Anxiety Research Paper

“Anxiety is the signal of danger which mobilizes the human organism’s resources at all levels of functioning in the interests of conservation, defense, and self- preservation.” (Anxiety 1) If a person suffers from anxiety there is a major loss of control and then an attempt to regain that control because of a fear that they have. Anxiety disorders are one of the most frequently occurring mental disorders in the United States. However, anxiety disorders are not only found in the United States. They are found throughout the world. They just happen to be most predominating in the United States. In this paper, I will be discussing the generalized anxiety disorder and how if effects society today.

Anxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric disorder in the United States. Between 15 - 19% of the population suffers from this disorder, which impairs the quality of life and functioning (Stuart 218). What is anxiety? Abnormal Psychology describes anxiety as “an adaptive emotion that helps us plan and prepare for a possible theat.” The text book further states, “worrying about many different aspects of life becomes chronic, excessive, and unreasonable.” This is also known as generalized anxiety disorder or GAD (Butcher 201). DSM IV-TR specifies that GAD is a worry that occurs more days then not for at least 6 months, and that it must be experienced as difficult to control (Butcher 201). 25% of those that suffer from this

d. What was measured? What were the variables? – The English Worry and Anxiety Questionnaire measured general anxiety disorder symptoms. A high score represented more symptoms. The Penn State Worry Questionnaire measured the severity of trait worrying. The higher the score the more severe. The English Why Worry II measured the correlation of positive beliefs and worry. A high score indicated stronger beliefs in positive correlation. A subscale was also implemented to measure worry aids, worry motivates, worry protects from negative emotions after negative events, the act of worrying prevents negative events, being a high worrier is a good personality trait. The Metacognitions Questionnaire measured beliefs regarding worry, memory and thought awareness. It also consisted of five subscales that measured: positive beliefs,

To the general public, anxiety tends to be known simply as the feeling of being overly nervous. However, in the sense of this paper, anxiety is an umbrella term for a group of psychological disorders that, while similar in many ways, can vary greatly in their symptomology. For the sake of simplicity, this paper will focus mainly on Generalized Anxiety Disorder; however, the National Institute of Mental Health (2016) states that the three most common forms of anxiety disorders are Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, and Panic Disorder (National Institute of Mental Health, 2016). In fact, these disorders are much more common than many think: according to the NIMH, the lifetime prevalence of any anxiety disorder in U.S. adults

Anxiety disorders are so incapacitating and have many different types of categories in its self with its own unique sets of symptoms. Anxiety can become so rigorous that it can begin to affect relationships and even a person’s life. Some known are: obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social phobia (or social anxiety disorder), specific phobias, and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) disorders are some of the most commonly seen ("Frequently Asked Questions about Anxiety Disorders"). Discussions in this research paper will summarize the most commonly seen one; Generalized Anxiety and how it affects us. We will discuss what it is? Its symptoms, how it comes about, why it is misdiagnosed, and treatments.

The authors describe the three anxiety responses, which are interrelated. These three include the physical or biological response (such as the primitive fight-or-flight response); the cognitive response to stressful stimuli with anxiety, and the behavioral aspects or reactions to the feeling of anxiety. Cognitive and behavioral responses to anxiety are fed by the biological responses to stressors, fear, or perceived threats. Behavioral responses include aggression, anger, or avoidance. The authors provide a chart delineating the different responses of anxiety, including physical symptoms such as sweating. The authors also distinguish between fear and anxiety, also defining the panic response.

Did you know that anxiety affects more than 40 million people over the age of 18 per year? It is the top mental illness in the United States. Anxiety has both physical, and emotional effects that are caused by genetics, brain chemistry, personality, and life events.. Three very common effects are panic, chest pain, and over/under eating.

( Konkel, .n.d.) Some psychological symptoms of Anxiety Disorders are: feeling apprehension or dead, feeling restless, feeling tense or jumpy, anticipating the worst, and currently watching for danger. Some of the physical symptoms of an anxiety disorder are: rapid or pounding heartbeat, shortness of breath, excessive sweating, tremors/twitching, headache, fatigue/weakness, insomnia, nausea/upset stomach, and frequent urination/diarrhea. (“Understanding the Facts”, n.d.)

Anxiety is a type of emotional disorder that affects over 40 million adults in the United States, making it the leading mental illness in the US (www.adaa.org, 2014). Emotional disorders, including anxiety, affected roughly 405,293 school ages individuals during the 2009-2010 school year (Heward, 2013). Anxiety can come in many forms, including generalized anxiety, social anxiety, panic disorders, phobias, obsessive compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. They can lead to eating disorders, selective mutism, depression, sleep disorders, and irritable bowel syndrome. Anxiety disorder is defined as a “maladaptive emotional state or behaviors caused by excessive and often irrational fears and worries” (Heward,

The items of the BAI were drawn from three earlier self-report instruments that measured various aspects of anxiety. The BAI was developed with adult psychiatric outpatients and the manual recommends using caution with other clinical populations.

8.89, SD= 1.17), F (1, 28)= 3.41, p= 0.075. There was no gender by anxiety interaction on

The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Adults™ (STAI-AD) is the definitive instrument for measuring anxiety in adults. It clearly differentiates between the temporary condition of state anxiety and the more general and long-standing quality of trait anxiety. It helps professionals distinguish between a client’s feelings of anxiety and depression. The inventory’s simplicity makes it ideal for evaluating individuals with lower educational backgrounds. Adapted in more than forty languages, the STAI is the leading measure of personal anxiety worldwide. The STAI has forty questions with a range of four possible responses to each (Spielberger, 1977).

State anxiety refers to what arises in a specific situation. Everyone experiences state anxiety, but the stimulus can vary. In sport state anxiety, may rise when an athlete is in a high-pressure situation and needs to perform to an expected level. Examples of this are serving for the match, taking a penalty shot or converting a try in rugby.

‘Anxiety is a negative aspect of experiencing stress. It is the worry that is experienced due to fear of failure’– Honeybourne (2003)

Lowe’s (2007) study addresses the various psychological test properties of the newly developed Adult Manifest Anxiety Scale—Adult Version, ranging from test-retest reliability to convergent and discriminant validities. The researcher introduces the unfortunate increase in DSM-IV-TR diagnoses of anxiety in the United States and how there is paucity in age-specific measures of anxiety disorders. Interestingly, the researcher cites various studies suggesting that the presentation of anxiety in a person is not universal, in that anxiety can appear differently between children and adults. She also cites various personality studies that suggest that anxiety is stable throughout life, which may explain the terminology behind