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Sara AlMadani

200818976

PSY 410

Dr. Mercedes

8 January 2012

Final Project

 

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 Introduction:

“Anxiety (also called angst or worry) is a psychological and physiological state

characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components.”

Wikipedia. (2011, December 19). anxiety.

Anxiety is one of the most uncomfortable feeling or disorders a person could live

with. It is basically a combination of continuous fear, stress, worry, or even the

feeling of being annoyed. Not only does this affect the mental state of an individual,

but sometimes it also drags its effects and have negative influence on the physical

health of the person who has an anxiety disorder.

As humans, we all go through moments in our lives where we are scared, worried,

stressed, or even excessively worried about a certain thing. But what makes us

different from those who have it as a disorder; is the fact that we don’t let those

feelings come in the way of us functioning in our daily life routine. We eventually get

over what ever it is bothering us and causing the anxiety and move on. Just like

anything else, when something exceeds its limit or in other words it is not limited it

reaches the scale where it starts to be called an “Anxiety disorder”. That is when this

starts influencing our social life and our physical health.

The reason or the trigger why a person might go through an anxiety disorder, it could

be something that might have happened in a person’s life that was very stressful and

mentally too much to digest. It depends on how well a person takes news about

something major that has happened or a certain issue or even most of the time based

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on a person’s experience about something that may have occurred, some people could

deal with it and decide to let it go, others decide that this is too difficult for them to let

go. This eventually develops into an anxiety disorder.

When anxiety reaches its extreme level and turns into a disorder, that’s when it starts

affecting the person negatively and also influencing their physical health. Some of the

ways that a person could be effected physically is basically muscle weakness, chest

pain, heart rate decreases and increases irregularly, sweating, ongoing headaches, and

even stomachaches. These things might occur all together and might now, that is one

of the reasons why the person who suffers from this disorder might find it difficult to

realize or spot the fact that he does.

Another way that a person might get affected due to anxiety disorder is emotionally.

When a person suffers from an anxiety disorder, it is difficult for the person to

concentrate on several things that are happening that people usually do not find it

difficult concentrating on. In addition to that, feelings got concur a person’s brain

where all the person does it wait around looking for signs of certain things to happen

that remind the person of a certain situation that might have happened in the past and

triggered this disorder. Another way is that the person can always be living in fear of

people being out there to harm him in a way or another or people being out there to

get him eventually. Basically, all those are usually based on delusions.

Cognitive effects are another way of where anxiety disorders would lead. From the

name “cognitive” is basically when a person worries about the idea of a certain thing

rather about what actually matters. If a person is being told that they have a certain

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disease, they wouldn’t be worrying about the process of the disease and what it might

do, the first thing that would bulb in their mind is the fact that they are dying.

Another one of the so many more effects that there are for this disorder is the

behavioral effect in the sense that a person’s sleep gets interrupted. They usually find

a difficult time sleeping or sometimes finding a difficult time waking up instead.

Some people might find it very difficult to leave the house because they feel unsafe

once they step outside their comfort zone.

There are certain disorders that fall under the anxiety umbrella, such as generalized

anxiety disorders, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and phobia. Psychology

About. (n.d.). List of disorders.

Generalized anxiety disorder is the least dangerous one, which is basically what we

feel sometimes when we as humans are put in certain situations or have experienced

certain feelings in the past. The generalized anxiety disorder is what we feel during

the period of the thing that might be occurring and a little bit after that, but we

eventually move on and let it go. Psychology About. (n.d.). List of disorders.

On the other hand, social anxiety disorder is when people get nervous in public or

when meeting a new person. Basically anything that connects a person to the outer

world, or anything that does not fall under the persons’ comfort zone.

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There are three ways of assessing anxiety, the first way is “Hamilton Anxiety Scale”

which is basically a scale that measures how stressful is your anxiety disorder; scaling

from 0 to 4, 4 being it’s strongest. There are certain results that will be given to the

person to show the person as a starter if he needs to take other tests for credibility

reasons, or the measure has indicated no presence of anxiety disorder.

The second way in assessing anxiety is, “Hopkins symptoms checklist”. This takes

about 20 minutes to take and is basically one of the easiest tests as the person himself

takes it. It gives you a number of emotions or things a person might be feeling if he

was suffering from anxiety attacks, and based on that the results will show if they

have it or not.

The Third way of assessing anxiety is, “Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale”. This

assessment helps in assessing both anxiety and depression. Given a certain issue or an

emotional feeling that people who suffer from anxiety disorder or depression might

suffer from and personally rating it from 0-3, three being the highest. (Health. (n.d.).

Ways to measure anxiety.)

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Assessment Tools:

Before choosing the assessment for the person I was going to assess, I researched

about ways to assess anxiety disorder, and most of the results were about the person

himself taking the test in his home. I basically think the reason behind that is to make

sure the person who founds out that he suffers from an anxiety disorder is ready to go

see a doctor or a specialist. Given this information that I analyzed, I decided to choose

3 different tests to assess my subject in this assessment.

Firstly, I decided to explain to my subject what anxiety is; then I decided if I did do

that, my subject my feel threatened or hesitated in answering the questions correctly. I

made sure she knew that this is confidential and her name will not be mentioned in

any of my work. Before starting the assessments, I made sure the person I chose to

assess is not a close friend or a family member. This will give me more credibility

when I come to scoring her tests and talking about it openly. I also decided to take the

time to talk to her before assessing her, asking her simple questions that will help me

to know her more, how she talks to people, does she easily get nervous or not.

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I started assessing my subject with the first assessment, which was “Generalized

Anxiety Disorder Assessment”. The reason I decided to start with this assessment is

to find out if my subject suffers from anxiety disorder in general, and if she does how

severe is it on a scale that has been given to me.

ASSESMENT ONE:

Have you experienced any of the following for at least 6 months?

Yes No 1. You worry excessively, at least 50% of the time.

Yes No 2. You have difficulty controlling your worrying.

Yes No 3. You worry persistently.

Yes No 4. You feel restless, keyed-up or on edge.

Yes 5. You tire easily.

Yes 6. You have problems concentrating.

Yes 7. You are irritable.

Yes 8. You experience muscle tension (especially in the jaw, neck, or shoulders).

Yes 9. You have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Or your sleep is restless and

unsatisfying.

No 10. Anxiety interferes with your daily life.

Total 'Yes' 5 (out of 10 possible)

Interpretation It is unlikely that you have generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).

Contact your doctor if you are still concerned that you may have GAD.

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ASSESMENT TWO:

Based on your responses, you probably do not suffer from Generalized Anxiety

Disorder.

Your responses were:

1: Do you experience excessive anxiety and worry about a number of events or

activities (such as work or school performance)?

N

2: Have these worries occurred more days than not for at least six months? N

3: Do you find it difficult to control the worry? N

4: Have you felt restless, keyed up, or on edge more days than not for at least six

months?

N

5: Have you been easily fatigued more days than not for at least six months? Y

6: Have you had difficulty concentrating or with your mind going blank more days

than not for at least six months?

N

7: Have you felt irritable more days than not for at least six months? N

8: Have you experienced muscle tension more days than not for at least six months? Y

9: Have you experienced sleep disturbance (difficulty falling or staying asleep or

restless, unsatisfying sleep) more days than not for at least six months?

Y

10: Do anxiety, worry, or physical symptoms cause you to feel very distressed? Y

11: Do anxiety, worry, or physical symptoms cause significant impairment in your

social life, work, or other important areas of functioning?

Y

I decided to go with another Generalized Anxiety disorder assessment for the second

test too, to make if the first one was credible.

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ASSESMENT THREE:

Current score is: 7

Scoring: The symptoms you are experiencing indicate you might have Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). The

closer you are to a score of 14, the more likely it is that you have Social Anxiety Disorder.

In patients with SAD, feared social or performance situations typically provoke an immediate anxious

reaction ranging from diffuse apprehension to situational panic. To meet the diagnostic criteria for Social

Anxiety Disorder, the symptoms must be severe enough to cause significant distress or disability.

The third assessment was chosen based on the first two results of the assessments that

were given to her. I wanted to know if her anxiety disorder was severe or not before

deciding which test I should go with next. I chose this test to help me figure out which

kind of anxiety is she the closest to if there was an anxiety disorder to be triggered.

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Conclusion:

The first two assessments’ results stated that my subject does not suffer from anxiety

disorder, the reason why I decided to go with two similar test is to make sure of the

credibility and the validity of the test I’m assessing her by. Sometimes when a subject

is being tested, they tend not to be completely honest and for that reason I decided to

have 2 similar tests that way she would not remember what she answered to the first

test. Since I have waited 5 minutes before starting the following assessment. This also

might have strengthened my credibility when assessing my subject.

The third assessment I decided to choose was on the spot, in the 5 minutes break

between each assessment. The reason why I did that is that when I researched the

different types of tests there are. It seemed not fair to test a person who had no sign of

anxiety disorder with tests that were designed for those who have an extreme scale of

anxiety disorder. I chose 2 different assessments for my third test, one is in case the

results of the first two indicated that she had a severe case of anxiety disorder, and the

second one was in case she did not suffer from this disorder, which was exactly the

case with my subject.

Instead of just getting out of this experiment by saying “she does not suffer from an

anxiety disorder” I thought why not make it interesting by assessing which type of

anxiety disorder are you more visible to or might get triggered and might encounter.

Which was very interesting. The result stated that it she might be on the verge of a

“Social Anxiety Disorder”. The interesting part about this is the conversation I had

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with her right before starting the assessments. It was my first time to engage in a

conversation with her, so it was quiet obvious that she was nervous at the beginning

and she was trying not to be herself. We talked for a total of one hour before starting

the assessment, this way I would guarantee that she was feeling comfortable while

conducting the tests.

Personally speaking, I don’t trust the results that a person gets from interviewing or

assessing someone else. For one, there is nothing that guarantees that the subject is

being completely honest about a certain question or answer, if the person is trying too

hard to not be blunt and honest, he might also concentrate on knowing the questions

they are not answering truthfully and would repeat the fake answer over and over.

One thing that I might have done differently is the choice of subject I went with. At

first I thought not knowing the person on personal bases would be better when

conducting the tests, but then again not knowing a person might be somehow of a

challenge, because there is nothing that proves to me that the person is being

completely honest about certain things and questions. Another reason why I thought it

was better if I got to choose a subject I knew on personal bases is the fact that they

might feel comfortable enough in answering questions without feeling like they are

being assessed or judged by me.

The fact that she is on the verge of a social anxiety disorder and it was the first type of

anxiety that might get triggered made me think twice about my decision of choosing a

person I don’t know personally.

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Bibliography  About  Psychology.  (n.d.).  Generalized  Anxiety  disorder.  Retrieved  December  26,  2011,  from  psychology.about:  http://psychology.about.com/od/psychiatricdisorders/a/genanxietydis.htm  Health.  (n.d.).  Ways  to  measure  anxiety.  Retrieved  December  26,  2011,  from  health:  http://www.ehow.com/way_5196562_ways-­‐measure-­‐anxiety.html  Psychology  About.  (n.d.).  List  of  disorders.  Retrieved  December  26,  2011,  from  psychology.about:  http://psychology.about.com/od/psychiatricdisorders/a/genanxietydis.htm  Wikipedia.  (2011,  December  19).  anxiety.  Retrieved  December  26,  2011,  from  wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety