Essay On Genetics And Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety happens to everyone, at some point in time. In fact, a little anxiety can actually be good for you. It can help you respond appropriately to danger, and it can motivate you to excel at work and home. (www.mayoclinic.com) However, when anxiety becomes so strong that it affects your daily

Current epidemiological data suggest anxiety disorders are the most prevalent type of childhood psychological disorders. Generalized Anxiety Disorder or GAD is described by excessive worrying about a variety of events, including those in the past, present, and future. Children with this disorder worry excessively about a number of issues, including past conversations or actions, upcoming events, school, family health, their own health, competence in sports or academics, and world events. Typically, children experiencing such excessive worry find it difficult to control the amount of time that they worry, and the worrying interferes in their daily life. Sometimes children don’t realize their anxiety is excessive considering the situation.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is one of the most diagnosed mental disorders today, and can often be closely linked to concurrent symptoms or disorders including physiological, behavioral, other anxiety disorders, depression and substance abuse. (Merino, Senra & Ferreiro, 2016) (Cacioppo & Fregberg, 2013, p. 688). GAD most notably produces symptoms of excessive worry and anxiety related to non-specific risks, which often leads to functional decline both socially and professionally (Roberge et al., 2015). GAD reveals instances of links to biological origins such as heredity and biochemistry, as well as, ties to an individual’s cognitive development and socioeconomic environment (Cacioppo & Fregberg, 2013).

Anxiety disorders have been proven in to run in families, they have also been shown to be common in different forms and types amongst families. The chance of heritability is 40% for those that have a family history of anxiety. The chances that an

Anxiety disorders are not the only people who experience anxiety; in fact, everyone feels it every day or experiences one. Anxiety is what you feel before an important test or before you get married the next day. Anxiety is the source of excitement and it is the butterflies in your stomach. Depending on how you interpret this feeling, it can be a good feeling or your worst enemy.

This theory creates an issue, as it only looks at nature’s impact as the root cause of phobic disorders and relishes in not accounting for environmental causes, which are posed by nurture. This aspect of nurture which is ignored can be questioned in the twin studies as although Torgersen found that identical twins who share genes are 5x more likely to share an anxiety disorder, it is unclear whether it is the nature of the genetic makeup which causes the disorder, or the nurture of the twins, as they would have both gone through the same things in their environment causing the contamination effect. This is further highlighted through the diathesis stress model formed by Di nardo et al which provides a much more

Anxiety is the most common mental health disorder in the United States and women are over twice as likely to suffer from anxiety than men (Kessler et al., 2005). The symptoms of anxiety can be life disrupting; affecting personal and professional relationships, sleep, appetite, health, and overall quality of life. The causes of anxiety seem ever-present and there is no indication the situation is going to improve in the immediate future. Global politics, war, domestic terrorism, rising health care costs, and economic instability are but a few of the surfeit anxiety causing stressors individuals must endure while also managing daily pressures of everyday life.

Generalized anxiety disorder(GAD) is much more than the normal anxiety people experience everyday. It is a chronic condition that is chracterized by excessive worry and anxiety, even though there aren't any reasonable explanations for the cause. It is diagnosed when a person spends a least 6 months worrying excessively about numerous everyday problems.

These adaptive mechanisms can become maladaptive if unresolved after precipitating events have passed, leading to interferences in emotional regulation (Liston, McEwen, & Casey, 2009; Juster et al., 2011). Imaging studies show alterations in the brain structures that assist in regulation of the stress response—the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex—due to prolonged exposure to stress (Carrion et al. 2010; Rao et al. 2010). The over activation of this fear circuitry in the brain can lead to distorted processing, contributing to depression (Thienkrua et al., 2006; Neria, Besser, Kiper, & Westphal, 2010; Rao et al., 2010), anxiety (Derryberry and Reed, 2002; Goldin et al., 2009; Graham and Milad, 2014), and mood impairments (Kobasa, 1979; Linehan, 1993; Haller and Miles, 2004). These cognitive changes can also contribute to insomnia, chronic pain, addictive disorders, impairment of immunity, and development of coping mechanisms such as smoking, use of alcohol or drugs, overeating, and other survival mechanisms (Raja, 2012). The allostatic load of a chronically over-activated hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal system can lead to development of comorbid health conditions such as cardiovascular disease,

Psychological Explanations of One Anxiety Disorder Phobias are an example of an anxiety disorder and the psychological explanations of these are cognitive, psychodynamic, behavioral and social factors. The Behavioral, Psychodynamic and social factors of the psychological explanation will be discussed in greater detail. Behavioral explanations say that all behaviour is learnt whether it is normal or abnormal and this approach has been applied to humans and animals.

The difference between social anxiety disorder and other disorders is that a person is capable of enjoying themselves. This is because they are not impacted as severely physically since their fear is only stimulated in the event that they will have to be

This paper is going to be about anxiety disorders. I am going to explain what anxiety is and the different types of anxiety disorders. The types of anxiety I am going to talk about are Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post-Traumatic Stress, Panic Disorder and Social Phobia.

What is Anxiety? As defined by Understanding Psychology by Glencoe, Anxiety is a general state of dread or uneasiness that a person feels in response to a real or imagined danger. Anxiety affects 19 million Americans annually and anxiety disorder happens to be the most common mental illness in America. There are many different types of anxiety disorder such as: Panic Disorder, Obsessive – Compulsion Disorder, Phobias, and a few more. Although there is no cure for anxiety disorders, there are treatments to reduce symptoms.

Stress, defined as a state where the homeostasis is disrupted and required subsequent adaptations, is a common phenomenon in today’s society (Kopin, 1995). It exists throughout the lifespan, starting as early as the fetal stage till one’s death. In particular, early life stress has come to light in recent years as it is becoming increasingly prevalent and more critically, it has been shown to increase the susceptibility to neuropsychiatric disorders, such as PTSD, in adulthood (Gibb et al., 2007). Since these psychopathologies are characterized by emotional dysregulation, especially in the aspect of fear as ELS has been associated with increased anxiogenic behaviors (Caldji et al., 2000; Ishikawa et al., 2015; Wei et al., 2010), it is important

When most people think of psychology they think of therapists and psychological disorders but it’s not, Psychology is much more. Psychology is a rigorous science that’s based on methodical observation and laboratory studies. Which also includes the knowledge in various fields, including problems of treatment of mental illnesses. The four main Psychological concepts that applies to the life of a TV/ Radio Host is Anxiety, Stress, Burnout and Coping. In today’s age of technology there are several avenues where people can receive information pertaining to news, culture and society. For the last half-century of changes in the Media and communications technologies are transforming individual lives and global economics every day. On July. 22, 2011, Norwegian terrorist detonated 950 kilo car bomb close to several government buildings in the city of Oslo, killing eight people and severely injuring 10. Before he was arrested, he had killed 69 people between 14 and 51 years of age, and physically injured 56. (Kristensen 2016)