One of the most common topics in abnormanl psychology that touches so many of us is anxiety, the unpleasant feeling of fear and apprehension. This emotional state can occur in many psychopathologies and is a principal aspect of the disorders that have been talked about thus far. These disorders are diagnosed when feelings of anxiety are clearly present due to an over whelming amount of uneasiness. There are six different categories of anxiety disorders: phobias, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and acute stress disorder. One that I found to be most interesting is every part of the phobias.
             When discussing phobieas, there are several areas of diagnostic criteria to identify. To begin with, a phobia is described as a disrupting, fear-mediated avoidance that is out of proportion to the danger posed by a particular object or stimulation and is recognized by the sufferer as groundless. A more inclusive descripition may be extreme fear of certain situations or objects where there is no actual danger from this situatuion or object coupled with distress sufficient enough to eisrupt an individual's life. Through this definition, psychoanalysts have developed two separate elements of phobias, specific phobias and social phobieas. As with most theories and concepts, there are different levels of impairment that a person may encounter throughout his/her life. Upon examining the different criteria for these phobias, and individual can use the psychoanalytical paradigm to develop a treatment plan to serve as a guide for treating an individual's phobia.
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