Anxiety and Stress: Home

Anxiety Disorders: DSM-5® Selections is crafted around a specific disorder cited in DSM-5®. This selection provides a comprehensive overview of the process of diagnosing anxiety disorders while serving as a reference guide to assist in the diagnosis of individual patients.

Designed for clinicians at every level, The American Psychiatric Association Publishing Textbook of Anxiety, Trauma, and OCD-Related Disorders addresses the origin, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of these disorders in a comprehensive, up-to-date, and compelling manner. Following a comprehensive overview of core principles, the book provides detailed coverage of specific DSM-5 diagnoses: generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, panic disorder and agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, specific phobia, and trauma- and stressor-related disorders. Each section presents the latest thinking on phenomenology and pathogenesis, then provides evidence-based clinical recommendations for pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy.

Since its original definition in the DSM-III (1980), the clinical and scientific interest in Generalized Anxiety Disorder has grown, becoming a challenge for researchers and practitioners nowadays. This book provides a modern viewpoint with intriguing insights on relevant topics, including historical frameworks, epidemiology, basic neurobiological sciences, clinical presentation and complexity and major treatment options.

Using a practical yet comprehensive approach, this text considers each anxiety disorder's clinical complexity while simultaneously using an integrative orientation toward finding clinical solutions. The volume addresses effective therapeutic procedures and recommendations, including pharmacological and psychological treatment approaches.

This book offers unconventional new exposures to help you provide the most effective treatment possible. In addition, you'll also find a comprehensive overview of exposure therapy; a rationale for its use in treating anxiety-related disorders; troubleshooting tips for dealing with common roadblocks, such as avoidance; and techniques for helping clients stay motivated during treatment.

This text explores how anxiety has been understood from the late nineteenth century to the present day and why it has assumed a more central position in how we think about mental health. Contrary to the claims that anxiety reflects large-scale traumas, abrupt social transitions, or technological revolutions, Schnittker argues that the ascent of anxiety has been driven by slow transformations in people, institutions, and social environments. Changes in family formation, religion, inequality, and social relationships have all primed people to be more anxious. At the same time, the scientific and medical understanding of anxiety has evolved, pushing it further to the fore. The rise in anxiety cannot be explained separately from changes in how patients, physicians, and scientists understand the disorder. Ultimately, Schnittker demonstrates that anxiety has carried the imprint of social change more acutely than have other emotions or disorders, including depression. When societies change, anxiety follows.

This casebook presents real-life cases along with the rationale behind diagnostic criteria and a connection of DSM-5 criteria with symptomatology for each case. In addition, the detailed vignettes include a complete discussion of treatment interventions and client management that is crucial for students in helping professions. These treatment considerations are inclusive of a wide range of evidence-based approaches. Multiple cases are presented within each major category of disorders to help students understand the nature of differential diagnosis. Cases also reflect cultural and social consideration in making diagnostic decisions.

Once upon a time, there lived a happy family called the Maitlands. Iain, the father, was a writer. Tracey, the mother, worked at a nearby school. They had three bright and charming children, Michael, Sophie and Adam. It looked like the perfect family life. Until October 2012, when Iain received a message. Michael had been taken to hospital. Years of depression, anxiety and anorexia had taken their toll, and he had pneumonia and a collapsed lung. The doctors weren't sure if he would make it.Told with humour and frankness through Michael's diary entries and Iain's own reflections, Out of the Madhouse charts Michael's journey to recovery from entering the Priory and returning home, to becoming a mental health ambassador for young people. Sharing tips and techniques that have helped them and others to self-manage, this is an essential resource for anyone experiencing depression, anxiety, OCD and similar issues.

We've all felt occasional pangs of shyness and self-consciousness, but for the 15 million Americans with social anxiety disorder, the fear of being scrutinized and criticized can reach disabling proportions. Such was the case for Emily Ford, who shares her firsthand experiences in these pages. Emily's true story of fear, struggle, and ultimate triumph is sure to resonate with other socially anxious teenagers and young adults. Emily's frank, often witty, sometimes poignant account of how she negotiated all the obstacles of social anxiety--and eventually overcame them with the help of therapy and hard work--makes for compelling reading. Yet this book is more than just a memoir. Emily's story is coupled with the latest medical and scientific information about the causes, diagnosis, treatment, and self-management of social anxiety disorder (or SAD). Readers will find a wealth of solid advice and genuine inspiration here. In engaging, accessible language--and with the help of psychiatrist Michael Liebowitz--she discusses what is known and not known about social anxiety disorder in adolescents. She outlines the various psychotherapies available for those with SAD and explains how to seek professional help, how to talk to family and friends about the illness, and how to handle difficult social situations. The result is both an absorbing story and a useful guide that will help to ease the isolation caused by SAD, encouraging young people to believe that, with commitment and hard work, they can overcome this illness.

Social phobia is a disorder involving an intense fear of being judged by others and it affects the lives of many people. This book takes a critical stance towards the received view of social phobia as a disease of sorts, characterized by abnormal anxiety and caused by an inner mental or physical defective mechanism. Ariel Stravynski adopts an alternative approach to social phobia – as a purposeful interpersonal pattern protective against public humiliation or private rebuff. In this conception, fearfulness is the emotional facet of the socially phobic interpersonal pattern, rather than its driving force. This theoretical framework emphasizing dynamic transactions is articulated in terms of an anthropological psychology and Stravynski argues that social phobia can only be formulated and understood in interpersonal terms. He integrates all available knowledge on social phobia into his proposed framework and exemplifies its application by extending it to the assessment and treatment of the disorder.

Despite the empirical support for exposure therapy, it is unclear how many community-dwelling older adults with anxiety disorders receive this intervention. This study examined the use of exposure therapy compared to other treatment techniques among clinicians who treat older adults with anxiety disorders. Compared to younger anxious clients, clinicians endorsed significantly less frequent use of exposure therapy than other treatment techniques in older anxious adults. Negative therapist beliefs about the safety and tolerability of exposure therapy were significantly associated with infrequent use of exposure therapy in older adult clients. Current findings indicate there may be a need to address negative clinician attitudes towards the use of exposure therapy when working with anxious older clients.

Would metaphors used in the context of psychotherapy by people who experience various forms of anxiety disorders differ from those used by people who experience stress? We investigated this question with the help of the Motivation & Sedimentation Model (MSM), a theory of meaning-making developed within the synthetic new discipline of cognitive semiotics. The analysis of a sample of ten transcripts of psychotherapy sessions concerning the topic of anxiety, and a comparable sample concerning stress, showed a significantly stronger proportion of conventionalized metaphors in the stress sample, and a marginally significant difference in the number of innovative metaphors in the anxiety sample. These results suggest that lived experience of an anxiety disorder or another form of maladaptive anxiety affects metaphorical meaning-making, and manifests itself in spontaneous metaphor use. Furthermore, as a result of the conceptual and the empirical investigations of the topic, we propose novel theoretical and operational definitions of the notion of metaphoricity.

This article aims to explore experiences of change among participants in a randomized clinical trial of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for anxiety disorders. To explore experiences of change among participants in a randomized clinical trial of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for anxiety disorders. Results evidence MBSR as an effective transdiagnostic approach to the treatment of anxiety disorders.

This meta-analysis evaluates the efficacy of group psychotherapy in the treatment of anxiety disorders. A comprehensive literature search using PubMed, PsychInfo, Web of Science, CENTRAL, and manual searches was conducted to locate randomized controlled trials. Researchers found 57 eligible studies (k = 76 comparisons) including 3656 participants receiving group psychotherapy or an alternative treatment for generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder. Findings support the efficacy of group psychotherapy for anxiety disorders. They indicate that mixed-diagnoses groups are equally effective as diagnosis-specific groups, although further evidence is required. Future primary studies should address differential effectiveness, include a wider range of therapeutic approaches as well as active comparison groups.

This study aims to assess the effectiveness of the STPP programme in patients with depression and anxiety who were partially responsive to previous treatments. Participants were consisted of 36 patients, 27 of whom were female and 9 were male. A total of 12 sessions of STPP were applied to the patients included in the study, sessions lasting 45 minutes, every 2 weeks, for 6 months. Findings suggest that STPP is an effective treatment in patients with anxiety disorders and depression, who have not achieved adequate response to previous standard psychiatric treatments.

Suicide is a global public health problem among older adults. Problem-solving therapy (PST) has demonstrated promise in reducing late-life suicide risk, chiefly in secondary analyses of studies on late-life depression. PST mitigates negative beliefs about one’s problem-solving abilities and maladaptive problem-solving styles, which suicidal older adults report. The effects of PST on suicide risk in older adults with primary anxiety disorder diagnoses have not been examined. Anxiety is a risk factor for suicide, but it is less studied in research on suicide compared to depression. This paper describes two cases of older individuals with anxiety disorders and suicidal ideation who completed six sessions of PST. Findings highlight the potential for PST as a psychotherapeutic intervention for reducing suicide risk in older adults with anxiety disorders.

Occupational balance and satisfaction with daily occupations are two central concepts in occupational science. The aim of the present study was therefore to explore associations between different aspects of occupational balance and satisfaction with daily occupations. A second aim was to explore whether different aspects of occupational balance predicted satisfaction with daily occupations 12 months later. Statistically significant associations were found between the following aspects of occupational balance: Balance between work, home, family, leisure, rest, and sleep; Having neither too much nor too little to do during a regular week; Satisfaction with time spent in rest, recovery, and sleep and satisfaction with daily occupations directly after the intervention. The occupational balance item Balance between energy-giving/energy-taking occupations directly after the intervention predicted satisfaction with daily occupations 12 months later.

In this research review, we consider three studies of group therapy that compared Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) to an active treatment group. The first study compared MBSR to Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy (CBGT) and their differential effects on two processes. The second study used a mediator analysis that analyzed which mechanisms underlie therapeutic change, aiming to explain how MBSR treats anxiety. The third study contrasted the effects of MBSR with CBGT on the treatment of social anxiety disorder and treatment-related processes.

Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) has shown efficacy for treating anxiety disorders. Yet, use of VRET remains low. In this article, we discuss several factors we believe are contributing to low VRET adoption among therapists and raise potential solutions to address them. We consider steps that VR experience developers and researchers might take, such as leading studies of VRET’s real-world effectiveness and treatment optimization trials and continuing to improve the fit of platforms with clinicians’ workflows. We also discuss steps to address therapist reservations using aligned implementation strategies, as well as barriers for clinics, and the roles that professional organizations and payers could have in improving care by encouraging adoption of VRET.

How traumatic events (TEs) should be defined, and how specific TEs are for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) were examined in a general mental health care population. Three definitions of TEs were defined, according to the PTSD criteria of DSM-IV. Half of the sample reported any TE, with a high prevalence of TEs among non-PTSD disorders. Previous mental health care, female gender, and the likelihood of assigning PTSD were associated with more severe trauma definitions. Reexperiencing symptoms were especially common among mood disorders. The implications for treatment are discussed and an alternative, dimensional definition of trauma has been proposed.

In this research, latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to derive homogeneous subgroups within the Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Study sample (N = 488; 7–17 years, M = 10.69, SD = 2.80) and examine whether class membership predicted or moderated treatment response. Subgroups were identified on baseline multi-informant measures of variables most consistently associated with outcome (youth anxiety/diagnosis, impairment, family psychopathology/functioning). Subgroup membership was examined as a predictor/moderator of outcome across the four treatment conditions (CBT, Sertraline, CBT+Sertraline, pill placebo) at post treatment (12 weeks) and open-extension follow-up (24 weeks). Controlling for demographic differences, response to treatment type did not differ across classes. Analyses indicate that elevated family dysfunction/parental psychopathology clusters primarily within one subgroup of anxious youth rather than mapping onto symptom severity, highlighting the utility of LPA for clarifying within-person combinations of predictor/moderator variables. Implications for development of interventions targeting class-relevant variables are discussed.

This journal collects experimental and field studies of anxiety dimensions and stress and coping processes, and also with related topics such as the antecedents and consequences of stress exposure and its concomitant emotional states. Its articles contribute to the understanding of the relationship between psychological and physiological processes during stressful and anxious states, as well as their links to coping and resilience.

Packed with the most effective skills for assessing and treating anxiety, this evidence-based workbook contains the latest clinical research. You’ll find an arsenal of tools for quieting worry, ending negative self-talk, and taking charge of your anxious thoughts, including: Relaxation and breathing techniques; New research on exposure therapy for phobias;
Lifestyle, exercise, mindfulness and nutrition tips. Written by a leading expert in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), this fully revised and updated seventh edition offers powerful, step-by-step treatment strategies for panic disorders, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), worry, and fear. You will also find new information on relapse prevention after successful treatment, and updates on medication, cannabis derivatives, ketamine, exposure, nutrition, spirituality, the latest research in neurobiology, and more.

Practical, down to earth, clearly written, and easy for therapists to understand and apply, Virtual Reality Therapy for Anxiety is a useful guide for any clinician treating anxiety, regardless of setting (in-office or via telehealth), theoretical orientation, or level of training. Written by an experienced psychologist who has used multiple VR systems since 2010, it’s the only up to date, clinically informed, evidence-based training manual available. Easy-to-understand concepts and diagrams explain anxiety and its treatment, and the book incorporates research findings and clinical expertise. VRT is described step by step with multiple case examples, and an extended case-vignette chapter presents a session-by-session treatment protocol of a complex case with transcript excerpts. Key findings and quotations from research are also presented.

Stop Overthinking is a book that understands where you’ve been through,the exhausting situation you’ve put yourself into, and how you lose your mind in the trap of anxiety and stress. Acclaimed author Nick Trenton will walk you through the obstacles with detailed and proven techniques to help you rewire your brain, control your thoughts, and change your mental habits.What’s more, the book will provide you scientific approaches to completely change the way you think and feel about yourself by ending the vicious thought patterns.

Written by a psychoanalyst, with a foreword from Caroline Hickman from the Climate Psychology Alliance, this book offers emotional tools and strategies to ease anxiety by taking positive action on a personal and community level. A Guide to Eco-Anxiety outlines a manifesto for action, connection and hope. Showing how to harness anxiety for positive action, as well as effective ways to reduce your personal carbon footprint. The most powerful thing we can do to combat climate change is to talk about it and act collectively. But despite it being an emergency, most people don't bring climate change into conversation in everyday life.

In the second edition of this best-selling workbook, William J. Knaus offers a step-by-step program to help you overcome anxiety and get back to living a rich and productive life. With this book, you will develop a personal wellness plan using techniques from rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), powerful treatment methods proven to be even more effective than anxiety medication. This edition includes new evidence-based techniques such as behavioral activation and values-based action, addresses perfectionism and anxiety, and features updated, cutting-edge research.

Clinical psychologist and consultant at an all-girls school, Lisa Damour begins this exploration by addressing the facts about psychological pressure. She explains the surprising and underappreciated value of stress and anxiety: that stress can helpfully stretch us beyond our comfort zones, and anxiety can play a key role in keeping girls safe. When we emphasize the benefits of stress and anxiety, we can help our daughters take them in stride. But no parents want their daughter to suffer from emotional overload, so Damour then turns to the many facets of girls’ lives where tension takes hold: their interactions at home, pressures at school, social anxiety among other girls and among boys, and their lives online. As readers move through the layers of girls’ lives, they’ll learn about the critical steps that adults can take to shield their daughters from the toxic pressures to which our culture—including we, as parents—subjects girls.

This book refers to a therapist’s capacity to respond to postpartum distress in a way that facilitates an immediate and successful therapeutic alliance. Readers will learn how to contain high levels of agitation, fear, and panic in a way that cultivates trust and the early stages of connectedness. Also addressed through vignettes are personality types that make holding difficult, styles of ineffective holding, and how to modify holding techniques to accommodate the individual woman. A must-read for postpartum professionals, the techniques learned in this book will help clients achieve meaningful and enduring recovery.

It's hard to watch the news, scroll through social media, or listen to the radio without hearing or seeing something disturbing about the climate emergency. This can trigger all sorts of emotions: worry, anger, sadness, guilt, and even grief but also often over-looked positive emotions like motivation, connection, care, and abundance that support mental health and climate action for sustainable longevity. Written by psychologists with extensive experience in treating people with eco-anxiety, this book shows you how to harness these emotions, validate them, and transform them into positive action. It enables you to assess and understand your psychological responses to the climate crisis and move away from unhealthy defence mechanisms, such as denial and avoidance.

Drawing on a decade of experience leading and teaching in college environmental studies programs, Sarah Jaquette Ray has created an “existential tool kit” for the climate generation. Combining insights from psychology, sociology, social movements, mindfulness, and the environmental humanities, Ray explains why and how we need to let go of eco-guilt, resist burnout, and cultivate resilience while advocating for climate justice. A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety is the essential guidebook for the climate generation—and perhaps the rest of us—as we confront the greatest environmental threat of our time.

In this groundbreaking book, sleep expert Dr. Brandon Peters shares his expertise and proven strategies to help you break free from the grip of insomnia. Whether you struggle with falling asleep, staying asleep, or both, this book offers practical solutions to address the root causes of your sleep troubles.

This new mood management toolbox brings together the powers of mindfulness, CBT, and positive psychology for teens to take control of their distressing thoughts and over-the-top emotions. With over 30 years of clinical experience, Dr. Jeffrey Bernstein shares high-impact tools for teens' biggest demands -- school, social connections, body-image, and family dynamics. Inside you'll find 150 downloadable activities and worksheets to take control of:
-Confidence and self-esteem
-Overwhelming assignments
-Schedule demands
-Friend drama and pressure
-Body-image struggles
-Test anxiety
-Self-sabotaging behaviors
-Family frustration and conflicts

This workbook includes: Exercises for healing and self-discovery—75 strategic art therapy activities offer new opportunities for self-expression and tools for coping with mood and personality disorders. Supportive prompts and interactions—Each exercise includes an explanation of its purpose and potential outcomes along with a series of insightful post-activity questions. Judgment-free guidance—Learn the basics of different artistic techniques and mediums, like drawing, painting, and sculpting—no previous art experience necessary. Helpful supply lists and tips—Includes a complete list of the art supplies you'll need for each art therapy project and advice on creating your own healing space.