As a psychiatrist, many people come to me with their questions about anxiety and depression. A question I get frequently is how anxiety and depressive disorders occur. A friend of mine came up to me with his questions about his son, as he was recently diagnosed with social anxiety and depression. His question was how […]
How Health Anxiety Evolves – The Negative Cycle of Health Anxiety
Today, I will talk about the negative cycle of health anxiety. Health anxiety, also known as hypochondria and illness anxiety disorder, is having intense worry, fears, and preoccupation about the possibility of having an undiagnosed medical illness. So having health anxiety can be highly disruptive to your life, as you spend so much time and […]
How PTSD Evolves- The Negative Cycle of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
PTSD is also known as post traumatic stress disorder. PTSD can occur after you have experienced a major trauma. Symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder include re-experiencing the traumatic event, which can come in the form of nightmares or flashbacks about the trauma. You also become hypervigilant and you start to scan your environment for […]
How Panic Disorder Evolves – The Negative Cycle of Panic Disorder
Today, I will talk about how panic disorder develops. If you do not know what the negative cycle of panic disorder is like, and how you get stuck in a panic loop, then this article can be very helpful. We also have a video of this article if you prefer that format. The following flowchart details […]
How Specific Phobia Evolves- The Negative Cycle of Specific Phobia
Previously, we had discussed how anxiety evolves from the negative cycle of anxiety: triggers lead to thoughts about the situation or event, which lead to anxiety, which lead to avoidant behaviors which maintain the negative cycle of anxiety. When anxiety starts to disrupt your life, then an anxiety disorder may emerge. Anxiety disorders are divided […]
How Depression Evolves- The Negative Cycle of Depression
Depression is a mood disorder, and is characterized by low moods, apathy, sleep problems, decreased interests, feelings of guilt, feelings of hopelessness, low energy level, poor concentration, poor appetite, and thoughts of self-harm. Depression is also known as major depressive disorder. In this article, I discuss how depression develops as illustrated in a flowchart. Here is […]
How Social Anxiety Disorder Develops- The Negative Cycle of Social Phobia
Social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, is an anxiety disorder characterized by the extreme fear of being embarrassed in public or being socially scrutinized. Because of this intense fear of social scrutiny, sufferers avoid crowded places and avoid performing in front of people. Social phobia develops from multiple factors, including situational triggers, thoughts and beliefs about the situation, […]
How OCD Evolves- The Negative Cycle of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) is an anxiety disorder marked by recurrent, intrusive thoughts and uncontrollable rituals to decrease the distress. For a behavioral explanation of what reinforces the thought and ritual in obsessive compulsive disorder, let’s look at an example of a negative cycle of OCD: Let’s say you have OCD and are driving around a neighborhood. […]