 They affect over 50 million people over age 18

in the United States

 Many have a median onset as early as 13 years
of age
 Indirect and direct economic costs associated
with treatment of anxiety disorder was $46.6
billion as late as 2004
 May interfere with being able to form and
sustain relationships
 May interfere with obtaining or sustaining
employment
 Panic attack  Post-traumatic Stress
 Panic Disorder Disorder
without agoraphobia  Generalized Anxiety
 Panic Disorder with Disorder
agoraphobia  Anxiety Disorder due
 Obsessive- to a general medical
Compulsive Disorder condition
 Substance induced  Anxiety Disorder Not
Anxiety Disorder otherwise specified
 A discrete period in which there is the sudden
onset of intense apprehension, fearfulness, or
terror, often associated with feeling of
impending doom. During these attacks,
symptoms such as shortness of breath,
palpitations, chest pain or discomfort, choking
or smothering sensations, and fear of “going
crazy” or losing control are present.
 1) palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate
 2) sweating
 3) trembling or shaking
 4) sensations of shortness of breath or smothering
 5) feeling of choking
 6) chest pain or discomfort
 7) nausea or abdominal distress
 8) feeling dizzy, unsteady, lightheaded, or faint
 9) derealization (feelings of unreality) or depersonalization
(being detached from oneself)
 10) fear of losing control or going crazy
 11) fear of dying
 12) paresthesias (numbness or tingling sensations)
 13) chills or hot flushes
 Is anxiety about, or avoidance of, places or
situations from which escape might be difficult
(or embarrassing) or in which help may not be
available in the event of having a Panic Attack
or panic-like symptoms.
 Is characterized by clinically
significant anxiety provoked
by exposure to a specific
feared object or situation,
often leading to avoidance
behavior.
 Is characterized by clinically
significant anxiety provoked by
exposure to certain types of
social or performance situations,
often leading to avoidance
behaviors.
 Is characterized by obsessions
(which cause marked anxiety or
distress) and/or by compulsions
(which serve to neutralize
anxiety).
 Is characterized by the re-
experiencing of an extremely
traumatic event accompanied by
symptoms of increased arousal
and by avoidance of stimuli
associated with the trauma.
 Is characterized by symptoms
similar to those of Posttraumatic
Stress that occur immediately in
the aftermath of an extremely
traumatic event.
 Is characterized by at least 6
months of persistent and
excessive anxiety and worry.
 Is characterized by prominent
symptoms of anxiety that are
judged to be a direct
physiological consequence of a
general medical condition.
 Is included for coding disorders
with prominent anxiety or phobia
avoidance that do not meet criteria
for any of the specific Anxiety
Disorders defined in the DSM-IV-TR
(or anxiety symptoms about which
there is inadequate or contradictory
information).
 Common characteristics:
 Brief
 Easy to administer
 Easy to score
 Easy to interpret
 Little knowledge of testing procedure needed
 Most are self-report
 Most are done in 15 minutes
87 item 7 point, likert-based
questionnaire that assesses beliefs
considered characteristic of
obsessive thinking.
 assesses the overestimation of threat from
potentially contaminated objects.
42 item self-report measure of the
frequency of OCD symptoms and
distress experienced from them in the
past month.
20 item self report measure
compromised of two subscales which
assess compulsive behaviors in OCD---
harm avoidance and incompleteness
10 item, 5-point Likert scale measuring
the severity and frequency of obsessions
and compulsions experienced during a
day.
 14 item instrument that focuses thoughts
ands somatic modes of trait anxiety and
is used to assess the presence of general
anxiety in situations.
 26 item, 3-point Likert, self-report
measurement that assesses DSM-IV
symptoms of PTSD for multiple traumatic
experiences.
 To obtain scale, contact
Melvyn Hammarberg, PhD 
Department of Anthropology 
University of Pennsylvania 
325 University Museum 
33rd and Spruce Street 
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6398
 43 item, 5-point Likert, self-report
measure associated with 17 DSM
symptoms embedded in the scale and
items measuring general distress.
17 item, 11 point Likert, self-report
measure used to measure and assess
DSM-IV symptoms of PTSD. Useful for
those multi-traumatic events and
unknown trauma history.
 21 item self report inventory.
 Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
disorders fourth edition. (2000). Arlington, VA.:
American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.
 Dziegielewski, S.F. (2010). Dsm-iv-tr in action
2nd edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley
& Sons
 Mayo Clinic Staff, (2010). Treatments and
drugs. Mayo clinic. Retrieved October 25, 2010,
from
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/panic-
attacks/DS00338/DSECTION=treatments-and-
drugs
 Autism research asd-carc. (2007). Retrieved from
http://www.asdcarc.com/index.php/publishe
r/articleview/?
PHXSESSID=7361595bf597d9853f375f838eff96d
3&/1/frmArticleID/421/staticId/1253/#A9