Anxiety Disorder
Anxiety Disorder Research Paper
Essie Stiverson
Mrs. Norton
Intro to Psychology
November 1, 2012
Anxiety is an emotional state like feeling anxious or nervous. Anxiety can be phased or permanent. There are seven main different types of anxiety. The symptoms and diagnosis differ and should be know the difference and the many different types of treatment. There is also the scientific side in which Sigmund Freud approached anxiety with two different theories. In the Freudian Approach, Sigmund Freud said “understanding anxiety would be bound to throw a flood of light on our whole moral existence”. He has two theories of anxiety. In the first theory he believed a mental energy or “sex drive” called libido built up until discharged by an activity that brings you pleasure. When the energy cannot be discharged it is unattainable. The unreleased energy is anxiety. The anxiety may attach to an unrealistic object causing a phobia. This theory was demonstrated in an experiment called “Little Hans.” At the age of five, he had a phobia of horses; Freud believed that the boy attached the phobia to horses when he really had a sexual desire towards his mother and wanted his father dead. The desire for his mother and dislike of his father were impulses that were pushed out of his consciousness, the resulting emotion was anxiety. Freud believed that he attached the feeling of anxiety to horses because the blinders and muzzles resembled his fathers glasses and mustache. In the first theory it was thought that repression caused the anxiety unto another object. Repression is a defense mechanism that keeps thoughts known as inappropriate or unacceptable are kept unconscious. The later theory, they switch roles in which the repression is caused by the anxiety. Freud believed in this case that the anxiety is really a signal to the ego that the thoughts are trying to become conscious. The signal is then used by the ego to repress the
Essie Stiverson
Mrs. Norton
Intro to Psychology
November 1, 2012
Anxiety is an emotional state like feeling anxious or nervous. Anxiety can be phased or permanent. There are seven main different types of anxiety. The symptoms and diagnosis differ and should be know the difference and the many different types of treatment. There is also the scientific side in which Sigmund Freud approached anxiety with two different theories. In the Freudian Approach, Sigmund Freud said “understanding anxiety would be bound to throw a flood of light on our whole moral existence”. He has two theories of anxiety. In the first theory he believed a mental energy or “sex drive” called libido built up until discharged by an activity that brings you pleasure. When the energy cannot be discharged it is unattainable. The unreleased energy is anxiety. The anxiety may attach to an unrealistic object causing a phobia. This theory was demonstrated in an experiment called “Little Hans.” At the age of five, he had a phobia of horses; Freud believed that the boy attached the phobia to horses when he really had a sexual desire towards his mother and wanted his father dead. The desire for his mother and dislike of his father were impulses that were pushed out of his consciousness, the resulting emotion was anxiety. Freud believed that he attached the feeling of anxiety to horses because the blinders and muzzles resembled his fathers glasses and mustache. In the first theory it was thought that repression caused the anxiety unto another object. Repression is a defense mechanism that keeps thoughts known as inappropriate or unacceptable are kept unconscious. The later theory, they switch roles in which the repression is caused by the anxiety. Freud believed in this case that the anxiety is really a signal to the ego that the thoughts are trying to become conscious. The signal is then used by the ego to repress the