PSY 331 Chapter Notes - Chapter 18: Fugue State, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Somatic Symptom Disorder
Anxiety Disorders
I. What Is Anxiety?
Anxiety is a general state of dread or uneasiness that a person feels in response to a real or
imagined danger. Anxiety in people is normal and typical of the human experience
II. What is an Anxiety Disorder?
An anxiety disorder is when a person suffers from anxiety that is out of proportion to the
situation provoking it. The intense level of anxiety also interferes with a persons day-to-
day functioning.
Ex: victims suffer from emotional problems, social problems, and physical illnesses.
III. Types of Anxiety Disorders
Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A vague feeling of that one is in danger or doomed
• Muscular tension, inability to relax, furrowed brow, strained face
Phobic Disorder: Severe anxiety focused on a particular object, animal, activity, or situation that
is out of proportion to actual danger.
• Elaborate plans to avoid the fear scenarios, out of proportion reactions to the situation.
Panic Disorder: A feeling of sudden, helpless terror
• Sudden, unexplainable attacks of intense anxiety, leading to a sense of doom or fear of death.
Obsessive – Compulsive Disorder: Repetitive thoughts and actions based on anxiety about
something that are uncontrollable.
• Repetitive washing/ cleaning, counting, checking, performing a particular task.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Occurs when a person has experienced a traumatic event feels
severe and long-lasting a aftereffects.
• Tends to occur with war veterans, victims of heinous crimes or assault.
Somatoform and Dissociative Disorders
I. Somatoform Disorders
A. Anxiety sometimes causes physical ailments that appear to have no apparent physical
causes. This phenomenon is called a somatoform disorder.
B. Two major forms of somatoform disorders are conversion disorders and hypochondriasis.
Conversion Disorders
• Changing emotional difficulties into a loss of specific voluntary body function
• Psychologists believe that people suffering from these disorders unconsciously invent physical
symptoms to try to gain freedom from conflict.
• Conversion disorders are somewhat rare.
Hypochondriasis
•A person in good health becomes preoccupied with imaginary ailments.
•Psychologists believe hypochondriasis occurs when emotions are repressed and the victim
expresses them symbolically in physical symptoms.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Anxiety is a general state of dread or uneasiness that a person feels in response to a real or imagined danger. Anxiety in people is normal and typical of the human experience. An anxiety disorder is when a person suffers from anxiety that is out of proportion to the situation provoking it. The intense level of anxiety also interferes with a persons day-to- day functioning. Ex: victims suffer from emotional problems, social problems, and physical illnesses. Generalized anxiety disorder: a vague feeling of that one is in danger or doomed: muscular tension, inability to relax, furrowed brow, strained face. Phobic disorder: severe anxiety focused on a particular object, animal, activity, or situation that is out of proportion to actual danger: elaborate plans to avoid the fear scenarios, out of proportion reactions to the situation. Panic disorder: a feeling of sudden, helpless terror. Obsessive compulsive disorder: repetitive thoughts and actions based on anxiety about.
