Practical 2

Measurement Of Anxiety By Using

Beck Anxiety Inventory
Dr. Sarah Javed
Assistant Professor
Women’s College
Aligarh Muslim University
 Introduction
• In order to getter clearer picture of Anxiety first of all you have to differentiate
between Anxiety and Fear.
• Fear is a basic emotion of human beings. It is associated with the perception of a
real threatening situation and involves the ‘fight or flight’ response activated by the
sympathetic nervous system.
• If a thug attacks you in the street, you would feel intense fear.
• Then, you would either run for dear life, or hit him back.
• Thus fear involves cognition of the threatening object, subjective cognition of
being in danger, physiological components like increased heart rate, and behavioural
components like running or hitting.
• Anxiety also involves subjective perception of threat, physiological changes
and some kind of behavioural reaction.
• But unlike fear, it has no immediate threat.
• If you cannot go out of your home because you are always apprehending an
attack from a hoodlum, it is anxiety.
• You are projecting the threatening situation in future and reacting to it as if it
is imminent
• You may note that anxiety serves a kind of adaptive function as well, because
it prepares a person for fight or flight if the danger really comes.
• But if the person avoids the very situation that in her perception may cause
the danger, and if such imagined situations are unrealistic, then the effect
becomes debilitating.
• Thus you may distinguish between adaptive anxiety and pathological anxiety
by assessing the realistic probability of the occurrence of the object of
anxiety and by assessing how dysfunctional it makes the person.
 Anxiety
• When an individual faces potentially harmful or worrying triggers, feelings of anxiety are not only normal but necessary for
survival.
• Since the earliest days of humanity, the approach of predators and incoming danger sets off alarms in the body and allows
evasive action. These alarms become noticeable in the form of a raised heartbeat, sweating, and increased sensitivity to
surroundings.
• The danger causes a rush of adrenalin, a hormone and chemical messenger in the brain, which in turn triggers these
anxious reactions in a process called the “fight-or-flight’ response. This prepares humans to physically confront or flee any
potential threats to safety.
• For many people, running from larger animals and imminent danger is a less pressing concern than it would have been for
early humans. Anxieties now revolve around work, money, family life, health, and other crucial issues that demand a
person’s attention without necessarily requiring the ‘fight-or-flight’ reaction.
• The nervous feeling before an important life event or during a difficult situation is a natural echo of the original ‘fight-or-
flight’ reaction. It can still be essential to survival – anxiety about being hit by a car when crossing the street, for example,
means that a person will instinctively look both ways to avoid danger.
 Theories of Anxiety
• Psychoanalytical Theories
• Learning Theories
• Physiological Theories
• Existential Theories
 Cognitive theories
• Cognitive theory emphasizes the key role of the mind's cognitions in determining behavior.
• These cognitions include a person's thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and perceptions.
• According to cognitive theory, our dysfunctional thoughts lead to extreme emotions.
• These extreme emotions in turn, lead to maladaptive behaviors.
• To illustrate the powerful effect of these thoughts, consider the following example.
• Suppose I am preparing to take a difficult test.
• While doing so I think to myself "I can't do anything right, I'll probably fail this test."
• This thought will likely cause me to feel apprehensive.
• When I eventually take the test, this degree of anxiety will affect my ability to concentrate and earn a good grade.
• In addition, these negative thoughts will affect the amount of effort I put forth when studying for the test.
• When I incorrectly believe that I will certainly fail, it seems rather futile to invest a great deal of energy in attempting to succeed.
• As a result, I may indeed fail, simply because I didn't invest much time and energy in preparation for the exam.
• Ironically, this failure will serve to strengthen my faulty belief; i.e., my poor test score "proves" my belief is correct- I am a failure.
• However, the true reason for my failure was due to my lack of effort and preparation, and not because I am inherently a failure.
• Quite a different outcome would occur if I were to think to myself, "Yes, this test is going to be quite difficult but I have
succeeded before. I will study hard and put forth my best effort. Besides, I am just as competent as any of the other students in
the class."
• These thoughts would cause me to feel confident and ready to face the challenge. I would put forth the extra effort needed to
succeed.
• Clearly, these two different ways to think about the same event result in very different behaviors and outcomes.
 Anxiety disorder
• The duration or severity of an anxious feeling can sometimes be out of
proportion to the original trigger, or stressor.
• Physical symptoms, such as increased blood pressure and nausea, may also
develop. These responses move beyond anxiety into an anxiety disorder.
• The APA describes a person with anxiety disorder as “having recurring
intrusive thoughts or concerns.”
• Once anxiety reaches the stage of a disorder, it can interfere with daily
function.
 Types of Anxiety Disorder
• The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders: Fifth Edition (DSM-V)
classifies anxiety disorders into several main types.
• Generalized anxiety disorder
• Panic disorder
• Specific phobia
• Agoraphobia
• Selective mutism
• Social anxiety disorder, or social phobia
• Separation anxiety disorder:
 Causes
• The causes of anxiety disorders are complicated. Many might occur at once, some may lead to others, and
some might not lead to an anxiety disorder unless another is present.
• Possible causes include:
• environmental stressors, such as difficulties at work, relationship problems, or family issues
• genetics, as people who have family members with an anxiety disorder are more likely to experience one
themselves
• medical factors, such as the symptoms of a different disease, the effects of a medication, or the stress of an
intensive surgery or prolonged recovery
• brain chemistry, as psychologists define many anxiety disorders as misalignments of hormones and electrical
signals in the brain
• withdrawal from an illicit substance, the effects of which might intensify the impact of other possible causes
 Aim
• To assess anxiety level of the subject using Beck Anxiety Inventory
• https://res.cloudinary.com/dpmykpsih/image/upload/great-plains-health-
site-358/media/1087/anxiety.pdf