Anxiety can be a normal reaction to stress. It canhelp us deal with a tense situation, studyharder for an exam, or keep focused on an importantspeech. In general, it can help us cope. But whenanxiety becomes an excessive, irrational dreadof everyday situations, it has become a disablingcondition. Examples of anxiety disorders are obsessivecompulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder,social phobia, specific phobia, and generalized anxietydisorder. Symptoms of many of these disorders beginin childhood or adolescence.