Dear Readers and Friends,
As in every Life Coaching context we are examining, there are only small explanations and many questions. Finding these answers is our task, discovering ourselves and then improving ourselves and loving ourselves for who we are is the ultimate goal. As has already been said in several articles:
“A question at the right time can change your life or at least your vision of it.”
Today we will examine a pathology that is unfortunately very widespread in this period: anxiety states, a small introduction to this pathology, to be considered as information and not as alternative treatments to the replacement of a specialized medical opinion.
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental disorder. Anxiety is a common feature of all anxiety disorders, while fear is present in all except generalized anxiety disorder.
Clinical pictures
- Specific phobias
- Social anxiety disorder
- Panic disorder
- Agoraphobia
- Generalized anxiety disorder
Specific phobias
Phobias are intense, irrational fears of a certain entity. People with phobias often recognize the irrationality of their fears, but they cannot help but fear the object of their fear.
Among the most common specific phobias:
- fear of animals (zoophobia);
- fear of heights (acrophobia);
- fear of closed spaces (claustrophobia);
- fear of blood, wounds, or injections (hemophobia);
- fear of particular situations (e.g. being on a bridge).
Social anxiety disorder
Social anxiety disorder is characterized by intense fear of possible judgment from others. The subject with this disorder tends to develop avoidant behaviors to suppress the fear of rejection, being hypersensitive to the judgment of others.
Panic disorder
Characteristics:
- Recurrent attacks of great fear;
- Unpredictability of panic attack, in any situation, risk of unemployment
Panic attacks alone are not sufficient for a diagnosis of panic disorder: there must be a significant amount of concern about possible new attacks.
Agoraphobia
Fear of open spaces where there are many people, also known as “fear of fear”.
Avoidance behavior of situations in which there would be difficulty in escaping or receiving help in the event of anxiety or discomfort.
Generalized anxiety disorder
The person experiences strong feelings of:
- Voltage;
- A concern;
- Worry
for at least 6 months.
Gender influences and risk factors
- Fear conditioning
- Gender influences and sociocultural factors
- Genetic and neurobiological factors
- Behavioral inhibition and neuroticism
- Cognitive factors
Fear conditioning
Mowrer's bifactor model for anxiety disorders depends on 2 conditionings that occur sequentially:
Stage 1: Classical conditioning: A harmless object is paired with a feared object through direct exposure, modeling, or verbal instructions.
stage 2: operant conditioning: the behavior of avoiding the object is reinforced by the reduction of anxiety resulting from the avoidance itself - the fears are never faced and never extinguished.
Gender influences and sociocultural factors
Anxiety disorders are much more common among women than men. The symptoms of anxiety disorders and their duration can be significantly influenced by the individual's culture.
Genetic and neurobiological factors
Genetic factors influence various anxiety disorders. And among the neurobiological factors:
- Alterations in the activity of the brain's fear circuit
- Functional deficits of the neurotransmitters serotonin and GABA;
- Increased norepinephrine activity.
Behavioral inhibition and neuroticism
Behavioral inhibition and neuroticism are risk factors related to the subject's personality.
Behavioral inhibition : detectable already in childhood, it consists of an attitude of fear and avoidance of actions when faced with any new circumstance or person.
Neuroticism: experiencing frustration and negative emotions of high intensity too often.
Cognitive factors
- Constant negative beliefs about the future;
- Perception of lack of control over what happens;
- Tendency to focus on every possible threat.
Treatment of anxiety disorders
- General characteristics of psychological treatments.
- Psychological treatment of specific anxiety disorders.
- Drug treatment to reduce anxiety.
General characteristics of psychological treatments
Behavioral therapies:
- Exposure of the subject to the feared object.
- And in some anxiety disorders, cognitive components are also involved.
Psychological treatment of specific anxiety disorders
Specific phobias: exposure to the feared object.
Social anxiety disorder: exposure to feared object + cognitive strategies.
Panic disorder: exposure to physiological changes.
Agoraphobia: cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, relaxation techniques and meditation.
Generalized anxiety disorder: cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, relaxation techniques and meditation.
Drug treatment to reduce anxiety
Antidepressants and benzodiazepines: These are the most commonly used drugs to treat anxiety disorders. Benzodiazepines can cause addiction. If you stop taking the drugs, you may have a relapse.
For most anxiety disorders, cognitive behavioral therapy is considered more useful than drug treatment.
New approach: D-cycloserine administration during feared object exposure.
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or health goals.
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