Psychology Articles
What is anxiety and anxiety disorder?Anxiety is an emotion that is experienced in anticipation of perceived disaster. This emotion is accompanied by cognitive, physiological, and behavioural components. For example, before a scheduled flight, a fearful flyer might feel anxious (emotion), his thoughts may be racing regarding the dangers of flying (cognitive), his heart rate will go up and he will start sweating (physiological), and he may therefore avoid or cancel the flight all toge... Read more... |
What is anxiety disorder?Anxiety disorder is a blanket term covering different forms of abnormal psychological pathologies categories by anxious and fearful emotions. Anxiety disorder is divided into generalised anxiety disorder, phobia, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and social anxiety. Each disorder has its own specific causes, symptoms and treatment approaches. Read more... |
What is fear?Fear is defined as the emotional response to a perceived threat. The key term here is “perceived” which therefore means that the threat may not be real. In the case of the fear of flying, the fear is perceived as real, yet in reality it is safe to fly. For example, flying is 10x safer than climbing up the stairs, yet none of us fear climbing up the stairs because we perceive it as a safe activity. The fear of flying is a perceived dangerous activ... Read more... |
Acute Stress DisorderAcute stress disorder develops within one month after an individual experiences or sees an event involving a threat or actual death, serious injury, or physical violation to the individual or others, and responded to this event with strong feelings of fear, helplessness or horror. The diagnosis was established to identify those individuals who would eventually develop post-traumatic stress disorder. As far back as World War I this condition was r... Read more... |
AgoraphobiaAgoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder related to fear. With agoraphobia, you fear being in places where it may be difficult or embarrassing to get out quickly or where you may have a panic attack and can't get help. Because of your fears, you avoid places where you think you may have a panic attack or panic-like symptoms. People with agoraphobia often have a hard time feeling safe in any public place, especially places where crowds gather. C... Read more... |
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)It's normal to feel anxious or worried at times. Everyone does. In fact, a moderate amount of anxiety can be good. It helps you respond appropriately to real danger, and it can help motivate you to excel at work and at home. But if you often feel anxious without reason and your worries disrupt your daily life, you may have generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Generalized anxiety disorder causes excessive or unrealistic anxiety and worry about life... Read more... |
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, OCD, is an anxiety disorder and is characterized by recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and/or repetitive behaviours (compulsions). Repetitive behaviours such as handwashing, counting, checking, or cleaning are often performed with the hope of preventing obsessive thoughts or making them go away. Performing these so-called "rituals," however, provides only temporary relief, and not performing them markedly inc... Read more... |
Panic DisorderPanic disorder is an anxiety disorder and is characterized by unexpected and repeated episodes of intense fear accompanied by physical symptoms that may include chest pain, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, or abdominal distress. Panic attacks can happen anytime, anywhere and without warning. You may live in fear of another attack and may avoid places where you have had an attack. For some people, fear takes over their lives and... Read more... |
Phobia“Fear” is the normal response to a genuine danger. With phobias, the fear is either irrational or excessive. It is an abnormally fearful response to a danger that is imagined or is irrationally exaggerated. People can develop phobic reactions to animals (e.g., spiders), activities (e.g., flying), or social situations (e.g., eating in public or simply being in a public environment). Phobias affect people of all ages, from all walks of life, and in... Read more... |
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)Post-traumatic stress disorder is a type of anxiety disorder that's triggered by an extremely traumatic event. You can develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) when a traumatic event happens to you or when you see a traumatic event happen to someone else.Many people who are involved in traumatic events or witness them have a brief period of difficulty adjusting and coping. But with time and some healthy coping methods, such traumatic reactio... Read more... |
Social PhobiaEveryone feels nervous from time to time. Going on a first date or giving a speech often causes that butterflies-in-your-stomach feeling, for example. Or maybe you feel shy at a party among a group of strangers, but then slowly warm up to them and have a great time. For some people, though, this normal nervousness is magnified into extreme anxiety, fear and self-consciousness. Everyday social activities, even the most mundane, are virtually impo... Read more... |
TraumaTrauma has both a medical and a psychiatric definition. Medically, trauma refers to a serious or critical bodily injury, wound or shock. This definition is often associated with trauma medicine practiced in emergency rooms and represents a popular view of the term. Psychiatrically, trauma has assumed a different meaning and refers to an experience that is emotionally painful, distressful or shocking, which often results in lasting mental and ph... Read more... |
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