ANXIETY!!!

For me, it was so absolutely appropriate that this week's readings were about anxiety because I am feeling the heat of first year this week! This actually got my thinking about "normal" or sort of everyday anxiety. The Mineka & Zinbarg (2206) did a good job highlighting individual differences in the development of pathological anxiety- for instance, why some poeple develop phobias after minor traumatic events whereas some never develop phobias after major trauma. What about people who are anxious about speaking in public, for example? Why do some poeple develop more anxiety about speaking in front of others? It's hard for me to imagine that this type of anxiety develops as a result of traumatic conditioning. I realize that this type of anxiety is not necessarily pathological, but when considering the characterististics of social phobia, namely "excessive fears of situations in which they might be evaluated or judged by others, and they either avoid such situations or endure them with marked distress" (Mineka & Zinbarg, 2006, pg. 14), public-speaking anxiety could very well fit into this conceptualization. This points to yet another short coming of the DSM. Just because certain symptoms aren't considered pathological by DSM standards doesn't mean they are not effecting a person't ability to function daily and its a shame that they can't technically be treated (or at least treatment for these "everyday" types of symptoms is difficult to get reimbursed through insurance). What happens to a person whose job demands that they take part in weekly presentations? As psychologists, are we just supposed to say oh wait, sorry, public-speaking anxiety is not a disorder in the DSM so you can't be treated for it?

It was really interesting to find out that there are implications in the development of anxiety related to whether a person learns to have a sense of control over their enviroment, and it was a common area of discussion in both articles this week. Particularly, Mineka & Zinbarg (2006) state that "infants and children raised in environments in which they gain a sense of control over their environment are less frightened by and better able to cope with novel and frightening events" (pg. 13). This relates almost directly to a major area of research in our lab- specifically, the importance of an adolescent to develop a sense of autonomy from their parents, meaning that they exhibit some independence from their parents. Adolescents who are successfully able to balance autonomy and relatedness with parents (which are two key developmental tasks) show more positive psychosocial outsomes, as well as a greater ability to engage in healthy freindships later on (which may be viewed as novel situations). Essentially, when parents allow the appropriate amount of freedom to their adolescents, the better adjusted the adolescent becomes and the better equipped they are to engage in other relationships in the future. It was exciting to see this idea play a role in anxiety as well.