Anxiety Disorders: A Psychological Analysis

The diagnostic tool used by psychologists to classify and distinguish various mental illnesses is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). One common classification of mental illnesses that are prominent in society are anxiety disorders. Anxiety can be defined as a feeling of worry or being in a negative state; it is characterized by uneasiness, physical tension, and apprehension about the future (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). It induces the flight-or-fight reaction by activating a massive response from the autonomic nervous system as it is connected to fear (Barlow et al, 2015). Since anxiety is a broad spectrum, many disorders can be grouped together to from anxiety disorders, such as generalized anxiety

As anxiety is a future-oriented mood-state, many individuals may be nervous of not knowing what may or may not occur, causing tension. Two prominent anxiety disorders that focus on the feeling of worry are generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). GAD, is the lack of control over the worry process (Brown et al, 1994); when the concern of future events becomes severe and uncontrollable, it becomes maladaptive (Barlow, 2002). Contrariwise, PTSD is the condition in which the exposure of an extremely painful stressor was either experienced, or witnessed causing an intense fear, helplessness, and avoidance (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Both anxiety disorders focus on the thought of unease about the future, as GAD is based on the idea of something negative happening, whereas PTSD is based on the notion of something negative occurring again. Symptoms for GAD include, persistent anxiety, motor tension, autonomic hyperactivity, apprehension expectation and vigilance and scanning (Brown et al, 2001). However, PTSD symptoms include, persistent flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, and tenacious avoidance of stimuli. The cause of GAD differs much from PTSD since, PTSD is a mental response to the exposure of a traumatic event, such as war, sexual assault, witnessing a murder, and GAD is caused by genetic contributions (Noyes et al, 1987). To treat both these anxiety disorders, drugs and psychological treatments are used. In specific to GAD, benzodiazepines are most often prescribed as they provide short-term relief (Barlow et al, 2015). In terms of psychological treatments, “active” treatments are used, such as cognitive therapy, and relaxation and anxiety management training (Brown, 2001). Conversely, for PTSD, clinicians expose patients to the original trauma in order to create customized coping strategies and procedures to overcome the effects of the illness (Beck et al,