COMBINING Anxiety, Depression & Phobias with Eating Disorders
PART ONE:
CASE A: SUSAN
I wish I could tell you exactly what’s the matter.
Sometimes I feel like something terrible has just
happened when actually nothing has happened at all.
Other times I’m expecting the sky to fall down any
minute. Most of the time I can’t point my finger at
something specific. Still, I feel tense and jumpy. The
fact is that I am tense and jumpy almost all the
time . Sometimes my heart beats so fast, I’m sure it’s
a heart attack. Little things can set it off. The other day
I thought a supermarket clerk had over charged me a
few cents on an item. She showed me that I was wrong, but that
didn’t end it. I worried the rest of the day. I kept
going over the incident in my mind, feeling terribly
embarrassed at having raised the possibility that the
clerk had committed an error. The tension was so
great) I wasn’t sure I’d be able to go to work in the
afternoon. That sort of thing is painful to live with.
CASE B: PAUL
I t happened without any warning, a sudden wave of
terror. My heart was pounding like mad, I couldn't
catch my breath, and the ground underfoot seemed
unstable. I was sure it was a heart attack. It was the
worst experience of my life.
CASE C: SHARON
I can't tell you why I’m afraid of rats. They fill me
with terror. Even if I just see the word "rat,"
my heart starts pounding. I worry about rats in restaurants
I go to, in my kitchen cupboard, and anywhere I hear a noise
that sounds like a small animal scratching or running.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The problems described in these three cases are different
but they have one feature in common: the experience
of strong anxiety, worry, tension, and discomfort.
In Susan's case, which illustrates a generalized anxiety
disorder, the anxiety is chronic and is felt in a variety
of situations. Paul is suffering from a panic disorder, in
which the anxiety is sudden and overwhelming. People
who experience one or more panic attacks worry a great
deal about whether and where another attack may take
place. Sharon has a phobic disorder, in which anxiety
is aroused by a specific type of situation, animal, or object.
Others may experience an obsessive-compulsive
disorder, in which thinking certain thoughts and not
doing certain things (like checking the lock on the front
door) arouse intense anxiety and concern.
Combining Eating Disorders:
Everyone has worries and fears. Freud argued that
anxiety can be adaptive if the discomfort that goes with
it motivates people to learn new ways of approaching
life's challenges. But whether it is adaptive or maladaptive,
the discomfort can be intense especially in combination with an eating disorder.
This article focuses on the serious maladaptive aspects
of anxiety with eating disorders, but it is
useful to remember that anxiety has many causes and
that all people experience it at some time in their lives.
It is normal for people to experience anxiety when faced
with stressful, threatening situations, but it is abnormal
to feel strong, chronic anxiety in the absence of a visible
cause. Continue with part 2 above.
CASE A: SUSAN
I wish I could tell you exactly what’s the matter.
Sometimes I feel like something terrible has just
happened when actually nothing has happened at all.
Other times I’m expecting the sky to fall down any
minute. Most of the time I can’t point my finger at
something specific. Still, I feel tense and jumpy. The
fact is that I am tense and jumpy almost all the
time . Sometimes my heart beats so fast, I’m sure it’s
a heart attack. Little things can set it off. The other day
I thought a supermarket clerk had over charged me a
few cents on an item. She showed me that I was wrong, but that
didn’t end it. I worried the rest of the day. I kept
going over the incident in my mind, feeling terribly
embarrassed at having raised the possibility that the
clerk had committed an error. The tension was so
great) I wasn’t sure I’d be able to go to work in the
afternoon. That sort of thing is painful to live with.
CASE B: PAUL
I t happened without any warning, a sudden wave of
terror. My heart was pounding like mad, I couldn't
catch my breath, and the ground underfoot seemed
unstable. I was sure it was a heart attack. It was the
worst experience of my life.
CASE C: SHARON
I can't tell you why I’m afraid of rats. They fill me
with terror. Even if I just see the word "rat,"
my heart starts pounding. I worry about rats in restaurants
I go to, in my kitchen cupboard, and anywhere I hear a noise
that sounds like a small animal scratching or running.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The problems described in these three cases are different
but they have one feature in common: the experience
of strong anxiety, worry, tension, and discomfort.
In Susan's case, which illustrates a generalized anxiety
disorder, the anxiety is chronic and is felt in a variety
of situations. Paul is suffering from a panic disorder, in
which the anxiety is sudden and overwhelming. People
who experience one or more panic attacks worry a great
deal about whether and where another attack may take
place. Sharon has a phobic disorder, in which anxiety
is aroused by a specific type of situation, animal, or object.
Others may experience an obsessive-compulsive
disorder, in which thinking certain thoughts and not
doing certain things (like checking the lock on the front
door) arouse intense anxiety and concern.
Combining Eating Disorders:
Everyone has worries and fears. Freud argued that
anxiety can be adaptive if the discomfort that goes with
it motivates people to learn new ways of approaching
life's challenges. But whether it is adaptive or maladaptive,
the discomfort can be intense especially in combination with an eating disorder.
This article focuses on the serious maladaptive aspects
of anxiety with eating disorders, but it is
useful to remember that anxiety has many causes and
that all people experience it at some time in their lives.
It is normal for people to experience anxiety when faced
with stressful, threatening situations, but it is abnormal
to feel strong, chronic anxiety in the absence of a visible
cause. Continue with part 2 above.