Psychology2016

Psychological Disorders 555

least 6 months. People with this disorder may also experience anxiety about a number of
events or activities (such as work or school performance). These feelings of anxiety have no
particular source that can be pinpointed, nor can the person control the feelings even if an
effort is made to do so.
People with this disorder are just plain worriers (Ruscio et al., 2001). They worry
excessively about money, their children, their lives, their friends, the dog, as well as things
no one else would see as a reason to worry. They feel tense, edgy, get tired easily, and
may have trouble concentrating. They have muscle aches, they experience sleeping prob-
lems, and they are often irritable—all signs of stress. Generalized anxiety disorder is
often found occurring with other anxiety disorders and depression.

Other Disorders Related to Anxiety

14.5 Describe obsessive-compulsive disorder and stress-related disorders.

As discussed earlier, despite anxiety being a common symptom, the following dis-
orders are no longer classified as anxiety disorders 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).

OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER Sometimes people get a thought running through
their head that just won’t go away, like when a song gets stuck in one’s mind. If that particu-
lar thought causes a lot of anxiety, it can become the basis for an obsessive-compulsive dis-
order, or OCD. OCD is a disorder in which intruding* thoughts that occur again and again
(obsessions, such as a fear that germs are on one’s hands) are followed by some repetitive,
ritualistic behavior or mental acts (compulsions, such as repeated hand washing, counting,
etc.). The compulsions are meant to lower the anxiety caused by the thought (Soomro, 2001).

I knew someone who had just had a baby, and she spent the

first few nights home with the baby checking it to see if it was

breathing—is that an obsessive-compulsive disorder?

*intruding: forcing one’s way in; referring to something undesirable that enters awareness.

obsessive-compulsive disorder

disorder in which intruding, recurring

thoughts or obsessions create anxiety

that is relieved by performing a

repetitive, ritualistic behavior or

mental act (compulsion).

Table 14.2 Anxiety Disorders and their Symptoms

Anxiety Disorder Definition Examples/Symptoms

Social Anxiety

Disorder

Fear of interacting with others

or being in social situations

that might lead to a negative

evaluation

Stage fright, fear of public speaking,

fear of urinating in public, fear of eating

with other people

Specific Phobias Fear of objects or specific

situations or events

Fears of animals, the natural

environment such as thunder storms,

blood injections/injury, specific

situations such as flying

Agoraphobia Fear of being in a place or

situation from which escape is

difficult or impossible

Using public transportation, open

spaces, enclosed spaces, being in a

crowd

Panic Disorder Disorder in which panic attacks

occur more than once or

repeatedly and cause persistent

worry or changes in behavior

Various physical symptoms: racing

heart, dizziness, rapid breathing, dulled

senses, along with uncontrollable

feelings of terror

Generalized

Anxiety Disorder

Disorder in which a person has

feelings of dread and impending

doom along with physical

symptoms of stress, which lasts

6 months or more

Tendency to worry about situations,

people, or objects that are not

really problems, tension, muscle

aches, sleeping problems, problems

concentrating

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