Diagnosing Anxiety
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) by the American Psychiatric Association defines fear as “the emotional response to a real or perceived imminent threat,” and defines anxiety as “the anticipation of future threat”. At times, both of these emotions will be present but will be different with fear being regularly related with feelings of immediate danger while anxiety is often related with emotions of watchfulness or avoidant conduct.
Anxiety will affect everyone at some point in their life, whether it is school work, our social life, or the workplace. Distinguishing between a “normal” anxiety sensation and an anxiety disorder is difficult but very important to learn and understand the difference.
A college student may experience anxiety for a fleeting period of time before an important exam, an unemployed professional could feel anxious before an interview; the persons in both cases may use their anxiety to their favor, usual anxiety can be a good thing because it stimulates harder studying, encourages the person to complete tasks at hand as well as activating the fight or flight response in a dangerous situation. In terms of the duration …show more content…
Identifying the stressors in the patient’s life is important because depending on the kind of stressor, along with the effect as well as the length the effect holds on, a doctor may successfully diagnose if in fact a disorder is present. Many individuals suffering from an anxiety disorder misjudge the potential dangers in the circumstances they fear or avoid so it lies on the clinician to conclude whether the panic or anxiety is extreme or disproportionate, bearing in mind considering the cultural contextual
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) by the American Psychiatric Association defines fear as “the emotional response to a real or perceived imminent threat,” and defines anxiety as “the anticipation of future threat”. At times, both of these emotions will be present but will be different with fear being regularly related with feelings of immediate danger while anxiety is often related with emotions of watchfulness or avoidant conduct.
Anxiety will affect everyone at some point in their life, whether it is school work, our social life, or the workplace. Distinguishing between a “normal” anxiety sensation and an anxiety disorder is difficult but very important to learn and understand the difference.
A college student may experience anxiety for a fleeting period of time before an important exam, an unemployed professional could feel anxious before an interview; the persons in both cases may use their anxiety to their favor, usual anxiety can be a good thing because it stimulates harder studying, encourages the person to complete tasks at hand as well as activating the fight or flight response in a dangerous situation. In terms of the duration …show more content…
Identifying the stressors in the patient’s life is important because depending on the kind of stressor, along with the effect as well as the length the effect holds on, a doctor may successfully diagnose if in fact a disorder is present. Many individuals suffering from an anxiety disorder misjudge the potential dangers in the circumstances they fear or avoid so it lies on the clinician to conclude whether the panic or anxiety is extreme or disproportionate, bearing in mind considering the cultural contextual