Anxiety disorder - Research Paper Example

? Running Head: ANXIETY DISORDERS Psychology Studies Anxiety Disorders College: Psychology is the study that is responsible for developing an understanding towards a logical thinking, an ability of keeping humane in consideration. It is the way where an understanding is build up about the behavior of a person, and methods could be devised to enhance what is lacking in the personality and how well an individual be groomed to have a sound and congenial influence on the society or social ambience. Anxiety disorders is a broad term that involves various mental disorders, displaying the symptoms of prominent anxiety. Anxiety is a cluster of various disorders like uneasiness, panic nervousness and upsetting or distressing. Anxiety disorders influence the mental well being of the individual which could be depicted in behavior and predisposition. However, current epoch witnesses anxiety due to mounting competition and stress in day-to-day pursuits. Mild anxiety at times brings motivation but severe anxiety could be debilitating and influence the individual to a greater extent. About 40 million Americans (~ 18 percent) belonging to the age group of 18 years and above display symptoms of anxiety (Kessler, 2005). Anxiety disorders could be precipitated by environment, prolonged medical condition or it could be hereditary, could be induced by substance abuse such as drug or alcohol or it could be due to brain chemistry, negative approach, pessimistic temperament or negative self-talk may play vital role in inducing anxiety disorders. As anxiety disorders are becoming common in the society due to various factors contributing to anxiety, an understanding is desired to recognize the symptoms of different disorders in order to avail timely treatment before the symptoms turn out to be deleterious. The present study deals with numerous anxiety disorders which are responsible for mental illness. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Obsessive compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder, a compulsive ritualistic behavior driven by irrational anxiety such as fear of contamination, thereby repeated washing of hands and cleaning or articles is performed by the patient. The treatment of such disorders generally involves an amalgamation of psychological approaches as well as drug treatment. OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) is characterized by repetitive anxiety- provoking thoughts (obsession) or repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing anxiety (compulsions). If such thoughts or actions are prevented or interrupted, the patient becomes anxious. It is a chronic and disabling condition that persists throughout life and hampers normal life of an individual and those who are associated with the OCD patient (Kaushik, 2011). The disease is a chronic condition and no absolute reason could be formulated till date. Noteworthy contribution of studies involving OCD highlight the perception of the phenomenology and pathophysiology of OCD prevalent both in children and adults, affecting 1-3% of the population (Torres et al, 2006). Epidemiological understanding about OCD suggests that OCD has emerged as the fourth most common mental disorder across the world irrespective of culture. Considering the condition of anxiety to be of paramount significance, World Health Organization (WHO, 2001) coined OCD as one of the most debilitating disorders. An estimation carried out in the year 2000, enumerated OCD in the list of top 20 causes of illness related disability of individuals belonging to the age between 15 years and 44 years. In most of the cases, symptoms onset around the age of 10 years, prepuberty onset is observed in boys while in girls onset of symptoms usually occur during adolescence phase (Tukel et al, 2006). OCD patient displays significant distress that results in impaired psychosocial performances. Obsessions are recurring, invasive and upsetting beliefs, suggestions, illustrations, or recommendations that in most of the cases are inappropriate. In case of OCD these characteristics persist how-so-ever the individual tries to restrain, oppose or disregard them. Thus OCD is a condition that results due to recurring unnecessary thoughts and in order to exonerate such thoughts repetitive actions are being performed (Kaushik, 2011). Studies reveal that family psycho-education plays an imperative role in dealing with the mental illness. As OCD is reported to be the common mental illness, emotional support, understanding of family members, problem-solving abilities could be handled in a cognitive manner, if the family understands the significance of the psychological influence on patient suffering with OCD. Evidence involving such an approach highlight the success of therapy. Although barriers were observed in carrying out such pursuits but proper attitude, knowledge based practical and systemic approach to implement leads to long term benefits (Dixon et al, 2001). Social Anxiety Social anxiety is also called as social phobias, a condition when individuals turn out to be devastatingly anxious and become highly self-conscious in day-to-day pursuits. They develop a notion that they are being observed intensely and persistently by others and if they do anything they feel embarrassed. The situation persists for several days or weeks as a result keeping relationship at workplace or friendship at school becomes difficult. Even if the individual suffering with social phobia realizes that the fear is irrational, they find it difficult to overcome the situation. Even if these individuals are present in group they feel conscious about their presence, and remain uncomfortable all through the session of interaction as they keep their thought about others watching them or they are being observed (Reiger et al., 1998; Robins et al., 1991). The situation of anxiety is displayed while talking, eating, drinking or while writing on the board in presence of others. The symptoms could be realized with extensive sweating, blushing, tremors while writing on the board, difficulty in framing sentences, mingling words or fumble while talking with anyone other than the family member. Both men and women are affected by social phobia to same extent. Around 15 million Americans are known to be affected by social phobia, occurs in early childhood or in adolescence. The reason affiliated with social phobia may be genetic, environmental or depression. Treatment involves psychotherapy or medications to overcome self-consciousness (Kushner, 1990). Panic Disorder Panic disorder is the condition of anxiety which is treatable. It is characterized by abrupt or impulsive attack of terror, associated with throbbing heart, sweatiness, dizziness, weakness or vertigo. The condition display the symptoms of extreme flush of chill, numbness, tingling sensation, nausea or may report pain in chest. A sense of delusion is displayed by the individuals which could be accompanied by a fright of doom or a terror of losing control, at times these individuals believe that they are witnessing heart attacks of they are about to die (Reiger et al., 1998). Panic attack does not have any specific time window but it attains peak within 10 minutes. Panic attack may occur even during sleep. Patient may report symptoms of irregular heartbeats or chocking sensation. Individuals displaying full-scale recurring panic attacks are liable to become disabled and therefore the condition demands timely treatment before the situation becomes severe and the patient starts avoiding visiting places or witness situation where attack occurs. Some individuals restrict to house and try to avoid normal routine activities including day-to-day pursuits like driving or shopping this condition is known as agoraphobia. Early diagnosis and treatment may be helpful as panic disorder is the most treatable of all the anxiety disorders (The NIMH Genetics Work group, 1998). Medications and cognitive behavioral therapy could be beneficial to treat patients suffering from panic disorder. It is essential to find out the etiology of panic attack. In certain cases panic disorder may be aggravated by depression or substance abuse. The situation may worsen if these symptoms are associated with feeling of misery or hopelessness, changes in eating behavior or sleeping behavior may be observed under severe condition. Antidepressants and psychotherapy or both may cure the condition (Reiger et al., 1998). Post Traumatic Stress Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is related with considerable indicative morbidity. These individuals exhibit elevated levels of offensive thoughts or memoirs about the traumatic event with severe nightmares or flashback. Mere reminders may be perceived in the form of physical responses like amplified heart rate, profuse sweating or distress. Individuals with terrible or appalling experience in childhood are severely affected. PTSD individuals display avoidance symptoms, they avoid socialization or visit to places that bring those harsh memories back. These symptoms if not treated within time then it may become devastating and adulthood of child either becomes rebellious or behaviour may culminate into a psychotic disorders with great intensity of insecurity being seeded in every pursuit of life. It is essential to understand the psychology of PTSD patients. Various theories have been postulated claiming to be the remedy for PTSD, but the most efficient is "Exposure Therapy". It treats the individual through alteration or modification in behaviour by enabling them to overcome the disturbing thoughts or distressing incidence Exposure therapy aims at enabling a person to diminish his/ her trepidations and apprehensions by means of eradicating avoidance behaviour. It deals with the confrontation of an individual with the same set of feelings or situations that he fears without avoiding them. This may be done by unswervingly exposing someone to a terrified entity or picture or going back in time to envisage or visualize the situation (Keane, 2002). In order to deal with terror, patient assumes that the anxiety, tension and apprehensions will reduce by itself and there is no need to avoid them. The objective of exposure therapy is to minimize the individual's terror and fretfulness, with the eventual aspiration of abolishing avoidance deeds thereby escalating excellence of life. Thus, a direct active confrontation eradicates the fear and anxiety. Specific Phobias Specific phobia is a powerful, ridiculous fear of something that essentially facades little or no threat. Some more prevalent phobias encompass fear from height, subway, escalators, highway, closed places, water, snakes, lizards, flight, dogs, spiders and phobia of blood related injuries. Specific phobias influence about 19.2 million American adults. It is more prevalent in women as compared to men. Typically phobias occur in early childhood or adolescence and persists throughout life if left untreated (Bourdon, 1998). The reason could be environmental, due to some situation or circumstances or it could be hereditary. Avoiding situation may treat the phobia. Under normal conditions specific phobias may not require any medication but if the situation worsen and starts affecting career or personal lives it is alarming and requires medical and psychotherapeutic management (Bourdon, 1998). Generalized Anxiety (GAD) Individuals with GAD worry without any specific cause. Such individuals amplify worry or tension even in the situation when there is nothing to provoke or cause distress. They remain in the thoughts of anticipated disasters and are preoccupied with concerns related to health finances, family predicaments or work related problems. At times simple thoughts also induce anxiety (Kendler, 1992). If the situation continues for at least six months it becomes a matter of concern. It has been observed that patient suffering from GAD cannot calm down or relax or frighten easily and they witness difficulty in focusing, sleep and complain of tiredness, headaches, irritation, muscular pain, trembling, nausea, frequent urination, hot flashes, lightheadedness and twitching. The cause of worry is unrealistic (Kendler, 1992). Cognitive Behavior Theory (CBT) is found to have a deep insight. Solution to the problem depends on the logical thinking and the aptitude to draw conclusion, the ability to think in a constructive and innovative manner and how appropriate that decision is to make positive modifications. This is essential to deal with the anxiety disorder where the cognitive ability is imperative in preventing illogical or irrelevant venture made by the individual suffering with panic disorder. According to the studies carried out by Butler et al, (2006), CBT finds a wider range of application especially in treating unipolar depression, anxiety and panic disorders, social phobia, post traumatic stress disorder and anxiety related disorders, childhood somatic disorders as well as to deal with the situations of chronic pain. CBT renders patients to escape negative thoughts that are responsible for faulty judgments causing emotional and behavioral distress. It is established that cognitions are the chief determinants of individual feelings and therefore CBT emphasizes on behavior and cognition and has emerged as psycho-educational model, incorporating learning procedure, innovative skills to cope with the varied issues. References Bourdon, K. H., Boyd, J. H., Rae, D. S., et al. (1998). Gender differences in phobias: Results of the ECA community survey. Journal of Anxiety Disorders. 2, 227–241. Butler, A. C., Chapman, J. E., Forman, E. M., Beck, A. T. (2006). 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