Category: Anxiety

Bullying’s Dark Reality: A Life Locked in an Invisible Cage

Bullying is extremely wrong and uncalled for. Bullying affects over 3.2 million victims every single year, leading to one out of ten people dropping out of school, 160,000 people skipping school, low self-esteem, depression, self-harm, and even suicide; the third leading cause of death among children under 14 years of age. This is a serious problem that needs to be put to an end.

Bullying is like being locked in a cage and not knowing where you are; it is scary, and you are afraid to ask for help. Logically, most people would agree that the backlash of bullying is often one of the biggest social diseases among our youth. It affects many people all over the world, and no matter how you put it, bullying is not acceptable. It has to be put to an end to make our world a more peaceful, accepting place for everyone.

Bullying’s Lifelong Impact on Mental Health

According to Alice G. Wilton, Ph.D.D., after a new study in JAMA Psychiatry, ‘Kids who had been victims only had a greater risk for depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, generalized anxiety, panic disorder, and agoraphobia as adults.’ These kids were so damaged by bullying that they actually became more prone to depression and anxiety. Dr.Wilton also said, ‘Kids who were both bully-victims and bullies – they experienced all types of depressive and anxiety disorders, and suffered most severely from suicidal thoughts, depressive disorders, generalized anxiety, and panic disorder, compared with the other groups of participants.

Too many people are losing their family members and lives to bullying. As the number of bullying increases among teenagers and children, the amount of youth suicide and depression increases as well, and it won’t stop until we make it. Studies have indicated that 77% of students have admitted to being bullied in real life or online. Studies have shown that the growth rates of domestic violence are the leading cause of bullying online and in schools. Cyberbullying is also one of the worst things a human being can do to another. It is a major part of bullying due to the anonymity it gives. Anyone can bully any other, so kids take advantage of that fact and bully each other.

Bullying is an absolutely intolerable crime that is affecting our children and will continue affecting them generation after generation if we don’t put it to an end. The effects of bullying are way too far of a risk to the lives of our loved ones. If we cared for each other how we want to be cared for, then the world would be a much better place.

References

1. U.S. Department of Education. (2020). Statistics on School Bullying. U.S. Government Publishing Office.
2. Johnson, S. M. (2019). The Hidden Trauma: Mental Health Consequences of Bullying. Psychological Press.

Cyberbullying: A Dark Side of Social Media

Bullying has become a relevant and serious problem over the past decade, especially among children between the ages of 4 and 17. Katelyn lives at home with her single mother and brother, John. Her two best friends, Mary and Claire, always have her back through everything. Katelyn attends high school and feels as if a girl in her class, Morgan, is out to get her.

On Katelyn’s 17th birthday, she receives a computer as a gift. She then makes an account on a social media website. As a prank, her brother hacks into her account and puts a derogatory status on her webpage. She receives lots of ugly comments in return and is afraid to go to school and face her friends. Unaware that John was the one to attack her account, she immediately turns to Morgan to blame. Seeing the post, students at her school, of course, say mean things to her. She is extremely embarrassed.

After that, a cute teenage boy, Matthew, messages her and is comforted about the bullying. Things are still getting very mean at school, and they call her names that no girl wants to be called. She begins to have a crush on the boy until Matthew creates a rumor that Taylor steals from her friends. Her best friends begin to turn on her and hate her. She begins to feel that life isn’t worth living.

She posts a video on her social media account saying that she can’t live with herself and says goodbye to her friends. Seeing this, Mary rushes over to Katelyn’s house to find her trying to commit suicide. She was stuffing pills in her throat, but luckily, Mary came in time to stop Katelyn from killing herself. Katelyn was then hospitalized. Katelyn’s mom learns from the incident and goes to the school board to try to keep this bullying from happening to other students in the future.

Physical & Mental Toll: Youth’s Battle with Bullying

Katelyn begins to attend a support group and meets many other kids who are being bullied just like her. She finds that one of her classmates is in her group, Caleb, being bullied for being gay. The next day, Katelyn soon finds out that her best friend Mary was the one to create the profile of “James,” the online boy who started the rumor. Katelyn is infuriated at first, but over time, forgives her and begins to rekindle their relationship. Katelyn and her friends all help to pass a law that will help fight against bullying.

There are three types of cyberbullying: physical bullying and mental bullying. Bullies torment others because they themselves have insecurities, have been bullied themselves, or have a mental illness that brings out the worst in them. Nevertheless, bullying can physically and emotionally destroy the victim, whether it is physical abuse, cyberbullying, or verbal abuse. Nowadays, physical bullying is becoming a very serious and detrimental problem. Not only does physical bullying scar the person emotionally, but it can also scar them physically. There are different mediums of physical bullying, such as physical threats, pushing, shoving, and assaults that can cause serious injury.

References

1. Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2010). Cyberbullying: Identification, prevention, and response. Cyberbullying Research Center.

Social anxiety disorder is a persistent fear or feeling of anxiousness in social situations. These situations can involve interacting with others in a group setting, meeting unfamiliar people, situations where an individual may feel like they are being observed eating or drinking, and situations when an individual may be required to perform front of others (Pilling, Mayo-Wilson, Mavranezouli, Kew, Taylor, & Clark, 2013). Ultimately, the individual feels that in these social situations he/she will be judged or rejected by others or feels that they will either embarrass themselves or offend others by their own actions and behaviours.

While these feelings of intense anxiousness or distress at the thought of a social interaction might be largely out of proportion when compared to the imagined or anticipated threat, these feelings can build in intensity before the event to a point where the individual is unable to attend, choosing to avoid the situation entirely. Unfortunately, the feelings associated with social anxiety disorder are persistent and can become increasingly dominant over an individual’s quality of life, social functioning, academic and occupation performance. The feelings of anxiousness and preference to avoid social situations are unlikely to subside without treatment (Santoft, Salomonsson, Hesser, Lindsater, Ljotsson, Lekander, Keckland, Ost and Hedman-Lagerlof, 2019). The symptoms of social anxiety disorder typically start in childhood or adolescence (8 -15 years old) and if left untreated will continue into adulthood.

Although diagnoses of social anxiety disorder in adults can be especially difficult as symptoms or the diagnostic criteria for social anxiety disorder often presents in conjunction with other anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder, and substance use disorders (Beesdo, Bittner, Pine, Stein, Hofler, Lieb, and Wittchen, 2007). While the symptoms of social anxiety disorder can be crippling to the social interaction of an individual, it can also severely impact their quality of life if left untreated. However, it is anticipated that only half of all adults diagnosed with this disorder seek treatment (Pilling et al., 2013). Reasoning behind the lack of individuals seeking treatment for social anxiety disorder may reflect their own perceptions of their feelings and consider them a part of themselves, or something which they have learned to deal with and accepting them as part of life. Another factor preventing an individual from seeking treatment is they are unsure of the treatments available which may provide some relief of alleviate their symptoms entirely.

References

1. Recognition, assessment and treatment of social anxiety disorder: summary of NICE guidance
2. Pilling, Stephen ; Mayo-Wilson, Evan ; Mavranezouli, Ifigeneia ; Kew, Kayleigh ; Taylor, Clare ; Clark, David M
3. British Medical Journal Publishing Group
4. BMJ : British Medical Journal, 22 May 2013, Vol.346
5. Beesdo K, Bittner A, Pine DS, et al. Incidence of Social Anxiety Disorder and the Consistent Risk for Secondary Depression in the First Three Decades of Life. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2007;64(8):903–912. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.64.8.903
6. Beesdo, Bittner, Pine, Stein, Hofler, Lieb, Wittchen (2007).
7. The epidemiology of social anxiety disorder in the United States: Results from the national epidemiologic survey on alcohol and related conditions
8. Grant, Bf ; Hasin, Ds ; Blanco, C ; Stinson, Fs ; Chou, P ; Goldstein, Rb ; Dawson, Da ; Smith, S ; Saha, Td ; Huang, B
9. Journal Of Clinical Psychiatry, 2005 Nov, Vol.66(11), pp.1351-1361

Mental Health is a significant issue that has only seemed to have grown worst and worst within these past few years. Out of all the different types of mental health issues that there are, one of the most common happens to be anxiety. Having anxiety can drastically impact the way we function on the daily, “The wide variety of anxiety disorders differ by the objects or situations that induce them, but share features of excessive anxiety and related behavioral disturbances. Anxiety disorders can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, school work, and relationships” (National Institute of Mental Health, N.D, Any Anxiety Disorder) and this can be even more impactful within youth suffering from anxiety disorder, as they are going through such a crucial phase of development which can be halted or interfered with as a result of having anxiety.

Throughout this paper I intend on discussing the effects anxiety can have on people and trying to relate it back to group work that can be done on the topic. I will be acquiring this information through both sources as well as using my own experiences with anxiety. “According to the National institutes of Health, nearly 1 in 3 of all adolescents ages 13 to 18 will experience anxiety disorder” (Healthy Children, 2020, Anxiety in Teens is Rising: what’s going on?). Anxiety within youth is so common that it is essential that we start off by trying to figure out different effect’s anxiety can have on us and try to figure out if a client is suffering from it. Some of these effects include “Excessive worrying, Negative thoughts about one’s ability to tolerate emotions or future stress, Rapid Heart Beat and Sweating, Avoidance, Trouble breathing, and many other different effects can be contributed to anxiety” (University of Michigan Health system, N.D, p. 1.2).

A topic of concern for people with anxiety is how we can respond to a fight or fight response. “The fight or flight response is a big component of how people can react to a particular situation that is deemed dangerous by our minds, however for people with anxiety you are forced into a situation where worrying over takes you and not being able to know what to do can cause someone with anxiety to have a panic attack” (University of Michigan Health System, N.D). Something else important to note when trying to facilitate any group is to try and note the different things that can trigger a person into having in this case varying degrees of anxiety or in a worst-case scenario, an anxiety attack. The unfortunate thing about anxiety is that there is not a specially listed thing that can trigger someone’s anxiety.

Anxiety is something that can change from person to person, meaning that although something may get me super anxious it doesn’t mean that the person next to me will necessarily get the same level of anxiety that I do from that particular situation. Despite all the negative aspects I have brought up there are a lot of benefits to be had when it comes to hosting these group sessions for people with anxiety, rather then going about looking at the anxiety one on one with an SSW or Counsellor. Some benefits of doing group work for anxiety includes, “Knowing your not alone. there are many moments when you are suffering from anxiety where you feel like you are the only person who is feeling the way that you are, and that there is going to be no way of getting the help that you need cause nobody knows how you are feeling. However, by going to these group sessions you will get the chance to meet so many other people who are going through similar situations to the ones you are currently experiencing. This makes a person feel significantly less isolated and will hopefully allow them to be able to make some friends who know what they are going through” (Resources to Recover, 2019).

“Improving your Social Skills is another positive aspect to going into these group sessions. One of the common forms of anxiety is social anxiety. And when it comes to social anxiety people can struggle in social situations and overall prefer to avoid them as a result. However, if people with social anxiety are willing to make their way out to these sessions to participate, it will be able to help them get better with being around other people, and overall improve their social skills. From personal experience I know how hard It can be to take that first step and try to break out of your comfort zone to actually contribute conversation to these type of group activities, but in time you will be able to actually grow the confidence it takes to do so, and will slowly begin to notice improvements in how well you are responding to others, and that fear of being judged for what you will try and contribute will also dissipate as you realize that for the most part everyone in the group is there for similar reasons to you and are all there to hopefully support you on your journey to becoming less anxious” (Resources to Recover, 2019).

The last of many different benefits to participating in groups for people with anxiety ill be discussing here is “Being presented with an opportunity to learn about yourself. Sometimes the person we know the least is really ourselves, and when placed in situations like a support group where you are able to spill the metaphorical beans, and just talk freely to the people in the room about the different issues that maybe plaguing your mind, you will find that there is a lot of things about you that you may have kept deep down in your subconscious even from yourself. By learning more and more about yourself from these group session you will be able to start piecing together the parts of the puzzle that will help you to determine why you might be suffering from anxiety, it can help you find that point of origin where these problems started to derive from, and help you to try and find ways of coping with these issues” (Resources to Recover, 2019).

Many considerations must be made if facilitators want to offer up an effective support group that will be able to assist the people suffering from anxiety in the best way possible. The first of these is to understand that as previously mentioned different people will be dealing with different types of anxiety, and these different types of anxiety can be derived from different places. For example, youth dealing with anxiety that comes from stuff like Social Media, and Pressure from Parents are things that adults might not understand. For example, “Today’s children and teens are constantly connected to social media. It’s not surprising that their self-esteem―and worldview ―becomes connected to responses to social media posts. It’s hard for them not to compare their life and social connections to what they see others posting on social media” (Healthy Children, 2020, Anxiety in Teens is Rising: what’s going on?). Students can also have a lot of pressure on them from parents as “Between standardized testing and a culture of achievement, today’s youth can feel pressure to succeed in ways previous generations did not” (Healthy Children, 2020, Anxiety in Teens is Rising: what’s going on?).

The opposite can also apply here however as parents for example may be incredibly stressed out about being able to support their families or even be able to make ends meet at the end of the day, which could be things that youth may not be able to relate to. To put it simply one of the most essential things to note when it comes to wanting to facilitate the best possible anxiety based group, is that anxiety can work on a case by case basis, and that every single person suffering from anxiety will have their own sets of circumstances that may trigger their anxiety, or have their own reasons behind why they may have started developing anxiety in the first places, so keeping a zone that is very judgment where people can tell their stories is a big key in being able to help people open up about their anxiety. Being able to facilitate an anxiety-based support group when I fully get into the profession would be such a great experience. When facilitating my group, I would like to ensure that I provide the members of my group with the best experience I possibly could, and in order to do that I will need to take into account the different accommodations clients may need me to fulfil, to ensure they are getting the most out of these groups.

I also need to make sure I am utilizing my knowledge of anti oppressive based practice during these groups. To ensure my group is accessible for all and makes everyone feel like they are included it is my goal to make sure that all the members are given equal amounts of time to share the floor, and offer mutual aid to all the other members. “This idea of mutual aid basically means that group members are able to learn from each other. This is an incredibly significant component within group work and is viewed by many as one of the primary benefits of groups” (Morgaine and Desyllas, 2015, p, 238). “By allowing for these group members to all have opportunities running the floor, and being able to share their personal experiences with other members of the group will allow for the person sharing the experiences to feel empowered in that moment, and give all the other group members information and tips they may have other wise not known.

And since I will try to ensure that everyone in the group is given their chance to speak, it will give everyone that chance to feel empowered, and put everyone on the same playing field, having all the members on equal footing, and not just having the few people who got to talk in a session feeling like they are in a higher position of power then anyone else in the group who didn’t have either as much time to talk or anytime at all” (Morgaine and Desyllas, 2015). I also need to make sure that I do not accidentally make other members of the group feel like they are being marginalized or oppressed by the things I am saying. In order to do this I must first start off by leaving any personal biases I may have at the door, and try to establish beforehand any unconscious biases I may have developed from being around family, friends, or even from just witnessing the way the media can portray different things, and get rid of those as well, or at the very least ensure they are not getting in the way of my work. “Another thing I must take into consideration is that I maybe dealing with several different people who are all from varying different identity groups, and this means that I will have group members who are of different genders, race/ethnicities, socioeconomic status/backgrounds, varying different ages, and could generally just not have English be their first language. These could all be present in different group sessions and may leave me in a situation where everyone is of a completely different identity groups then everyone else, meaning I can not relate back to them as easily as I would have hoped” (Morgaine and Desyllas, 2015, p, 242).

This all relates back to one of the big points I keep preferencing when it comes to this anxiety based group which is that everyone has their own story and reasons for being here, and that the reason why someone may have anxiety could be related to one of these previously mentioned identity groups, and that their story may not be as easily understood by other group members or even myself without having experienced it ourselves. “For this reason I must use my anti oppressive practice, as well as a social justice approach to be able to understand how much privilege I truly have, and also use critical conscious to help understand the situations of anyone that may walk into a group session so I may give them the best help with their anxiety that I possibly can” (Morgaine and Desyllas, 2015).

Reference list

1. Healthy Children. (2020). Anxiety in Teens is Rising: What’s Going On?. Retrieved March 15, 2020, from https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/emotional-problems/Pages/Anxiety-Disorders.aspx
2. University of Michigan Health system. (N.D). Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Basic Group for Anxiety, (No Publication #) Retrieved March 15, 2020, from https://medicine.umich.edu/sites/default/files/content/downloads/CBT-Basic-Group-for-Anxiety-Patient-Manual.pdf
3. Resources to Recover (Rtro). (2019). 7 Benefits of Group Therapy for Treatment of Anxiety, Retrieved March 15, 2020, from https://www.rtor.org/2019/11/20/group-therapy-for-anxiety/
4. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). (N.D). Any Anxiety Disorder, Retrieved March 15, 2020, from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/any-anxiety-disorder.shtml
5. Morgaine, K. and M. Desyllas. ‘Chapter 6: Anti-Oppressive Practice With Groups’ in Anti-oppressive Social Work Practice: Putting Theories into Action. Sage Publications Ltd: Los Angeles, 2015.

It is estimated that 45 per cent of Australians will experience a mental health condition at some point in their life. Anxiety accounts for the highest mental health illness affecting over 2 million Australians yearly, and depression is estimated at 1 million. Anxiety is the most common mental health condition in Australia affecting one in three women and one in five men in their lifetime.

Everyone feels stressed, worried and anxious at times. Anxious feeling are a response to pressure and stressful situations, this feeling should pass when the stressor is removed.

When the anxious feelings don’t go away and daily life is to hard to cope with, this may be a sign that a mental health illness such as anxiety or depression is affecting you.

Common symptoms of anxiety

• Avoiding objects or situations which cause anxiety, example to withdraw from social events.
• Perform rituals to relieve anxiety.
• Avoiding eye contact and not being assertive.
• Being over cautious or frightened to be alone.
• Being overwhelmed and find it difficult to make decisions.
• Excessive worry and even fear when facing certain situations, events or objects.
• Excessive worry about medical problems and physical symptoms.
• Constantly tense, nervous on edge that something bad going to happen.
• Overwhelming panic and uncontrollable thoughts.

Physical symptoms can be increased heart rate, shortness of breath, vomiting, nausea, lightheaded, muscle tension, trouble sleeping, sweating, shaking, hot or cold flushes. (Beyond Blue, 2020).

The six most common types of anxiety.

• Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) – anxious most days about variety of things for over six months.
• Social phobia – intense fear of being embarrassed or criticised in everyday situations such as eating in public, speaking at work or for some even chatting to coworkers.
• Specific phobias- fear of a particular situation such as flying or an object example spiders.
• Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) – ongoing intrusive thoughts and fears which cause anxiety carrying out rituals like excessive hand washing fearing germs.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs anytime from one month after a traumatic event, such as an accident, assault, war or a disaster.
• Panic disorder – panic attacks have intense physical symptoms so bad people can feel they are having a heart attack (Beyond Blue, 2020).

Depression

Depression is affecting over 1 million Australians yearly. One in six women and one in eight men are experiencing depression (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2008, p. 27).

We all feel emotions, being sad, moody and low from time to time is normal. For people suffering depression these feelings are intense and the feelings can be for no apparent reason and last for long periods of time even years. Depression is a serious illness which isn’t just feeling down or moody it affects you physically. Depression can make day to day life unmanageable due to how you feel about yourself. Health professionals and services are available to help you (Beyond Blue, 2020).

Common symptoms of depression

If for more than two weeks you feel sad, down or miserable most of the time and experiencing at least three signs and three symptoms in your daily life you should speak to your Doctor. Signs of depression can be but are limited to behaviour changes, having no motivation to do normal activities, not going out anymore, not getting work done, withdrawing from close friends and family, relying on alcohol and sedatives, unable to concentrate. If you feel overwhelmed, lacking in confidence, indecisive, irritable, frustrated, sad, miserable and pessimistic. Negative thoughts such as being a failure, it’s all your fault, nothing good ever happens to me, I’m worthless, life’s not worth living or people would be better off without me in their life. There is different types and levels of depression it’s best to consult a Doctor for diagnosis and treatment if you think depression is effecting you.

Types fo depression

You may be depressed if, for more than two weeks, you’ve felt sad, down or miserable most of the time, or have lost interest or pleasure in usual activities, and have also experienced several of the signs and symptoms across at least three of the categories below.

• Depression can be described as mild, moderate or severe; melancholic or psychotic (Beyond Blue, 2020).
• Melancholia – Server form of depression with many physically symptoms such as moving slowly.
• Psychotic depression – lose touch with reality and experience psychosis involving hallucinations or hearing voices. Paranoid feelings that they cause bad events to happen.
• Antenatal and postnatal depression

Women are at an increased risk of depression during pregnancy (known as the antenatal or prenatal period) and in the year following childbirth (known as the postnatal period). You may also come across the term ‘perinatal’, which describes the period covered by pregnancy and the first year after the baby’s birth.

Theoretical models of therapy/counselling for anxiety and depression

It’s important to get support from family friends and health professionals. There are effective treatments which health professionals can prescribe to help with recovery. Physical exercise if very effective for mild anxiety and depression. Psychological treatment may be required for server cases. Counselling is effective to find out triggers, teach coping strategies and start your journey to recovery (Nelson-Jones, R, 2002, p. 358). Essential Counselling and Therapy Skills: Visit your Doctor for a diagnosis, the Doctor can also check for any physical health problem or medication which could be contributing to the anxiety and/or depression, and discuss treatment options. You are not alone, ask for help!

Support services

Beyond Blue is an organisation which has reliable information and is a good starting point for anyone thinking they may be suffering from anxiety or depression. Beyond Blue has easy to understand information to reduce the stigma for the individual, community and family members. The Black Dog Institute has been a leader in reducing the stigma around mental health. The Black Dog Institute is widely recognised for focusing on enabling mentally healthier lives through innovations in medicine, education, science and removing the stigma related to depression.

Alternative approaches for anxiety and depression

Mood Assessment Systems Australia (MAP) is a computerised assessment and diagnostic tool for depression which offers support services (Mood Assessment Systems Australia 2019). An alternative towards anxiety and depression is metacognitive therapy, which concentrates on the process to maintain cognitions rather than cognitive behavioural therapy, which concentrates only on cognitions (Wells, A, 2010, p. 1). Exercise is often beneficial for people with low to moderate depression and anxiety. Regular exercise improves symptoms due to the release of feel-good endorphins (Mead, G, Morley, W, Campbell, P, Greig, C, McMurdo, M, & Lawlor, D, 2010).

Reference List

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2008). National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing: Summary of Results 2007. (p. 27), Cat. no. (4326.0). Canberra: ABS. Retrieved from https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4326.0Main+Features32007?OpenDocument.
2. Beyond Blue LTD. (2020). Anxiety: The Facts. Retrieved from https://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/anxiety
3. Black Dog Institute. (2018). Alternative programs, Education and Training, Retrieved https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/about-us/who-we-are/overview
4. Carek, P. Laibstain, S. Carek, S. (2011). Exercise for the Treatment of Depression and Anxiety. Published in International journal of Psychiatry Medicine. 2011. Retrieved from
5. DOI:10.2190/PM.41.1.c
6. Horsfall, J. Cleary, M & Hunt, G.E. 2010. Stigma in Mental Health: Clients and Professionals, Issues in Mental Health Nursing, (vol. 31). (issue. 7). (pp. 450 – 455). Reviewed from DOI: 10.3109/01612840903537167. https://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.3109%2F01612840903537167.
7. Mead, G. E., Morley, W., Campbell, P., Greig, C. A., McMurdo, M., & Lawlor, D. A. (2010). Exercise for depression. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2010(1), -. [CD004366]. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD004366.pub4
8. Mood Assessment Systems Australia. (2019). Online mood assessment program. Retrieved from http://moodassessment.com.au/
9. Nelson-Jones, R. (2002). Essential Counselling and Therapy Skills: The Skilled Client Model. SAGE publications. London. Retrieved from https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=sW99nJxJgSIC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=Theoretical+models+of+therapy/counselling+for+anxiety+and+depression+peer+review&ots=JAYXOqJg_J&sig=q32Wfb0nbdtMeQZH9S7a50blbc0
10. Wells, A. (2010). Emotional disorders and metacognition: Innovative cognitive therapy. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Book Reviews 2010, (vol. 6), (1st ed), (p. 1). Chichester: Wiley. Retrieved from https://www.the-iacp.com/assets/CBTBR/cbtbr-vol_61c.pdf.

According to the research done by Crisan, Vulturar, Miclea, & Miu (2016), results confirmed that social anxiety signs and symptoms had been related to elevated state tension, biased appraisals associated with the possibility and cost of poor social reviews. People behavioral adjustments in facial expression that had been constant with speech tension and decrease cortisol reactivity. State anxiety, cognitive biases related to bad social evaluation, speech anxiety behaviors, and cortisol reactivity had been assessed in the Trier Social stress test (TSST). Those consequences display that during the reaction to social stressors, subclinical social anxiety is related to substantial adjustments in emotional experience, cognitive appraisals, behaviors, and physiology that would parallel the ones formerly discovered in sad samples (Crisan, et, al., 2016).

Social anxiety patients experience in the course of a wide variety of social encounters become formerly defined as social interplay anxiety. It turned into acknowledged that males and females with social phobia regularly suffered from anxiety after they encountered strangers or informal associates. However, this becomes no longer diagnosed as a clinically identifiable disorder until the adjustments within the DSM in 1994. For most social anxiety disorder patients, their problems with direct socializing and conversation are more critical and lifestyles-restricting than their social phobia, which frequently happens in conditions that can avert without massive existence outcomes. Feeling uncomfortable and annoying throughout work conferences is not exceptional. However, being too intimidated to even interview for a task is a way more severe, and this is what occurs to many social anxiety patients worry about interacting authority figures. Social anxiety additionally interferes with the potential to make friends or pursue romantic relationships, which is possibly the most intense and miserable effect for social anxiety disorder patients who do not get help for their conditions. In the DSM-IV outline social anxiety as a concern of public scrutiny or embarrassment. Taijin Kyofusho (TKS), an eastern form of social anxiety, is focused around care for offending others with inappropriate behavior or competitive appearance. Cultural variables can mediate the expression of social anxiety (Kleinknecht, 1997).

The cognitive model of social phobia by Clark and Wells (1995) proposes that people with social phobia generate a negative impact on the way they seem to others, constituted of their mind, emotions, and inner sensations. This influence can arise within the form of a visible image from an external or “observer” angle (Clark, & Wells, 1995). Consistent with the study, in low socially stressful people, the observer attitude might also include high-quality statistics (Spurr & Stopa, 2003). Psycho-physiological ideas discuss the intercept experience of anxious people leads us to assume that social anxiety has to be followed by sturdy autonomic responses that provide upward thrust to the signs and symptoms (Mauss, Wilhelm, & Gross, 2003). It had mentioned utilizing socially hectic people, which includes a racing heart, blushing, or sweaty palms (Leary, & Schlenker, 1982; Amies, Gelder, & Shaw, 1983; Hazen & Stein, 1995). Excessive socially anxious people showed no substantial attentional bias toward or away from social-evaluative phrases (Mansell et al., 1999). Excessive trait tension became related to particular interest to adverse relative to positive social-evaluative words, constant within advance findings of attention to risk cues in high trait-anxious people (Mansell, Ehlers, Clark, & Chen, 2002).

Cognitive theories of social anxiety posit that basic cognitive process bias for unfortunate social facts confers heightened vulnerability to anxiety throughout publicity to pressure-frightening social encounters (Clark & Wells, 1995; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997; Clark, 2001, & Hofmann, 2007). The contemporary study examined those theories might prolonged to assess the attentional processing of adequate social records mediates the hyperlink between social anxiety and anxiety reactivity to social risk. Social anxiety negatively anticipated attentional bias for high-quality social cues. Consequently, higher levels of social anxiety have been related to faded processing of helpful social facts relative to impartial data. These findings are constant with preceding probe detection research documenting that socially anxious people tended to keep away from positive emotional stimuli relative to healthy controls (Mansell et al., 1999; Chen et al., 2002, & Pishyar et al., 2004). Besides, they converge with studies demonstrating that reduction in social anxiety signs and symptoms following powerful treatment became substantially related to growth in attentional bias for high-quality social cues (Pishyar et al., 2008). consequences of the modern mediation analyses move one step similarly in suggesting that attentional bias away from tremendous social information might also have implications for the preservation of social anxiety. Notwithstanding developing a reputation that social anxiety is related to biased processing of compelling social, emotional facts, preceding studies have no longer tested whether the one’s deficiencies performed a function in perpetuating social anxiety (Taylor, Bomyea, & Amir, 2010).

Occasionally, human beings revel in more significant than the average amount of tension. For people with immoderate social anxiety, their anxiety often arises in a broader array of conditions, is extra severe, and does no longer subside as speedy. For those humans, negative social consequences consider as incredibly probable and costly, and their interest throughout social interactions tends to be inwardly directed. This running internal observation prevents human beings from focusing on the scenario handy, or even simple social interactions might also end up overwhelming (Bögels & Mansell, 2004).

Students with high levels of anxiety might also have more significant problems while gaining knowledge of a new language than students with lower levels of stress. Anxiety also can result in trouble with studying comprehension. A few students are so concerned about failing a task or test that the students cannot retrieve data or save new records. Bensoussan (2012) determined that teachers’ willingness to work with their students to restore negative test scores has an advantageous effect on reducing test anxiety. Research also suggests that socially stressful college students judge their competence poorly when participating in a seminar or presentation (Austin, 2004), and this fear keeps irrespective of whether or not or no longer the student performs well academically. In truth, social anxiety could make university life so terrifying that a few research have mentioned that students with social tension fail to complete school and drop out before they can graduate (Van Ameringen et al., 2003). Adults who stutter had been observed to have moderately increased trait anxiety and significantly elevated social anxiety. Those findings give a boost to the need for stuttering remedies to encompass social anxiety control strategies (Craig, & Tran, 2014).

Introduction

In recent decades the Mindfulness has had a significant boom in society. It is related to the word ‘sati’ in Pali of the vernacular language that dates from the time of the teachings of the Buddha, towards the years 2500 B.C. It has been used as a meditation technique, in different religions and another branch is aimed at improving physical and mental health, from the point of view of psychology.

In the last 30 years, the mindfulness technique has been integrated into Western medicine and psychology, applied scientifically and enjoys recognition for reducing stress, physical and psychological problems, improving self-awareness and general well-being. Mindfulness was introduced into Western medicine by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, aimed at treating problems related to stress, pain, psychological and physical.

There are several definitions for the word ‘Mindfulness,’ which coincide in their meaning of full mind or full consciousness. ‘Sati’ or ‘mindfulness’ is the ability of beings to be conscious and focused on the present moment, on what is happening now at this moment, and to perceive reality as it is without judging.

Its popularity has grown so much in recent years that great importance is being given to this topic, creating libraries of scientific literature taking into account studies and results to explore the potential of ‘mindfulness’. In 2014, a group of scientists and researchers, Johns Hopkins Hospital, famous for its research in the field of health from the psychological and neurological point of view, conducted a study of 3500 people.

These people were affected by anxiety, stress, pain, among others, and with the mindfulness technique, a considerable improvement was achieved, without the need to prescribe any drug.

This eBook has been created especially for those people who are anxious about their mental and physical health. People who make friends with anxiety, Those who seek a way out to find true peace within themselves and believe that it is not possible, being affected by a great frustration at not being able to make a change in their life. The Author contributes his knowledge acquired throughout his professional career, to give you useful tools with which you can help you overcome depression, improve resilience, overcome psychological problems and improve your life in general, both in the work environment, family, and personal and in all areas of your life.

After reading this eBook, you will be able to appreciate life from a different perspective better, as well as face the challenges you are presented with greater firmness and security.

What is Mindfulness?

It is a philosophy of life that keeps your mind in the present tense, the here and now. It allows us to observe and recognize the experience that we are acquiring as we advance in life, through the conscious control of attention, it focuses on the management for the release of situations lodged in your mind that block you and make you lose control.

The mindfulness from the scientific point of view aims to improve the quality of life of people. It is a valuable tool endorsed by science. Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn defines it as ‘paying intentional attention to the present moment, without judging’.

It keeps the person focused in the present moment by freeing the mind from harmful thoughts, effectively coordinating meditation practices with relaxation exercises. The mindfulness is based on scientific principles, oriented towards concrete objectives of daily life, whose objective is to achieve a deep state of consciousness.

The experience and comparison with different methods, has given results that have contributed to find the solution determined facts, with the guarantee of solutions based on scientific research. The mindfulness is pragmatic, does not depend on religious dogmas and its exercises can be applied in all activities of daily life.

Mindfulness is practiced mainly in 4 facets

• Self-control in children. These exercises are forming self-control in the child, the ability to create their own criteria, learn to perceive the environment and develop their degree of discernment.
• Resilience. It develops people’s capacity to face reality. These exercises change the way of perceiving people’s reality and their responses to the adversities they face in life.
• Dealing with illnesses. For sick people, it helps to improve their condition, through the mind. In some cases achieve healing, as they are emotional diseases, and self-inflicted, the product of low self-esteem. They develop the capacity to assimilate and accept the disease, looking for the best way to face it with the determination to eliminate it from the organism
• Improve people’s quality of life. People generally keep their minds busy, bringing thoughts of the past and the future, and only manage to recognize a small portion of what is happening to them now, wishing that what they consider good continues and what they consider unpleasant, disappears

Mindfulness allows the experience to flow into the present moment and recognize reality as such. Live and accept, staying with the experience without pretending to avoid it

The practice of mindfulness is the basic human capacity to connect with the present and to have experience. Many world religions use mindfulness in many ways to refine and deepen this capacity to high degrees.

All people must recognize and accept the reality of what happens to them, regardless of whether it is good or bad, that is what life is all about. You can’t select what I like or what I don’t like, because after all, it’s the experience of living.

Benefits in using a dimensional approach also become to light when discussing diagnostic utility. Diagnostic utility can be defined as the extent to which a model is useful or helpful in assisting clinical treatment decisions (Verheul, 2005). Utility is extremely low when only considering a categorical anxiety diagnosis. In the context of treatment, each individual requires specific tailored treatments to target differing symptoms and underlying etiological causes. As mentioned earlier, a categorical approach may be useful for providing diagnoses, however, accurate placement into a disorder category does not include sufficient information or enough guide lines for treatment.

Particular anxiety disorder categories may have specific therapies that work better, however due to missing information, treatments cannot be tailored to suit the differences of each individual. Not only is there an absence of knowledge on symptoms and severity, categorical approaches also doesn’t take into account different etiological factors underpinning the development of symptoms or course of anxiety. A variety of different underlying mechanisms may be involved in the pathogenesis of symptoms. For example, anxiety disorders can develop as a result of trauma, such as for those who have endured abuse or witnessed traumatic events.

Stress may be involved, including work stress, financial stress, or the stress that comes with health conditions and illnesses. Biological factors including changes in brain functioning can contribute, as well as family history and genetics, or psychological factors; specific personality types can be more prone to anxiety disorders than others. Dimensional model, such as RDoC, can be used to assess anxiety disorders in a different way, and find underlying causes based on dimensions of observable behaviour and neurobiological measures. Through RDoC, anxiety symptoms are seen as falling along different dimensions, such as cognitive processes and reward systems. Mood, social interactions, memory and attention, etc, are also analysed with traits ranging from ‘normal’ to ‘extreme/abnormal’.

To clarify or pinpoint underlying causes of anxiety, imaging is often done, as well as genetic and neuroscientific analysis, and behavioural and clinical studies. Rather than categorically labelling the disorder, dimensional approaches can create a whole symptom profile. However, limitations exist when only using a dimensional model as well. As anxiety is viewed as distributed along a continuum, it is hard to determine one point or a specific score to place the cut-off where normal anxiety becomes abnormal enough to diagnose as an anxiety disorder. Moreover, there may be frequent or extreme changes to scores in dimensional measures, either as a part of the natural course of anxiety disorders, or in response to treatment. Therefore it may not be appropriate to use dimensional measures for diagnosis.

Thus, there are both benefits and limitations when utilising dimensional approaches to assess anxiety disorders. In regards to the pros and cons of both categorical and dimensional approaches, as well as the reliability, validity and utility of an anxiety disorder diagnosis, there are a few recommendations that could be made in regards to future treatment. As categorical and dimensional approaches to conceptualising and assessing anxiety disorders can work complementarily to each other, with benefits making up for each other’s limitations, rather than just using one or the other, the two approaches should be used in tandem to tailor the most effective treatment for each individual. Categorical analysis can tell gist of each patient’s situation through reliable diagnosis, while dimensional assessments increase diagnostic validity and clinical utility through detailed information about symptoms, severity and underlying etiological causes.

For example, within the DSM-5 category, there are different types of anxiety disorders, including panic disorder, specific phobias, generalised anxiety disorder, agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, etc. All disorders share features of fear, anxiety and related symptoms, however are all slightly different, with differing situations or objects that can trigger an anxious response, therefore need different treatments with specific targets. Many therapies exist in order to help people deal with the varying symptoms and long ranging effects of different anxiety disorders. As categorical diagnosis gives an idea of the gist of problem, it also provides an idea for which treatment may be more suited. However, dimensional details are necessary to help customise treatments to suit each person. For instance, different forms of psychosocial therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) counselling sessions, motivational therapies and cognitive restructuring of dysfunctional thoughts may suit some disorders but not others. For example, a form of exposure therapy CBT may work best for specific phobias however are not so helpful in treating generalised anxiety. However, those are just ideas, without much utility.

As mentioned earlier, dimensional details must be combined with categorical diagnoses. Varying severities of disorder impact require different speeds of treatment, as well as different amounts and intensities of treatment, determined through dimensional assessments. Where needed, psychopharmacological measures, such as the use of antidepressant medication including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), depressant medication such as benzodiazepines, or beta blockers, can be combined with psychosocial talking treatments, or used on its own, to help with various physiological impacts from anxiety.

Thus categorical and dimensional approaches should be used in tandem to provide the most effective and customised treatment. There are benefits and limitations in both categorical and dimensional approaches to anxiety disorders. Approaching anxiety disorders categorically through models such as the DSM-5 allow the accurate sorting of disorders, as well as consistent, reliable diagnoses and efficient communication between clinicians, however lacks the validity and utility for effective clinical practice. While approaching with dimensional models such as RDoC produce potentially inconsistent and unreliable diagnoses, the diagnostic analysis of symptoms, severity and underlying etiological causes of disorder pathogenesis supply necessary details to provide better diagnostic validity and clinical utility, as well as come up with a specific treatment plan tailored for each individual.

Therefore pros and cons exist in both categorical and dimensional approaches. Recommendations were then subsequently made on how categorical and dimensional approaches can used in tandem to increase the reliability, validity and utility of future anxiety disorder assessment and treatment.

Anxiety refers to heightened distress and withdrawal from perceived threats (Pine, 2007). There is a sense of fear and helplessness that is coupled with a somatically aroused central nervous system, which leads the danger detection system to be maladaptively engaged, making it difficult to regulate emotional responses to potentially threatening stimuli (Chua and Dolan, 2000). This brain response is a basic emotion already present in infancy and childhood, with expressions falling on a continuum from mild to severe (Beesdo, Knappe and Pine, 2009). Generally, anxiety is not considered pathological as it is adaptive in many scenarios when it facilitates avoidance of danger. However, while fears, especially social evaluative fears, are quite normal across all age levels, it can lead to disorder when it is out of proportion to the challenge or stress, or when it results in significant distress and impairment (Trivedi and Gupta, 2010). Childhood is the core risk phase for the development of anxiety symptoms which may range from transient mild symptoms to full-blown anxiety disorders (Beesdo, Knappe and Pine, 2009).

Anxiety is the earliest of all forms of child psychopathology and is one of the most pervasive psychiatric problems experienced by children (Rapee, Schniering and Hudson, 2009). Hence, the role of anxiety has been considered central to the understanding of entire range of childhood psychopathology (Kashani and Orvaschel, 1990). Anxiety may appear in different forms including separation anxiety, specific phobia, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and generalized anxiety disorder. Separation anxiety and specific phobias have the earliest average onset, followed by social phobia, generalized anxiety, and panic disorder (Kessler et al., 2012).

Clinical anxiety is one of the most common psychiatric problems that is experienced by school-aged children (Schniering, Hudson and Rapee, 2000). Prevalence estimates for anxiety disorders in children and adolescents have varied across studies, due in part to different informants and measures, and populations. Despite these differences, the median prevalence rate of all anxiety disorders in a recent review (Merikangas, Nakamura and Kessler, 2009) was 8% with an extremely wide range of estimates (2% to 24%). A much more recent meta-analysis (Polanczyk, Salum, Sugaya, Caye and Rohde, 2015) of prevalence of mental disorders in children and adolescents reported worldwide prevalence of any anxiety disorder to be 6.5%.

In India, comprehensive data on the prevalence of anxiety disorders among children is lacking. Although various older epidemiological studies on children and adolescents have reported prevalence of anxiety disorders to range from 1.3% to 5% (Srinath et al., 2005; Hackett, Hackett, Bhakta and Gowers, 1999; Sidana, Bhatia and Choudhary, 1998; Chadda, 1994), a more recent study (Nair et al., 2013) using DSM-IV criteria reported it to be 14.4%. Such high prevalence of anxiety disorder in India and their associated negative consequences, render them major health priorities.

Anxiety has clinical importance not only as a distinct set of disorders, but also because it exerts an effect on other domains of functioning. The effect can be particularly damaging if anxiety first emerges in childhood because this has been linked to increases in both the severity and longevity of the disorder (Pine, Cohen, Gurley, Brook and Ma, 1998). Untreated anxiety can have both short- and long-term deleterious consequences in children. Long-term consequences of anxiety include difficulties in academic, vocational and social domains of functioning, and can even reach into adulthood (Rapee, Schniering and Hudson, 2009). Further, presence of anxiety symptoms may also act as a risk factor for the development of various types of psychiatric disorders in adulthood, including depression and substance use disorders (Essau, Lewinsohn, Olaya and Seeley, 2014).

There have been several strands of research attempting to understand the development of child anxiety. Similar to many psychiatric illnesses, anxiety disorders run in families, and etiological models of child anxiety have identified vulnerability factors such as genetic and various environmental factors, including parenting styles and child temperament (Akinsola and Udoka, 2013; Drake and Ginsburg, 2011; Degnan, Almas and Fox, 2010; Murray, Creswell and Cooper, 2009). However, although the problem is widespread and affects children throughout childhood and adolescence, the cause, maintenance and long-term consequences of childhood anxiety are complex and not well understood.

According to ecological system theory by Bronfenbrenner (1977), child development is shaped by reciprocal interactions between the individual and those in the immediate environment. He postulated that the microsystem consisting of parents, peers and teachers has direct interaction with the child, thus having the greatest impact on child’s developmental outcome. Drawing from Bronfenbrenner’s theory, several researchers have posited that the child’s temperament and child-parent relationship have a direct interaction with child’s anxiety (Hudson, Dodd and Bovopoulos, 2011; Shamir-Essakow, Ungerer and Rapee, 2005). Consistent with this framework, empirical evidence supports multiple influences on childhood anxiety, including child temperament, parenting style, parent characteristics, sociodemographic characteristics, family environment, and community factors (Karevold, Røysamb, Ystrom and Mathiesen, 2009; Marakovitz, Wagmiller, Mian, Briggs-Gowan and Carter, 2011; Vasey and Dadds, 2001).

Parents play a significant role in shaping children’s emotional health, especially during the early years of childhood. Parenting style is a general pattern of caregiving that provides a context for specific episodes of parental childrearing behaviors, and are determined by patterns of control, responsiveness, warmth, and punishment that parents use most often, across contexts and over time, to manage their children’s behavior. Based on parental behaviors, Baumrind (1971) categorized parenting style into three types, namely authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles. Later, permissive parenting style was differentiated into neglectful and indulgent styles (Maccoby and Martin, 1983). Parenting style exerts a significant influence on the development of their child’s present and future emotional health, well-being, and social and cognitive development (Baumrind, 1978). Theoretical models describing the development, maintenance and transmission of childhood anxiety disorders have highlighted the central role of parenting style. For example, Craske (1999) proposed a theoretical model that helps specify the roles that parenting may play in the development and maintenance of childhood anxiety. Drawing on emotion theory and learning theory, this model suggests that parenting may be related to childhood anxiety in at least two ways. First, general parenting across contexts, i.e., parenting style, provides an environmental context that influences the development of trait anxiety. For instance, frequent parental criticism could increase a child’s wariness and influence perceptions of self and the world in a negative manner. Second, among children with high trait anxiety, specific parenting practices or behaviors that promote or reinforce children’s experiences of anxiety in specific situations, contribute to the development of a particular anxiety disorder by centering beliefs about threat and physiological arousal upon a specific theme or class of stimuli. Consistent with this theory, research has demonstrated clear associations between specific parenting strategies and various child outcomes (Wood, McLeod, Sigman, Hwang and Chu, 2003). Studies suggest that parental rejection, anxious rearing, high control, over protection and modeling of anxious behaviors are associated with children’s manifestations of anxiety (Orgilés, Penosa, Morales, Fernández-Martínez and Espada, 2018; Mousavi, Low and Hashim, 2016; Rapee, 2012; Beesdo, Pine, Lieb and Wittchen, 2010; Wood, McLeod, Sigman, Hwang and Chu, 2003; McLeod, Wood and Weisz, 2007). Given the major influence of parenting style on the development of the child in general, and child anxiety in particular, the current study was designed to examine parenting styles of children diagnosed with anxiety disorder.

Belsky’s (1984) Process Model suggests that parent’s behavior or parenting style is determined by different factors, including parent characteristics such as parental personality. Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. When it comes to personality, there is relative consensus on five-factor structure of personality, which has been described as Five Factor Model of Personality (Costa and McCrae, 1989). According to the Big-Five Model of personality, individual differences in personality maybe sufficiently described using five main factors: neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Parent’s personality is considered the most important determinant of parenting, and parent’s interactions and relationships with their children depends on their own personality and psychopathology (Belsky, 1984; Hong et al., 2015). Further, parental personality traits may influence psychopathological outcomes in their children (Oliveira et al., 2017), and specific personality traits may promote healthy development into adulthood (Schofield et al., 2012). Huver, Otten, de Vries and Engels (2010) also reported that parental personality traits play an important role in parenting behaviors as well as in children’s behavioral outcomes. However, there are only a handful of empirical studies detailing the developmental interplay between specific personality characteristics of parents, parenting styles and children’s problem behaviors, and this constitutes a major knowledge gap. Further, studies reporting the effects of personality characteristics measured by instruments consistent with the comprehensive Five Factor Model are lacking in India. Hence the current study was designed to examine parental personality and its association with parenting styles and child outcome.

Belsky (1984) also suggested that child temperament plays an important role in dictating parental behavior. He proposed that parental personality is associated with parenting directly but this association also interacts with such child characteristics as temperament. While parent’s personality predisposes parents to certain parenting behaviors, outcomes are dependent on many factors, including the child’s temperament. Hence, it appears that child temperament moderates the relationship between parental personality and parenting style (Kornienko and Dmitriy, 2016). Temperament refers to biologically influenced individual difference in emotional, motor and attentional reactivity to stimulation and its regulation, and is the antecedent and fundament of adult personality (Rothbart and Bates, 2006). Thomas and Chess (1977) delineated nine different characteristics that make up a child’s temperament: activity level, sensitivity, intensity of reaction, adaptability, distractibility, inhibition, negative emotionality, persistence, and regularity. Children high or low in these areas are usually described by parents as being difficult children or presently challenging behaviors.

Certain temperament poses as a risk factor for psychopathology. For example, the presence of behavioral inhibition in early childhood has been shown to be a risk factor for anxiety in childhood (Hirshfeld et al., 1992; Dougherty et al., 2013). There are various theoretical models of relationships between temperamental traits and anxiety. In the Vulnerability Model, a child’s temperamental traits predispose them to the development of an anxiety disorder. In the Complication Model, the onset of an anxiety disorder influences a child’s temperament or causes a permanent change in temperament. In the Pathoplastic Model, temperamental traits modify the manifestation, severity, and/or course of anxiety. In the Common Cause Model, a genetic or environmental factor influences temperament as well as anxiety disorder development. These theories and research findings suggest that temperament traits are risk factors, or at least a marker of risk, for anxiety disorders. Studying temperament along with parenting style is necessary because of bi-directionality of effects, and its outcome on the child. Thomas and Chess (1997) also hypothesized a Goodness-of-Fit model of temperament, according to which, a poor fit of children’s characteristics with their environment leads to poor child developmental outcomes, whereas a good fit lead to optimal developmental outcomes. Hence children with different kinds of temperaments would benefit from different kinds of parenting. These theoretical underpinnings suggest that because temperament is early appearing, the construct may help outline early risk factors, even before a disorder is visibly manifested. Identifying difficult temperament early on, and training parents to handle them may help in preventing behavioral problems in children, and was therefore included in the study.

Fathers have come to be recognized as important contributors to the social and emotional development of their children (Marsiglio, Amato, Day and Lamb, 2000). However, very few studies have examined how the father-child relationship or paternal parenting styles are associated with child outcomes in India. The role of fathers is of particular concern considering the trend of increased father involvement in children’s lives among two-parent families (Cabrera, Tamis‐LeMonda, Bradley, Hofferth and Lamb, 2000). For a traditional country like India, the emergence of active involvement of fathers in parenting is becoming popular (Bhattacharyya and Pradhan, 2015), and middle-class fathers in urban India are increasingly becoming actively involved in their children’s lives (Roopnarine, Talukder, Jain, Joshi and Srivastav, 1990). One of the major limitations of past work on parenting style is that most studies focus exclusively on maternal parenting style, and not on the role of fathers in parenting and its subsequent influence on the child. Knowledge about the role of fathers in the development of anxiety in early childhood is limited. Therefore, the present study was designed to examine both maternal and paternal parenting styles.

Most of the studies on parenting styles and its effect on the child are conducted in the West, and literature available focuses on Western cultural beliefs and images about parenting and family life, with the assumption that the meaning of parenting is similar across cultures. However, numerous research studies carried out with different cultures have shown that the relationship between parenting practices and child outcome varies widely (Bornstein, 2012; Bornstein, Putnick and Lansford, 2011; Hofferth, 2003). Therefore, even though research has indicated that authoritative parenting yields the most stable child in Western cultures, it is possible that it may not have the same effects across different cultures and norms (Wang and Leichtman, 2000). There are very few published studies that have looked at parenting styles in India, and the effects of parenting on child has not been adequately researched in India, and hence the need for the present study was felt necessary.

In summary, children with anxiety have unique issues, and suffer from impairment in various life domains such as in school, leisure-time activities, and peer-interaction, which can disrupt and hamper their social functioning as they try to avoid anxiety-provoking situations such as schools, games, social situations, etc. Child anxiety can have a longitudinal course and progress into adult psychopathology. Identifying and treating children with anxiety disorders would reduce the burden of this disorder, and may help in better management of the co-morbid conditions in these patients. Understanding the factors associated with anxiety can be used to predict, prevent or integrate the knowledge into interventional strategies. Given how much work in the area of developmental psychology focuses on the importance of parenting (Belsky and de Haan, 2011; Rueger, Katz, Risser and Lovejoy, 2011), the relative lack of research in India on parenting practices, factors that influence parenting styles, and child outcome, constitutes a major lacuna. Therefore, the current study was designed to examine the influence of parental personality, parenting styles and child temperament in children with anxiety disorders in comparison to children who do not have anxiety disorders. The findings can help develop interventions for children with anxiety as well as in devising parent training programs for vulnerable children.

Intro

Feeling edgy, feeling tense and worried, Chest pains, sleepless nights, these are just some symptoms of anxiety and there are more. We all at some point in our lives whether it was good or bad have had anxiety. But some has an anxiety disorder which can affect their own lives as well as affect their families. Anxiety is one of the most common mental health issues in today’s society. As the people of the future we must knowledge this and make it our mission to understand and help those with anxiety. That with the more information the youth of Australia is given the more aware and helpful we all would be. Today I will be exploring The issue of anxiety, what the government, individual and organization are doing to help those with anxiety as well as what the future generations could do to help. These points will be looked at through this report.

Body

Anxiety has no one definition because it can be different for everyone. Anxiety is when your brain over functions and your head is filled with strong feelings of fear, stress, being anxious and being in a state of where you feel you have no control. In 2014 to 2015 it was reported that women aged 15 to 24 18.9% reported having an anxiety related condition. This is a problem for it shows just how high the percentage is for young people having anxiety. https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4364.0.55.001~2014-15~Main%20Features~Mental%20and%20behavioural%20conditions~32). Many factors that cause anxiety, for example family history of anxiety, homelife, personality or nonstop stressful events like a death of a love one. (https://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/anxiety/what-causes-anxiety) Both short term and long term effects impact the lives of those with living with anxiety and how they go about their day. Some common effects of anxiety with adolescents are dropping out of school, low self-esteem which can continue through adulthood and poor performance in school. (https://www.villagebh.com/disorders/anxiety/symptoms-signs-effects/ )

The Government, organizations and individuals all do their part to help when looking at anxiety. But they could all do more. The problem of anxiety is a growing issue with a report in 2018 reporting that “as little as 1% of youth with anxiety seek treatment in the year symptoms begin.”( https://childmind.org/our-impact/childrens-mental-health-report/2018report/) This is issue is trying to be solved through government, organizations and individuals. The government has spent a significant amount of money to help organisation help youth with mental health issues. In a 2018 news article it stated that the government spent $52 million more on cutting waiting time for teenagers to see professionals for their anxiety or depression. (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/oct/14/youth-mental-health-gets-funding-boost-as-demand-for-services-spikes) Another 2018 article said that the federal government gave $110 million to organisations for resources and continuation of service to youth with their anxiety and depression.https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jan/08/government-tackles-youth-anxiety-and-depression-with-110m-package) The main organisations out there are Beyond blue, Kids helpline, Reach Out and Black dog institute. These organisations help these kids by offering information as well as giving 24 hr service for calls and 12hr online chat service chatting. As people of the community we should find a way to help instead of bringing people down with bullying online, continuing the stigma and unwise social media use. A way that the government could help is to give more money to the medical centres so they can help treat patients quicker and efficiently to young people. Organisations need to keep doing what is needed and do surveys to get current data for anxiety as well as increasing online chat facilities to 24 hour service as it’s the preferred method of communication for most young people. For us a community a way we could help those with anxiety is by reducing the amount of time spent on social media and give positive reinforcement in posted photos and videos.

As the people of the future we should be concerned with the high number of people with an anxiety disorder because it just not older generations but it is also our generation and at this critical point in our lives we should stick together to get through this. In a report it was considered one-third of 13-18 year olds would get an anxiety disorder. (https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/emotional-problems/Pages/Anxiety-Disorders.aspx) That means in a homeroom of 30 girls, roughly 10 girls would have an anxiety disorder. We as the community of Loreto need to get involved and spread awareness to be supportive. Now the school does mental health day and helps spread awareness but there are other ways that we could help. For example, we can be supportive of peers and family members who have anxiety and show the world that this is happening in the crucial point in our lives. Now to start this process we could reduce our amount of time on social media and speak more face to face. Understand that this issue is out there and that as a community we need to be supportive and listen not just on R U Ok? Day but every day.

Conclusion

In conclusion the more information and awareness the youth of Australia are given the more helpful and supportive we all would be to help our generation with anxiety. Through explaining the issue of anxiety and finding out the cause and effect, looking at what the government, organization like Beyond Blue and see what we ourselves can do we can find that our generation can help in a lot of ways. Anxiety effects people and we as a community can either help and rise above it and help those with anxiety or we can crumble and anxiety can just become a bigger issue that will sink the generations to come.