Chapter 4 covered anxiety, phobias and obsessive compulsive disorders. Anxiety, fear and phobias are normal human emotions that in most respects are used to keep us safe by influencing us to avoid potentially dangerous situations. It is only when our emotions are not in proportion to the reality of the situation that our fears, obsessions and anxiety become pathological. It is very easy for me to see how an otherwise healthy individual could develop generalized anxiety disorder in today’s society. There is just so much to be legitimately concerned with such as the economy, the high cost of health care and war (such as the war on terrorism). Of the types of therapies discussed in chapter 4 I believe the Ellis’ rational-emotive therapy approach could be …show more content…
This is due to the increased suicide rate of service people returning from wars in combat zones such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Due to the unacceptable high rate of suicide of its service people the military has tried to implement improved guidelines to help service people recognize that they are in need of professional mental help and also increasing the mental help services available to its service people. Some individual who have experienced situations of extreme stress may develop disorders of the mind such as dissociative disorder. Dissociation may be a way for the mind to protect the individual from a more dangerous or extreme type of mental breakdown. Fortunately dissociative disorders are not as prevalent as some other types of mental disorders. The understanding of anxiety disorders and other such disorders have increased over the years. Fortunately for some patients pharmacotherapy (such as Xanax) and psychotherapy have been increasingly helpful in their recovery. Hopefully as treatment options grow so will the number of patients who are able to recover from their