Research digest : Carre, A. (2011). Anxiety disorders. Anglais pour psychologues, 89-93, Paris : Dunod.
Fear is a normal emotion and is necessary for our adaptation. For example, have you already felt increased pulse, have you already sweat facing a distressing experience? And have you ever wondered do I fight or do I flight ? In this context, you felt anxiety. Anxiety is adapted and allowed to escape facing of a danger. However, when anxiety becomes excessive, it can turn to an anxiety disorder.
Anxiety disorder is relevant today because it is often encountered in the clinic and has a comorbidity with many psychiatric disorders. Furthermore, there are three others points that allow us to say anxiety is a topical issue in the word.
Firstly, as we say before: anxiety is a normal feeling but also a disorder. It is very complicated to differentiate the normal from the pathological because a fear can be repeated without being a disorder creating suffering.
Secondly, we can see that anxiety is a relevant topic because it is always re-examinated year after year in the DSM. In fact, DSM often updates classification of anxiety disorders.
To finish, we should not forget that there are various anxiety disorders,including many different types of phobias. Its range and its variety explain that anxiety is very studied.
Many authors have been interested in anxiety and its disorders. First, Freud evoked the anxiety created by intrapsychic conflicts between the desires of id and superego. Then, Spielberg differentiated anxiety as a trait and anxiety as a state. Anxiety-trait is an individual characteristic of responding, to more or less threatening situations. Anxiety state is the result of tensions, apprehension or thoughts that engender an emotion at a given moment. Furthermore, the cognitive-behavioral therapy has been very interested in anxiety and more specifically how to deal with these disorders. This approach aims to modify the individual’s cognitions and behaviors to be confronted of these fears.
There are many researches on anxiety disorders, about their classification or their therapy, which have had real good results. So, rather than giving some perspectives on further researches we can ask the question of prevention of anxiety disorder : how could we avoid from being anxious ? indeed, we can have an action on quality of life to reduce signs and symptoms of anxiety reduce the incidence of the trouble.
Words we have learned:
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- to sweat = transpirer
- topical issue = question d’actualité
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- to range = se situe
- superego = surmoi
- to avoid to = pour éviter de
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Marine RODAK and Alexia VACHON