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Psychological Disorders
 Anxiety
Disorders:
– Generalized Anxiety Disorder
– Panic Disorder
– Phobic Disorder
– Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
– Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Generalized Anxiety
Disorder:
 GAD
is characterized by persistent
anxiety, unrelated to a specific event.
 People suffering from GAD cannot help
worrying about anything and everything,
even in calm situations.
 They have difficulty relaxing, falling
asleep, and/or concentrating, and tend to
be impatient and irritable.
 Physical
include:
symptoms accompanying GAD
– sweating; an upset stomach; diarrhea;
frequent urination; cold, clammy hands; a
lump in the throat; a dry mouth; shortness
of breath; headaches; and dizziness.
– Managing the normal demands of a job,
relationships, and everyday life can become
more and more difficult for people with this
disorder.
– GAD appears in four percent of the general
population.
Panic Disorder
 Panic
attacks are sudden, unexplainable
waves of panic that seem to come out of
the blue.
 The body responds with the "fight-orflight" response, anticipating clear and
immediate danger.
 Often, these attacks subside as
mysteriously as they occur.
A
person who has experienced one or
more panic attacks often develops a fear
of having one again.
 Some professionals call this a "fear of
fear."
 The individual may even try to stay away
from anything that reminds him or her of
the last attack to avoid having another
one.
 People
can have panic attacks with or
without agoraphobia.
 These attacks include symptoms such as
heart palpitations, shortness of breath,
chest pain, feelings of choking or
smothering, nausea, dizziness, sweating,
and trembling.
 An afflicted person might also be
overwhelmed by a fear of dying, going
crazy, or losing control.
Phobias:
 Phobias
are attempts to
compartmentalize fear into a few
situations that can be avoided.
 By attaching all the panicky feelings onto
a few situations, the person can avoid
those situations and go on with life.
 Unfortunately, phobias can take on a life
of their own and take over more and
more of a person's life.
A
fear of dogs can, for example, be fairly
easy to manage, just don't go near dogs.
 But a fear of flying may limit social and
business opportunities.
 Some of the more common phobias
include claustrophobia (fear of closed
spaces), agoraphobia (fear of public
places, sometimes related to panic
attacks), and acrophobia (fear of
heights).
Posttraumatic Stress
Disorder:
 Posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) can
develop in the wake of a traumatic event
that is outside the usual human
experience.
 A person either experiences direct or
threatened injury, or witnesses the
serious injury or death of another.
 In some cases, learning of the
unexpected death or injury of a loved one
can also bring on symptoms of PTSD.
 For
a diagnosis of PTSD to be made,
there must be both an identifiable
terrifying event and a response of intense
fear, helplessness and horror, as well as
one or more characteristic symptoms.
 These include re-experiencing of the
event through:
– nightmares
– daytime flashbacks
– physical sensations that recall the feelings
present during the event.
PTSD Symptoms continued
Shutting down feelings and memory.
 Feeling detached from others.
 Dissociating from the distressing memories
and feelings.
 Hyperalertness to danger. The individual
often has difficulty shutting down the fightor-flight response that was activated during
the event. This causes sleeplessness,
irritability, difficulty concentrating,
restlessness, and sometimes the
development of an exaggerated startle.
 Hypervigilance and avoidance of any
situation associated with the event.

– These symptoms significantly disrupt an afflicted
person’s daily life.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Although classified as an anxiety disorder,
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) differs
from these disorders in significant ways.
 It is the one anxiety diagnosis that seems to
have a clear biological cause. Unlike the
other kinds of anxiety disorders, therapy
alone isn't much help. Medication is also
necessary.
 OCD is a disorder in which the mind is
flooded with involuntary thoughts, or in
which an individual feels compelled to repeat
certain acts over and over again (for
example, hand washing).

 This
disorder can interfere significantly
with everyday living, and usually leads to
concern and/or resentment among
friends, family, and co-workers.
 A person who suffers from OCD doesn't
want the thoughts and doesn't want to do
the behaviors. Unfortunately, he or she
really can't help it.
 About half the people with OCD report
that it began in childhood; most others
start in adolescence or early adulthood.
OCD affects approximately two percent of
the general population.