Psychology2016

Psychological Disorders 553

Disorders of Anxiety, Trauma, and Stress: What, Me Worry?

In this section, we will examine disorders in which the most dominant symptom is excessive or
unrealistic anxiety. In addition to anxiety disorders, we will also address disorders that many
people associate with anxiety symptoms, including obsessive- compulsive disorder, posttrau-
matic stress disorder, and acute stress disorders. These were classified as anxiety disorders in
previous editions of the DSM. However, they now fall under different categories in the DSM-
5. Obsessive-compulsive disorder now falls in the category of “Obsessive-Compulsive and
Related Disorders,” while posttraumatic stress disorder and acute stress disorder are found
under “Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders” ( American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

Anxiety Disorders

14.4 Identify different types of anxiety disorders and their symptoms.

The category of anxiety disorders includes disorders in which the most dominant symp-
tom is excessive or unrealistic anxiety. Anxiety can take very specific forms, such as a fear
of a specific object, or it can be a very general emotion, such as that experienced by some-
one who is worried and doesn’t know why.

But doesn’t everybody have anxiety sometimes? What makes it

a disorder?

Everyone does have anxiety, and some people have a great deal of anxiety at times.
When talking about anxiety disorders, the anxiety is either excessive—greater than it
should be given the circumstances—or unrealistic. If final exams are coming up and a stu-
dent hasn’t studied enough, that student’s anxiety is understandable and realistic. But a
student who has studied, has done well in all the exams, and is very prepared and still
worries excessively about passing is showing an unrealistic amount of anxiety. For more
about test anxiety, see the Applying Psychology to Everyday Life section in this chapter.
Free-floating anxiety is the term given to anxiety that seems to be unrelated to any realistic
and specific, known factor, and it is often a symptom of an anxiety disorder (Freud, 1977).

PHOBIC DISORDERS: WHEN FEARS GET OUT OF HAND One of the more specific anxi-
ety disorders is a phobia, an irrational, persistent fear of something. The “something”
might be an object or a situation or may involve social interactions. For example, many
people would feel fear if they suddenly came upon a live snake as they were walking
and would take steps to avoid the snake. Although those same people would not nec-
essarily avoid a picture of a snake in a book, a person with a phobia of snakes would.
Av o i d i n g a l i v e s n a k e i s r a t i o n a l ; a v o i d i n g a p i c t u re o f a s n a k e i s n o t.

SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER (SOCIAL PHOBIA) Social anxiety disorder (also called social
phobia) involves a fear of interacting with others or being in a social situation and is one
of the most common phobias people experience (Kessler et al., 2012). People with social
anxiety disorder are afraid of being evaluated in some negative way by others, so they
tend to avoid situations that could lead to something embarrassing or humiliating. They
are very self-conscious as a result. Common types of social phobia are stage fright, fear
of public speaking, and fear of urinating in a public restroom. Not surprisingly, people
with social phobias often have a history of being shy as children (Sternberger et al., 1995).

SPECIFIC PHOBIAS A specific phobia is an irrational fear of some object or specific situ-
ation, such as a fear of dogs or a fear of being in small, enclosed spaces (claustrophobia).
Other specific phobias include a fear of injections (trypanophobia), fear of dental work (odon-
tophobia), fear of blood (hematophobia), fear of washing and bathing (ablutophobia), and fear
of heights (acrophobia).

Many people get nervous when they have to

speak in front of an audience. Fear of public

speaking is a common social phobia. Can

you remember a time when you experienced

a fear like this?

anxiety disorders

class of disorders in which the primary

symptom is excessive or unrealistic

anxiety.

free-floating anxiety

anxiety that is unrelated to any

specific and known cause.

phobia

an irrational, persistent fear of an

object, situation, or social activity.

social anxiety disorder (social

phobia)

fear of interacting with others or being

in social situations that might lead to

a negative evaluation.

specific phobia

fear of objects or specific situations or

events.

claustrophobia

fear of being in a small, enclosed

space.

acrophobia

fear of heights.