Synonyms
Definition
Any of various psychological disorders characterized by extreme anxiety or fear that is of sufficient duration and intensity as to significantly interfere with daily functioning and quality of life (e.g., specific phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder).
Description
Anxiety is a feeling of apprehension, dysphoria, or dread which may arise with or without apparent cause. Anxiety is frequently accompanied by a variety of physiological sensations such as heart palpations, rapid breathing, tremors, perspiration, difficulty breathing, chills/hot flashes, or uncontrollable fear. Although fear and anxiety share similar features in that both can be considered emotionally negative states of high arousal, they differ in their temporal orientation, with fear representing a focus on present or imminent threats, while anxiety represents a focus on the possibility of future harm (Barlow 2000). Although distinct in some...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed, text revision.). Washington, DC: Author.
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Bandelow, B., Michaelis, S., & Wedekind, D. (2017). Treatment of anxiety disorders. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 19(2), 93–107.
Barlow, D. H. (2000). Unravelling the mysteries of anxiety and its disorders from the perspective of emotion theory. American Psychologist, 55(11), 1247–1263. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.11.1247.
De Lijster, J. M., Dierckx, B., Utens, E. M. W. J., Verhulst, F. C., Zieldorff, C., Dieleman, G. C., & Legerstee, J. S. (2017). The age of onset of anxiety disorders: A meta-analysis. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 62(4), 237–246. https://doi.org/10.1177/0706743716640757.
Hettema, J. M., Neale, M. C., & Kendler, K. S. (2001). A review and meta-analysis of the genetic epidemiology of anxiety disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 158(10), 1568–1578. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.158.10.1568.
Olatunji, B. O., Cisler, J. M., & Tolin, D. F. (2007). Quality of life in the anxiety disorders: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 27, 572–581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2007.01.015.
Payne, L. A., Ellard, K. K., Farchione, T. J., Fairholme, C. P. & Barlow, D.H. (2014). Emotional disorders: A unified transdiagnostic protocol. In D.H. Barlow (Ed.), Clinical handbook of psychological disorders; A step-by-step teatment manual (5th ed., pp. 237–274. New York: The Guilford Press.
Reiss, S. (1991). The expectancy model of fear, anxiety, and panic. Clinical Psychology Review, 11(2), 141–153. https://doi.org/10.1016/0272-7358(91)90092-9.
Remes, O., Brayne, C., van der Linde, R., & Lafortune, L. (2016). A systematic review of reviews on the prevalence of anxiety disorders in adult populations. Brain and Behavior, 6(7), 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.497.
Shimada-Sugimoto, M., Otowa, T., & Hettema, J. M. (2015). Genetics of anxiety disorders: Genetic epidemiological and molecular studies in humans. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 69(7), 388–401. https://doi.org/10.1111/pcn.12291.
Steel, Z., Marnane, C., Iranpour, C., Chey, T., Jackson, J. W., Patel, V., & Silove, D. (2014). The global prevalence of common mental disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis 1980–2013. International Journal of Epidemiology, 43(2), 476–493. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyu038.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.
The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this entry
Cite this entry
Shebelski, K.A., Asmundson, G.J.G. (2020). Anxiety Disorders. In: Maggino, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_99-2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_99-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69909-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69909-7
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences