Anxiety Disorders

Last time, we talked about fear and defined it as the emotion felt in response to an imminent threat that triggers immediate physiological responses. Anxiety, on the other hand, is the state activated in response to a probable future threat and generates muscle tension and vigilance (i.e., focused attention on the situation).

Anxiety is likely something very familiar, something we have certainly experienced. Moreover, over the years, anxiety has increasingly become a social emotion, not only linked to the evolutionary fears humans can feel (e.g., phobias toward animals, the environment, objects) but also related to the demands that society "imposes."

For example, you know that shortly you will have to take a test (an exam, a test, an assessment) that could qualitatively change your life for the next few days, months, or even years. You know that facing the test will make you afraid; the anxiety is represented by the thoughts and emotions you experience in the pre-test period. Thus, you will adopt a series of behaviors to reduce the impact of this fear, such as studying sufficiently. This is normal, but when your worry becomes excessive (constant and intrusive), you are in a state of excessive anxiety.

Another example: Suppose you are reserved, perhaps introverted. There is a work colleague dinner you simply cannot say no to. However, the thought of attending, of having to be necessarily social, of communicating, scares you. The thoughts you have before the dinner, the muscle tension you experience, and the negative emotions you are living through are part of anxiety, which is that feeling of fear about the inability to respond adequately to the situation and experiencing discomfort.

Thus, the structure of our society has facilitated the creation of situations where it is easy to feel anxious. It is not surprising that the incidence of anxiety disorders is estimated to be about 21% among mental disorders in the United States (Narrow et al., 2022).

The diagnostic manual (DSM-5) describes seven main Anxiety Disorders:

• Separation Anxiety Disorder
• Selective Mutism
• Specific Phobia
• Social Anxiety Disorder
• Panic Disorder
• Agoraphobia
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Sources:

• American Psychiatric Association (2013) - Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.).
• Bernhill, J. W. (2014) - DSM-5 Clinical Cases.
• Narrow, W. E. (2022) - Revised prevalence estimates of mental disorders in the United States.

I also recommend watching this video.

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