2. Meaning
• Anxietyis a state of fear and apprehensionthat effects manyareas of
functioning.
• anxiety involves three basis components :
a) Subjective reports of tension, apprehension, sense of impending
danger, dreadand expectations of inabilityto cope
b) Behavioral responses suchas avoidance of the feared situation,
impairedspeech and motor functioning and impaired
performance on complex cognitive tasks
c) Physiological responses including muscle tension, increased heart
rate and blood pressure, rapid breathing, dry mouth, nausea,
diarrhea and dizziness.
3. • Thus anxiety is a part and parcel of human existence. All people feel it
in moderate degrees, whichis an adaptivebehavior and response.
• It is anxiety whichforces us to get up fromour desks and work,
otherwisewe would all be asleep.
• For some anxietyis for some time, while for others it may be for most of
the time. For such people, it thus becomes a non adaptive responseand
becomes a source of distress.
• Anxietydisorders are usually “ambulatory” disorders.
4. Anxiety Disorder Syndromes
I. Panic Disorder
• in a panic attack, anxiety begins suddenlyand unexpectedly
and mounts to an almost unbearable level.
• The person sweats, feels dizzy, trembles, and gasps for
breath. Nausea, chest pain, choking, feeling of numbness, hot
flashes, etc are common.
• Women are more likely to develop panic attacks
5. • Panic attack lasts for several minutes, it may continue for
hours.
• A person has panic attack when he/she has had four panic
attacks within a four week period or one attack id followedby a
persistent fear of another attack.
• Agoraphobia- fear of marketplace, complicated formpanic
disorder. Such people refuse to leave home unless someone
accompanies them.
6. II. Generalized Anxiety Disorder
• It is a chronic state of diffuse anxiety
• It is unrealistic and excessive worry about two or more life
circumstances. Most common areas of worry are family,
money, work and health.
• Peoplewithgeneralized anxiety disorder are continually
waiting for something dreadful to happen, either to themor
to those they acre about.
• The person finds it hardto concentrate, make decisions, and
remember commitments.
7. • Peoplewiththis disorder may develop muscular aches, nervous
twitches, headaches, breathing difficulty, racingpulse,
indigestion, insomnia, etc.
• Generalized anxiety disorder may be calledas the “resting
state” of panic disorder.
8. III. Phobic Disorders
• it involves two factors :
o Phobia, or intense fearof some objector situationwhich as the
individual realizes, actually poses no real threat
o Avoidance of the phobic stimulus
• Difference between reaction of a normal and a phobic person
are :
o Severity, a normal personwould show apprehension, but a phobic
person will show intense anxiety along with escalatedheart rate,
sweating, etc.
o Because of excessive anxietythey mightdesigntheir lives to avoid
the thing they fear.
9. • Types of phobias :
a) Simple Phobia – theyare common, fairly in women than in men.
Acrophobia(fear of height)
Claustrophobia (fear if enclosedplaces)
Animal phobia, etc
• People withthese conditions do not seek help, for theycan
manage, without muchdifficulty, simply to avoid that animal in
question.
b) Social Phobia – theyavoidperforming certainaction in front of
other people, for fear of embarrassing or humiliating themselves.
10. • Common objects of social phobia are publicspeaking, eating in
public, and using public bathrooms.
• The basic problemis that it restricts people’s choices forcing them
intorigid and narrowchannels of behavior.
• Distinguishing social phobia with other (agoraphobia)
syndromes is difficult. Agoraphobics are afraid of actual
symptomof acute anxiety– the will scream, pass out, have a
heart attack, etc.
• For social phobic's, the fear is social. It is not the symptomthat
scares them, but the idea that someone will witness the
symptoms and think poorlyabout them.
11. IV. Obsessive – Compulsive Disorder
• Obsession is a thought or an image that keeps unwillingly
intruding into an person’s consciousness, thoughthe person
mayconsider it senseless or even unpleasant.
• Compulsion is an action that a person feels compelledto
repeat again and again, in a stereotypedfashion, though
he/she has no conscious desire to do so.
• Peoplesufferingfromeither obsessions or compulsions- or,
as is usually the case, fromboth, are said to have obsessive-
compulsive disorder.
12. • Most obsessions revolve around contamination, violence, sex,
or religious transgression, which makes themeven more
demoralizingto the people who have them.
• Compulsions fall under two categories :
a) Checking rituals – people are compelled to interrupt their
activities againand againto go and make sure they havedone
something that they were supposedto do.
b) Cleaning rituals– repeated actions of compulsive hand washers,
who are typically obsessed with the idea that they are
contaminated.
13. • Whatever their routine, compulsives become extremelyanxious
if they are prevented, or try to prevent themselves, from
engaging in it.
• This disorder can be completely disabling, as the person’s life is
given to obeying the compulsion.
• It is also calledas obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, a
personality type characterized by rigidity, over consciousness,
and over concern with detail.
14. V. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• They are acutepsychological reactions to intensely traumatic
events, events muchmore disturbing than most ordinary
human troubles. Such events include assault, rape, natural
disaster, war, etc.
• The source of stress here is an external event of an
overwhelminglypainful nature.
• The person may go on for weeks, or years re-experiencing the
traumatic experience either in painful recollection or in
nightmares.
• They might numb themselves to their present surroundings.
15. • They may also shoe heightened symptoms of irritability,
insomnia.
• Those whoare chronically distressed, especially in their
personal relationships and those with greater family history of
psychopathology are most likely to develop post traumatic
stress disorder.
• Likelihood of post traumatic stress also depends upon the
nature of trauma.
• “Re-experiencing symptoms” are seen in those who have
witnessed or suffered acts of abusive violence, “denial
symptoms” are common among those who have themselves
participated in acts of abusive violence.
