Psychopathology is a relatively new term broadly covering all disorders of mental status. This assignment endeavors to investigate, compare and discuss the symptomology and treatment of four conditions. These disorders are Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, and Eating Disorders. Anxiety affects thousands every year. This is the first disorder to be discussed. One crucial finding this writer has discovered is that all disorders whether they be chronic or acute, transitory or stagnant need careful detection, evaluation and treatment
             Anxiety disorders cover a large amount of specifically identified disorders as well as generalized disorders. Some of these include phobias and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Collins (1988) defines anxiety as "an inner feeling of apprehension, uneasiness, concern, worry, and/or dread which is accompanied by heightened physical arousal. In times of anxiety, the body appears to be on alert, ready to flee or fight". Pathological anxiety can have many and varied causative factors these include organic as well as psychological etiologies. According to Kaplan et.al. (1994) It is important for the clinician to differentiate between pathological anxiety and anxiety that is part of normal growth.
             "On a practical level pathological anxiety is differentiated
             from normal anxiety by the assessments of patients, their
             families, their friends......such assessments are based on
             the patients' internal status, their behaviour and their abilities
             So therefore anxiety needs to be considered by all clinicians as a disorder as well as a state of wellness. For the sake of the question of this assignment we shall discuss the disorders only.
             Symptoms of anxiety disorders have telltale manifestations that make diagnosis and specific symptomology relatively easy. The Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM – IV 1994) States that 2 – 4% of the general population will suffer from some form of pathological anxiety in their l...