Dodson 1

Tory Dodson

Cassel

English 1201

4 May 2020

Literature Review

For a long period of my life I have struggled with trying to answer a certain question,

how does someone live normally with anxiety and panic disorder? I have found myself living so

much different from other people wondering how to return to the norm. I have learned a lot

through these years though and things have gotten better but I know there is a lot more out there

to learn.

Anxiety is by no means a new thing. As early as the 17th and 18th century experts were

reporting cases of it under names like “Panaphobias”. Even Depression and anxiety was

identified by Greek and Roman philosophers and treatments were created not too different from

modern day cognitive therapies. A lot more is known today about the most effective therapies

and medications for the treatment and alleviation of anxiety and panic disorders than what was

previously known.

The first source I will talk about is “The History of Anxiety.” This source was very

credible and through it I learned a lot of good information about how society has dealt with

anxiety and panic disorders throughout history. I never would have thought that ancient Greeks

and Romans had their own types of therapies to deal with anxiety. I learned that Greek texts such

as those written by Hippocrates described stories of people having anxieties in certain situations
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and even described it as a medical disorder. I also learned that it wasn’t until the 18th century that

panic attacks were recognized as a separate illness.

The next source that I learned some useful information was the article titled, “Why are

more American Teenagers Than Ever Suffering from Severe Anxiety?” This article drew my

attention the moment I saw it because all throughout high school I was a teenager who was

dealing with anxiety that was growing more severe each year. In this article I learned some

things about how programs help teens get to the root of their anxieties and mental disorders and

create ways for them to feel normal again. I also learned a lot of the causes to why teens like

myself develop these disorders whether its from moments in their past or their environment.

Lastly in the source titled “Treatment of Panic Disorder”, there is a great amount of

information on how the medicines and therapy used to treat panic disorder work. When I was a

teenager, I spent some time going through CBT or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, this article

contained a section with information on how exactly this works and benefits someone suffering

from panic attacks. I learned many things from this article such as the benefits of antidepressants

plus CBT and even how alcohol and benzodiazepines can cause adverse effects after their use is

discontinued and can even make a person worse than they were before.
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Works Cited

Crocq, Marc-Antoine. “A History of Anxiety: from Hippocrates to DSM.” Dialogues in Clinical

Neuroscience, Les Laboratoires Servier, Sept. 2015,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4610616/.

Denizet-lewis, Benoit. “Why Are More American Teenagers Than Ever Suffering From Severe

Anxiety?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Oct. 2017,

www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/magazine/why-are-more-american-teenagers-than-ever-

suffering-from-severe-anxiety.html.

Ham, Peter, et al. “Treatment of Panic Disorder.” American Family Physician, 15 Feb. 2005,

www.aafp.org/afp/2005/0215/p733.html.

Horwitz, Allan V. Anxiety: a Short History. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013.

Schutz, Susan, director. It's "Just" Anxiety Documentary Film. It's "Just" Anxiety Documentary

Film, 2017, www.ironzealfilms.org/anxiety/.

Smith, Melinda, et al. “Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder.” HelpGuide.org, 17 Apr. 2020,

www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/panic-attacks-and-panic-disorders.htm.

Staff, Edited by Editorial. “Panic Disorder and the Reasons Behind It.” American Addiction

Centers, 2020, americanaddictioncenters.org/co-occurring-disorders/panic.

Star, Katharina. “Can a Chemical Imbalance Be to Blame for Panic Disorder?” Verywell Mind,

Verywell Mind, 19 Apr. 2020, www.verywellmind.com/is-panic-disorder-caused-by-a-

chemical-imbalance-2583984.
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Tartakovsky, Margarita. “Living with Panic Attacks.” Psych Central, 8 Oct. 2018,

psychcentral.com/lib/living-with-panic-attacks/.