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Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorder

DeAnna Fleming

Grand Canyon University

Professor Van Wynsberg

PSY-470

3-20-2022

Anxiety is an intense, excessive, and persistent worry about the fear of everything that happens in our day-to-day lives. One of the physical signs of anxiety is an increased heart rate, rapid breathing, excessive sweating, and feeling tired. In some cases, anxiety may be normal in especially stressful situations, including public speaking or undertaking a test (Mizzi et al., 2021). Anxiety is one of the major indicators of underlying diseases by the time feelings become excessive, all-consuming to the extent that they interfere with day-to-day operations of a human being. Studies have shown that experiencing anxiety occasionally is normal in life. However, people suffering from anxiety-related disorders frequently experience intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear related to everyday life. Several symptoms characterize the disorder. One of them is feelings of nervousness and restlessness. Secondly, a person suffers a sense of impending danger and panic. Trembling becomes inevitable for persons suffering from anxiety.

Obsessive-compulsive, on the other hand, refers to excessive thoughts, which are referred to as obsessions that are the causes of recurrent behaviors. These recurrent behaviors are what is referred to as compulsions (Shepherd et al., 2021). Unreasonable thoughts and fears characterize disorders related to obsessive disorders. The condition is permanent in one's life. Treatment can only control it but can never be cured. Scholars argue that it is a chronic disorder that can last for many years or be lifelong. The condition must be diagnosed by medical personnel to be controlled to avoid the risk of long-term effects. A person suffering from this condition makes a person develop a lot of fear to the extent that he cannot arrange items in a specific manner (Haber et al., 2021). The symptoms of this condition are gradual, and they tend to vary throughout a person's entire life.

Related disorders include somatic symptoms. This is a collective of conditions in which the physical pain and the related symptoms that a person goes through are related to psychological factors. Studies suggest that such symptoms are very difficult to be traced to specific physical causes. In previous studies, medical tests have detected distinct somatic disorders that are normal or do not explain a person's symptoms. Medical evaluations are necessary for people with this kind of disorder. This will ensure that the patients are not suffering from other related illnesses (Goodman et al., 2021). Somatization disorder normally involves a lot of pain and severe neurological symptoms, including headaches and fatigue. Other symptoms include digestive symptoms and sexual symptoms.

Cultural Implications of Anxiety

Studies show that there are cultural differences in social anxiety. According to these studies, disorders created by anxiety and how they manifest in society vary from one community to another. One of the main differences seen across cultures is the way anxiety and depressive disorders are expressed. A person from a culture where it is common to know psychological terms may easily refer anxiety and depression by use of certain words. This may be different in some other cultures where some of these words are more common. Places of residence and cultural practices also affect how anxiety-related disorders manifest. The way people were raised, and the surrounding environment also affect how anxiety symptoms manifest. This is because different cultures have different rules, regulations, and expectations. The same also happens when anxiety takes root in a society where most society members suffer from anxiety. Society becomes very weak and very unproductive (Malik, 2021). For this reason, people must join hands in trying to bring stability by offering support programs to people who are suffering from anxiety.

Cultural Implications of Obsessive-Compulsive

The aspects of cultural identity and how it impacts obsessive disorder have been understudied. Several scholars have given differing opinions ranging from the idea that culture does not affect the condition's symptoms to the aspect that cultural backgrounds with high religiosity may have more severity of OCD. Scholars argue that OCD is a mental disorder in Western culture and traditions whose cause is largely by biological factors. Severe symptoms are not detected easily. Scholars also argue that across the globe, OCD manifests different cultural similarities. It is reported that a person suffering from OCD struggles with social situations in life even though they are not worried about hiding their symptoms from the rest of society (Malik, 2021). There is a very thin line between this condition and depression and anxiety. This makes it difficult for people suffering from the conditions to interact with others.

Cultural Implications of Related Disorder

In general, related disorders make people socially isolated. Research has shown that if such disorders are not well handled, the affected persons may become mad. Therefore, society needs to play its role actively to ensure that people suffering from such related disorders get the support to help them be stable and continue with their normal lives. As has been demonstrated by various scholars, the cultural practices of a society play a very important role in handling these disorders. The origin of most disorders in society is that it is the only society with its solution (Zhong et al., 2021). It is therefore important to ensure that society is conducive for everybody. This will ultimately ensure that many people suffering from such related effects have gone down.

Models of Abnormality

Abnormality is when an individual deviates from the statistical norms or social norms. It is also a deviation from the ideal mental health of a normal person. The use of psychological theories and models have explained these situations. Models of abnormality are inclusive hypotheses that describe the nature of psychological abnormalities. There are four main models of abnormality in psychology, but two of them will be described in this study. They include the biological, behavioral, cognitive, and psychodynamic models. Biological models consist of genetics, chemical imbalances in the brain, and the functioning of the nervous system (Kuo, 2021). Scholars of this model argue that mental illness results from a malfunction in the human body. The model further suggests that it affects the normal functioning of the nervous system when this happens. The model is responsible for identifying the areas of concern that psychologists need to focus on in treating mental disorders.

The psychological model has the following components: learning, personality, stress, cognition, self-efficacy, and early life experiences. Several perspectives that make up the model will be examined in this model. Some of the perspectives include psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic-existential. The social-cultural model includes factors such as the gender of an individual, religious orientation, race, ethnicity, and culture. The psychological model refers to behaviorist’s approach in which all mental and brain-related processes are considered in memory enhancement (Kuo, 2021). In this case, abnormal behavior is a result of cognitive interpretations. This behavior can also be a result of distorted cognitive processes.

In conclusion, abnormal psychology deals with psychopathology and abnormal behavior, especially in a clinical context. In this case, several disorders are covered with possible ways of addressing them. Such conditions include depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, personality disorders and other related disorders. Indeed, from this study, all mental disorders are greatly impacted by culture and traditions. Therefore, it is important to ensure that good practices are practiced in society to ensure that all people's minds are stable. People experiencing these kinds of disorders need a lot of support to go through the healing process successfully for them to become more productive in society.

References

Goodman, W. K., Storch, E. A., & Sheth, S. A. (2021). Harmonizing the neurobiology and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 178(1), 17-29.

Haber, S. N., Yendiki, A., & Jbabdi, S. (2021). Four deep brain stimulation targets for obsessive-compulsive disorder: Are they different?. Biological Psychiatry, 90(10), 667-677.

Kuo, P. C., Tsai, C. C., López, D. M., Karargyris, A., Pollard, T. J., Johnson, A. E., & Celi, L. A. (2021). Recalibration of deep learning models for abnormality detection in smartphone-captured chest radiograph. NPJ digital medicine, 4(1), 1-10.

Malik, T. H. (2021). Culturally imprinted anxiety and the itinerary of clinical trial projects for its management. Cross-Cultural Research, 55(2-3), 148-178.

Mizzi, S., Pedersen, M., Lorenzetti, V., Heinrichs, M., & Labuschagne, I. (2021). Resting-state neuroimaging in social anxiety disorder: a systematic review. Molecular Psychiatry, 1-16.

Shephard, E., Stern, E. R., van den Heuvel, O. A., Costa, D. L., Batistuzzo, M. C., Godoy, P. B., … & Miguel, E. C. (2021). Toward a neurocircuit-based taxonomy to guide treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Molecular Psychiatry, 26(9), 4583-4604.

Zhong, A., Darren, B., Loiseau, B., He, L. Q. B., Chang, T., Hill, J., & Dimaras, H. (2021). Ethical, social, and cultural issues related to clinical genetic testing and counseling in low-and middle-income countries: a systematic review. Genetics in Medicine, 23(12), 2270-2280.

PROFESSOR FEEDBACK:

Abnormal Psychology Research Paper Rough Draft – Rubric

Abnormal Psychology Research Paper Rough Draft – Rubric

Explanation of Selected Subject

22.5 / 22.512345

5. Target

22.5 points

Explanation of the selected subject is clear, comprehensive, and insightful. Relevant scholarly and credible sources are integrated to support claims.

Criteria Comments

Looks good here! See below for a note on the thesis statement.

Explanation of the Societal and/or Cultural Implications

19.13 / 22.512345

4. Acceptable

19.13 points

Explanation of the societal and/or cultural implications of the chosen subject is clear and thorough. Relevant scholarly and credible sources are used to support in a well-connected way.

Criteria Comments

Great job including this. I would like a bit more from Malik. That seems very basic in terms of added information. Is that in relation to anxiety disorders?

Models of Abnormality

15.3 / 1812345

4. Acceptable

15.3 points

Explanation of how the subject is related to one or more models of abnormality is clear and thorough. Strong details are provided. Relevant scholarly and credible sources are used to support in a well-connected way.

Criteria Comments

Good, but when you mention "scholars" we need citations – who are these scholars? Show how you know ths information is correct.

Thesis, Position, or Purpose

3.82 / 4.512345

4. Acceptable

3.82 points

The thesis, position, or purpose is adequately presented. An awareness of the appropriate audience is demonstrated.

Criteria Comments

Could have a stronger purpose statement at the beginning of the paper. It sort of "dives right in" as it is now.

Development, Structure, and Conclusion

4.5 / 4.512345

5. Target

4.5 points

The thesis, position, or purpose is logically advanced throughout. The progression of ideas is coherent and unified. A clear and logical conclusion aligns to the development of the purpose.

Criteria Comments

Nice job! Good work covering the required areas.

Mechanics of Writing

4.5 / 4.512345

5. Target

4.5 points

No mechanical errors are present. Appropriate language choice and sentence structure are used throughout.

Criteria Comments

Good work in this area. No issues here.

Paper Format

3.82 / 4.512345

4. Acceptable

3.82 points

Appropriate template is fully used. There are virtually no errors in formatting style.

Criteria Comments

Good overall! Bold the title on the title page. Remove the extra spaces between each section/the headings. There should just be one space – the whole paper should be double spaced with no extra space between areas. Also, your text is spaced out – you can see extra space between the words. This is due to an incorrect paragraph setting. You have it set to be "justified," but will need to change it so that all paragraphs are aligned to the left. A page break is needed between the end of the paper and the references section.

Research Citations

3.82 / 4.512345

4. Acceptable

3.82 points

Reference page is present and fully inclusive of all cited sources. Documentation is appropriate and citation style is usually correct.

Criteria Comments

Italicize the journal name and the first number, which is the issue number. The titles for journals themselves (e.g., Journal of Health), should be in Title Case Like This, as opposed to the title of the article itself, which only has the first letter of the title, subtitle (if applicable), and any proper nouns capitalized (if applicable), which is called "sentence case." You have that right some places, but not all.

Format/Documentation

3.82 / 4.512345

4. Acceptable

3.82 points

Appropriate format and documentation are used with only minor errors.

Criteria Comments

See last two categories.