Anxiety

Anxiety, Mood/Affective, Dissociative/Somatoform Paper

PSY 410

August 19, 2012

The DSM-IV-TR offers diagnostic categories and classifications for the use of identifying and

diagnosing mental disorders (Hansell & Damour, 2008). There are times when would find ourselves

behaving in ways that would not be accepted by society and it would be called this abnormal behavior.

But when people are behaving in a manner where his or her behavior is accepted by most of the people

that we are surrounded by, we would considered to be displaying normal behavior. When a person

suffers from an incident that has happened in his or her life that has caused a disruption in their normal

everyday lives, we would call that a disorder. There are many disorders that could be difficult and more

weakening than the other.

The primary distinction between fear and anxiety is that fear is directed at a specific stimuli;

whereas, anxiety is more a general feeling of apprehension about the future (Hansell & Damour, 2008).

Acute stress disorder, general anxiety disorder (GAD), social phobia, substance induced anxiety disorder,

obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder with and without agoraphobia, anxiety disorders

because of a medical condition, specific disorder, agoraphobia, and also posttraumatic stress disorder

(PTSD) are all specific disorders that can stem from excessive anxiety. In the course of generalized

anxiety disorder, anxiety and fear are normal responses but when these sensations are felt in the

absence of an agent psychological dysfunction can result. Those who suffer from GAD, “…experience

chronic pervasive anxiety… [and] feel tense and worried most of the time, which...