Traumatic Stress Disorder is the experience, or witness or confrontation with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury or threat to the physical injury of self or others. This can include repetitive behaviours such as hand washing, cleaning, checking, counting, repeating words silently to themselves. The obsessions and compulsions can 'significantly' interfere with the person's everyday life and cause extreme distress. Generalised Anxiety Disorder is persistence and excessive anxiety or worry experienced for six months or more about events or activities which may or may not happen. People can experience panic attacks with any of the above disorders.
Panic disorder is the fear of having a spontaneous panic attack.
This attack comes without any warning day or night irrespective of what the person is doing. The spontaneous attack is not related to and is not induced by any particular situation or place. Many people can be waken from sleep with this type of attack. Many people fear they are dying, having a heart attack or going insane or losing control. Specific or 'cued' panic attacks These occur in relation to specific feared situations or places.