment
Adult ADHD is real, under-diagnosed in women, and over-claimed online. How it looks, how to get assessed, what treatment does, and why study pills are a bad bet.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Anxiety disorder
Also known as Anxiety disorders, Anxiety, Ghabrahat
Worry or fear that is stronger than the situation calls for, lasts for weeks or months, and gets in the way of daily life. Anxiety disorders are common and treatable.
Everyone feels anxious sometimes — before an exam, a wedding or a hospital result — and that ghabrahat usually passes once the situation does. An anxiety disorder is different: the fear is out of proportion, hard to switch off, keeps coming back, and starts to shape what you can and cannot do.
Common forms
- — constant worry about many things
- Panic disorder — repeated and fear of the next one
- Social anxiety, specific and
- Physical symptoms are part of it: racing heart, tight chest, stomach upset, poor sleep
First-line treatment is a talking therapy, usually with , and sometimes an antidepressant. Sedatives such as alprazolam or bromazepam are habit-forming and are for short-term use only. The full article is Anxiety.
Where this comes up
Psychology
ADHD in children: signs, diagnosis and treatment
ADHD is more than an active child. What the signs are, what else can look like it, how it is assessed, and which treatments help at each age.
27 Sept 20269 min read
Psychology
Autism: early signs, diagnosis and support
Early signs of autism by age, the difference between a late talker and an autistic child, how diagnosis works, what support helps — and the 'cures' that harm.
27 Sept 202610 min read
Psychology
Emotional intelligence: what the science actually says
Emotional intelligence is a real, measurable set of skills — but the popular claim that ‘EQ matters more than IQ’ goes further than the evidence.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Related terms
- Generalised anxiety disorderGAD, Generalized anxiety disorderA long-term condition in which you worry about many different things, most days, for months, and find the worry very hard to control.
- Panic attackPanic attacks, Ghabrahat ka dauraA sudden rush of intense fear with strong physical symptoms such as a racing heart, breathlessness and shaking. It peaks within minutes and, although frightening, is not dangerous.
- PhobiaPhobias, Specific phobiaAn intense, lasting fear of a particular thing or situation, such as heights, injections or dogs, that is out of proportion to the real danger and leads a person to avoid it.
- Cognitive behavioural therapyCBT, Cognitive behavioral therapyA structured, time-limited talking therapy that helps you notice and change the thoughts and behaviours that keep a problem going. It is a first-line treatment for depression and most anxiety problems.
- SSRISelective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, SSRIsSelective serotonin reuptake inhibitor: the most commonly prescribed type of antidepressant, used for depression and many anxiety conditions. Examples are sertraline, fluoxetine, escitalopram, citalopram and paroxetine.