Lecture 1: Anxiety, Fear, Stress related disorders, Etiology
SOW-PSB3DH30N-2016-SEM1-V
Lecture 1 is about:
Fear and Anxiety
Anxiety disorders, Stress related disorders, OCD
Etiology
How many adults are afraid of …?
Fear is common, but it does not mean we all have a disorder. What it
means is that we are all very vulnerable to develop a disorder.
We are all predisposed to feel anxiety and fear. (Important emotion)
Specific fears are usually the ones you can live with best. We also call
specific fears simple fears. The reason why is
that they are easily avoidable. And avoiding is our major answer to
anxiety and fear.
Fear: A state of immediate alarm in response to a serious, known
threat to one’s wellbeing.
Anxiety: A state of alarm in response to a vague sense of threat or
danger.
Both have the same physiological features:
Increase in respiration
Perspiration
Muscle tension
Fear:
Fear is the emotional response to a threat occurring at this moment.
It’s a highly adaptive response and has evolutionary value.
Humans are predisposed, biologically, as any other animals that have this
fight flight response. It also involves activation of the sympathetic nervous
system.
It’s the Fight, Flight or Freeze response.
If you have a fight flight reaction it is always about survival. You can’t be
“half” afraid.
Overview of most common things when having a anxiety reaction:
Check the different levels on which emotions can express themselves.