Origins of Phobias and Anxiety Disorders: Why More Women than Men? (BRAT Series in Clinical Psycholo

Origins of Phobias and Anxiety Disorders: Why More Women than Men? (BRAT Series in Clinical Psychology) 1st Edition by Craske, Michelle G. published by.
Table of contents

Hypochondriasis is often accompanied by other psychological disorders. Bipolar disorder , clinical depression , obsessive-compulsive disorder OCD , phobias , and somatization disorder are the most common accompanying conditions in people with hypochondriasis, as well as a generalized anxiety disorder diagnosis at some point in their life. Many people with hypochondriasis experience a cycle of intrusive thoughts followed by compulsive checking, which is very similar to the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

However, while people with hypochondriasis are afraid of having an illness, patients with OCD worry about getting an illness or of transmitting an illness to others. Patients with hypochondriasis often are not aware that depression and anxiety produce their own physical symptoms, and mistake these symptoms for manifestations of another mental or physical disorder or disease. For example, people with depression often experience changes in appetite and weight fluctuation, fatigue, decreased interest in sex and motivation in life overall.

Intense anxiety is associated with rapid heartbeat, palpitations, sweating, muscle tension, stomach discomfort, dizziness, and numbness or tingling in certain parts of the body hands, forehead, etc. In some cases, hypochondriasis responds well to antipsychotics , particularly the newer atypical antipsychotic medication. If a person is ill with a medical disease such as diabetes or arthritis , there will often be psychological consequences, such as depression.

Some even report being suicidal. In the same way, someone with psychological issues such as depression or anxiety will sometimes experience physical manifestations of these affective fluctuations, often in the form of medically unexplained symptoms.

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Preoccupation with fears of having, or the idea that one has, a serious disease based on the person's misinterpretation of bodily symptoms. The preoccupation persists despite appropriate medical evaluation and reassurance.

The belief in Criterion A is not of delusional intensity as in Delusional Disorder , Somatic Type and is not restricted to a circumscribed concern about appearance as in Body Dysmorphic Disorder. The preoccupation causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

The duration of the disturbance is at least 6 months. The newly published DSM-5 replaces the diagnosis of hypochondriasis with "illness anxiety disorder". Hypochondria is currently considered a psychosomatic disorder, as in a mental illness with physical symptoms. The media and the Internet often contribute to hypochondria, as articles, TV shows and advertisements regarding serious illnesses such as cancer and multiple sclerosis often portray these diseases as being random, obscure and somewhat inevitable. Major disease outbreaks or predicted pandemics can also contribute to hypochondria.

Statistics regarding certain illnesses, such as cancer, will give hypochondriacs the illusion that they are more likely to develop the disease. Overly protective caregivers and an excessive focus on minor health concerns have been implicated as a potential cause of hypochondriasis development. It is common for serious illnesses or deaths of family members or friends to trigger hypochondria in certain individuals.

Similarly, when approaching the age of a parent's premature death from disease, many otherwise healthy, happy individuals fall prey to hypochondria. These individuals believe they are suffering from the same disease that caused their parent's death, sometimes causing panic attacks with corresponding symptoms. Family studies of hypochondriasis do not show a genetic transmission of the disorder. Among relatives of people suffering from hypochondriasis only somatization disorder and generalized anxiety disorder were more common than in average families.

Most research indicates that cognitive behavioral therapy CBT is an effective treatment for hypochondriasis. Among the regions of the abdomen , the hypochondrium is the uppermost part. Hypochondria in Late Latin meant "the abdomen". The term hypochondriasis for a state of disease without real cause reflected the ancient belief that the viscera of the hypochondria were the seat of melancholy and sources of the vapor that caused morbid feelings.

For example, Robert Burton 's The Anatomy of Melancholy blamed it "for everything from 'too much spittle' to 'rumbling in the guts'". The disease of the hypochondriac consists in this: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For the anatomical term, see Hypochondrium. History of the Concept. Individuals who suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorder know that it can be extremely impairing, causing chronic tension, fatigue, irritability and d Mastery of Your Anxiety and Worry: The constant worry can be extremely impairing if left untreated, even to the point of causing physical symptoms.

Written by the developers of an empirically supported and effective cognitive-behavioral therapy program for treating GAD, this second edition therapist guide includes all the information and materials necessary to implement a successful treatment protocol. The therapeutic technique described in this book is research-based with Mastery of Your Anxiety and Panic: Workbook for Primary Care Settings. Do you have rushes of fear accompanied by a pounding heart, trembling, dizziness, and feelings of unreality that make you think you're sick, dying, or losing your mind?

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Do these feelings interfere with your normal daily routine, or prevent you from doing things you would normally do? Do you find yourself seeking medical treatment for symptoms related to your panic? Do you have rushes of fear accompanied by a pounding heart, trembling, dizziness, and feelings of unreality that make you think you're sick, dying, or Though panic disorder seems irrational and uncontrollable, it has been proven that a treatment like the one outlined in this book can help you take control of your Psychological Approaches to Theory and Treatment.

Psychological Approaches to Their Theory and Treatment is a distinctive textbook combining theoretical research developments with a discussion of the nature and treatment of anxiet. Psychological Approaches to Their Theory and Treatment is a distinctive textbook combining theoretical research developments with a Although a number of variations on the original theory have developed over the decades, all types of cognitive--behavioral therapy are unified by their empirical foundation, reliance on the theory and science of behavior and cognition, and the centrality of problem-focused goals.

Further, our results are among the first to indicate that the effect of parental modeling of anxiety on child anxiety is not unique to mothers, but a phenomenon common to both mothers and fathers. In contrast to our expectations, however, there was no effect of parental modeling of anxiety on child spelling performance.

Because our sample consisted exclusively of psychologically healthy children, the level of anxiety children experienced during the anxious condition may have failed to reach the intensity necessary to impair their spelling performance. It may also be that the spelling tests administered to children lacked the degree of sensitivity that is required to identify variations in anxiety among children, yielding no significant difference in their ability across conditions.

In the current study, we selected a performance task commonly encountered by children in order to reduce possible reactivity to an unfamiliar or novel task. Nevertheless, future studies that examine these and similar research questions might consider using a performance task that more precisely assesses the effects of anxiety. Perhaps of most interest, results of the current study indicated that fathers had a greater effect on child anxiety level and anxious cognitions relative to mothers.

Although such findings contrast with the results of one correlational study that found a relation between parental expressed fear and child fear level to be present only for mothers Muris, et al. However, because the assessment of parental expressed fear in the study of Muris and colleagues was derived from a self-report item, it is possible that mothers or fathers inaccurately recalled or endorsed the degree to which they expressed fears with children.

However, similar to the study of Chorpita and others , expressions of parental anxiety in our study occurred in vivo, reducing the likelihood that a response bias impacted results. In general, interaction effects indicated that the magnitude of the difference in child anxiety measures state anxiety, anxious feelings, anxious cognitions across conditions was greater for children who had interacted with fathers as opposed to mothers. Specifically, children who interacted with their fathers endorsed higher levels of anxiety in the anxious condition compared to children who interacted with their mothers.

Anxiety and Dissociative Disorders: Fearing the World Around Us: Intro to Psychology

Further, although children who had interacted with their fathers vs. Rather, the inverse was true: In consideration of work that has found mothers to spend more time with children Lamb, and to more frequently serve as the primary caretaker in the family Pleck, , the result that fathers may have a greater impact on child feelings and cognitions is somewhat counterintuitive. Indeed, the tendency of mothers to more often hold the position of primary caretaker may further limit occasions for children to observe these behaviors in fathers. As a result, children may be more habituated to expressions both positive and negative of their mothers, thereby attenuating the impact of female parental modeling on children in the current study.

Although the impact of parental modeling on child anxiety level and anxious cognitions differed by parent gender, it is important to note that these findings were not robust across indicators of child anxiety; there were no differences in levels of desired avoidance across conditions for children exposed to fathers in comparison to mothers. While it is possible that parent gender moderates the effect of parental modeling only on some aspects of child anxiety, our failure to observe a differential effect of male vs.

Additional experimental research that assesses child anxiety with a variety of instruments and methods is needed to determine whether the interactive effects of parental modeling of anxiety and parent gender are universal or specific to certain domains of child anxiety. Several limitations of the current study warrant discussion.

First, it is important to highlight that in addition to modeling anxious behaviors e. Because the current study examined these mechanisms simultaneously, it was not possible to disaggregate the independent contribution of each to child anxiety level, anxious cognitions, or desired avoidance. For instance, it may be that only one of these mechanisms impacts child anxiety outcomes, that one mechanism has stronger effects relative to others, or that each mechanism has unique and specific effects on child anxiety level, anxious cognitions, and desired avoidance.

However, given that anxious behaviors and cognitions are likely to occur in tandem, it was of interest to enhance the external validity of the manipulation by simulating how these phenomena operate in real life. In the future, experimental research that systematically manipulates these mechanisms both independently and conjointly will be useful in better understanding the relative contribution of each to child anxiety. Second, although the current study provides support for the transmission of anxiety from parent to child via parental modeling, it does not discount that children may elicit anxious behaviors among parents Hudson et al.

Findings from the present study provide support for only one possible explanation in a condition that is almost certainly multiply determined. Third, results of the present study should be considered in view of a number of study features. Because the C-FAT was developed for the current study and subscales consist of a small number of items, the scores generated from this measure are not without error. However, subscales displayed good to excellent internal consistency across conditions and results obtained with the C-FAT were very similar to those obtained using the STAIC, providing initial support for the reliability and validity of this measure.

In addition, due to the small size of the current sample, testing the interactive effects of several child characteristics i. In light of research that has found the impact of modeling to vary as a function of child characteristics de Rosnay et al. Finally, results of the current study may not generalize to other populations, such as families in which children have anxiety disorders, families from more diverse backgrounds, and children of different ages.


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It should be noted that the current study tested changes only in transitory, normative levels of anxiety and anxious cognitions rather than changes in stable, clinical levels of anxiety. While it is possible that repeated learning experiences involving parental anxious modeling yield chronically heightened levels of anxiety among children, the current study does not provide data to support this hypothesis. Yet, demonstrating the relative magnitude of its influence, exposure to parental modeling for only 2 to 3 minutes had large effects on levels of child anxiety, anxious cognitions, and desired avoidance, albeit transitory.

Additional longitudinal research examining the relationship of parental modeling of anxiety and child anxiety over time will be useful in clarifying how such parental behaviors may contribute to the development of clinical levels of anxiety in children. As well, studies including both larger and more ethnically and developmentally heterogeneous samples will be useful in exploring the differential impact of male and female parental modeling on children across various ethnicities and at various periods of development. Despite these limitations, the present study advances current understanding of the development of anxiety in children by providing preliminary support for parental modeling of anxiety as a posited mechanism of risk.

This study is the first to examine the impact of parental modeling of anxiety on the feelings and cognitions of school-age children using an experimental paradigm. It is also the first to examine whether the effect of parental modeling of anxiety on children varies by parent gender. Results of this study indicate that parental modeling of anxiety has a powerful influence on several cognitive-behavioral indices of child anxiety, including anxious feelings, anxious cognitions, and desired avoidance.

Although some interventions for child anxiety disorders consider and address parental modeling of anxiety in treatment Ginsburg, , findings from this study suggest that this behavior among parents should more often be a focus of clinical attention. Additionally, though children who interacted with parents of either gender were influenced by parental modeling, findings of the current study specifically suggest that children may be more vulnerable to the anxious and non-anxious expressions of their fathers.

Such results emphasize the importance of including both mothers and fathers in treatment for child anxiety in order to address potential risk with both family members. We gratefully acknowledge the valuable comments and assistance of Dr. We would also like to thank Ms. Elizabeth Gordon, and Ms. Maria Perez for the generous donation of their time and effort. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication.

As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.


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National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Author manuscript; available in PMC Jun 1. Marcy Burstein , Ph. The publisher's final edited version of this article is available at Behav Res Ther. See other articles in PMC that cite the published article. Abstract The current study tested: Parental Modeling of Anxiety and Child Anxiety: Experimental Research Studies that have employed both an experimental approach and community samples to investigate the impact of parental modeling of anxiety on child anxiety are rare and to date, have focused on infants and toddlers.

Goals and Hypotheses of Present Study The following study sought to advance previous research on parental modeling of anxiety by: Method Participants Participants included 25 families recruited from the Baltimore area to take part in a study of parenting and child behavior. Procedure Recruitment Parents and children were recruited through advertisements in local newspapers and flyers posted in community venues hospitals, libraries, community centers, synagogues and churches to participate in a study examining parenting and child behavior. Baseline Assessment Before the experiment, parents completed a demographic questionnaire and several norm-referenced parent and child symptom measures i.

Experimental Conditions and Design For all families, one parent i. Parents were asked to use the following script as a guide: Anxious Test Condition Parent: Walks in room and interrupts We need to start the testing.

Non-anxious Test Condition Parent: Parent Manipulation Training During the parent manipulation training, study staff presented a brief video, provided the selected parent with the script, and role-played these conditions with the parent. Participant Consent and Debriefing Prior to participation, study staff met with both parents alone to describe the study procedures and obtain informed written consent.

Baseline Assessment Instruments Demographic Questionnaire Parents completed a item questionnaire regarding family demographics and family psychiatric history, as well as child medical, psychiatric, educational and developmental history. Spelling Test Based on the grade-level equivalent children obtained at baseline, they were administered a spelling test appropriate to their ability in both experimental conditions. Results Preliminary Analyses Manipulation Check Child and independent observer ratings were used determine the validity of the parent manipulation.

Open in a separate window. Randomization Check, Order Effects, and Child Gender Effects We tested whether families exhibited similar baseline characteristics across parent groups male vs. Discussion The present study sought to extend previous work by examining the impact of parental modeling of anxiety on child anxiety level, anxious cognitions, desired avoidance, and spelling performance among school-aged children.

Introduction

Main Effects of Parental Modeling of Anxiety Consistent with our hypotheses, children reported greater levels of anxiety, anxious cognitions, and desired avoidance of the testing situation when their parents modeled anxious behavior and cognitions relative to when they modeled non-anxious behavior and cognitions.

Interaction Effects of Parent Anxious Modeling and Parent Gender Perhaps of most interest, results of the current study indicated that fathers had a greater effect on child anxiety level and anxious cognitions relative to mothers. Limitations Several limitations of the current study warrant discussion. Clinical Implications Despite these limitations, the present study advances current understanding of the development of anxiety in children by providing preliminary support for parental modeling of anxiety as a posited mechanism of risk.

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