Stress, Health and Anxiety Disorders - Discussion

According to the psychological perspective and research, how can early childhood stressful experiences (e.g., neglect, abuse, or lack of a secure attachment) influence the developmental of behavioral problems?

Next, referring directly to the textbook, briefly explain all three elements of the integrated model.

Last, select one form of an anxiety disorder and explain how one of the elements of the integrated model can be used to explain the origins of that disorder. Anxiety disorders to choose from include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety phobia, specific phobia, separation anxiety disorder, selective mutism, and agoraphobia.

Student 1

Michelle Roof
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7/2/2016 10:58:33 AM
Unit 5 disc, specific phobias
Professor and Class,

So far in the textbook by Durand and Barlow (2013), there has been a lot focused on a person's vulnerability along with the feeling for not being in control. How a person deals with the uncontrollable aspects of the world can originate in their childhood. It is during our childhood that the awareness of chaos that we exist in if first understood. How a child deals with this realization and learns to cope with it comes from how they were raised, from their parents (Durand & Barlow, 2013). A child could grow up believing that they have complete control and have confidence in that belief or grow up with uncertainty that manifest when trying to figure out how they will deal with upcoming events (Durand & Barlow, 2013). It is the children who grow up in a secure environment where they are allowed to explore their world and learn to cope with unexpected situations are able to feel like they are in control (Durand & Barlow, 2013). However, if the children are overprotected and not allowed to meet adversity and bet it will not have those skills and will have anxiety later in life (Durand & Barlow, 2013). Growing up in an abusive environment may have the same effects as those who grow up overprotected. The child learns that nothing is within their control, and every situation can become dangerous.

The three elements that make up the Integrated Model are: generalized biological vulnerability, generalized psychological vulnerability, and specific psychological vulnerability (Durand & Barlow, 2013). The generalized biological theory is the vulnerability that is inherited that contributes to negative affect. Generalized psychological vulnerability is the generalized helplessness that exists within the person in every situation. The specific psychological vulnerability is the physical situation that causes weakness because of past experiences or the person was taught that certain situations are dangerous (Durand & Barlow, 2013).

Specific phobias follow the integrated model begins with the generalized biological vulnerability since some things like snakes, spiders, and heights, are deadly to humans so the fear has been passed down throughout the species or a person can develop a fear. The pathway pictured by Durand ad Barlow (2013), showed stress due to life events, causing a false alarm to a situation or a specific object. The person could also have a direct experience or vicarious experience that could cause a true alarm. Both of the false alarms and the true alarms become a learned alarm. A specific psychological vulnerability is a specific object or situation is dangerous. This vulnerability and the learned alarm both flow to generalized psychological vulnerability and wither this fear with future contact or straight from the learned alarm a specific phobia can develop (Durand & Barlow, 2013). I know its apart of discussion rules to not talk about personal things, but I have one that follows this and it is a silly fear from childhood that doesn't affect me every day so I found this interesting. When I was 3 years old I can still remember walking through a field one day during the summer when there was a locust infestation. I just remember the locust jumping at me at every step in multitudes. To this day my fight or flight responses kick in when I see a grasshopper, worse in an enclosed space. Logically, I know a grasshopper cannot cause me any harm, but I can see how that fear stuck and became imprinted in my mind. I do joke with my family that grasshoppers are dangerous and will take over the world one day because they all know of the phobia.

Durand, M. V., & Barlow, D. H. (2013). Essentials of abnormal psychology. (6th ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson Wadsworth.

Student 2

Heather Lee
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7/7/2016 3:11:36 PM
Unit 5 Discussion
According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, negative experiences that children have in the first five years of their life can impact their social development, emotional development, cognitive development and behavioral development (Cooper, Masi& Vick, 2009). Up to 14 percent of children aged birth to five years old experience a social or emotional problem that lead to an impairment of functioning and development, this is approximately four percent higher in boys (Cooper et al, 2009). Risk factors that lead to a negative impact on children's development include familial low-income, parental substance abuse and existing mental disorders as well as other impairments that affect the parents' ability to positively support their children's development (Cooper et al, 2009). Statistics show that children growing up in these risk factor environments are up to three times more likely to develop problems with aggression, anxiety, depression and hyperactivity (Cooper et al, 2009). Lack of maternal attachment in particular can have a huge impact on children's social and emotional development

There are three areas that contribute to a tendency to develop an anxiety disorder according to the integrated model. The first is the biological contributions which are inherited traits that can lead to a tendency to be more anxious, tense or to panic (Durand & Barlow, 2012). These biological factors, such as genetics and hereditary traits, combine with other risk factors to lead to the development of anxiety disorders (Durand & Barlow, 2012). The second contribution factor are the psychological contributions that can develop during childhood, lead to an irrational sense of a lack of control (Durand & Barlow, 2012). These psychological contributions are mainly fostered during childhood development and are conditioned cognitive responses to our environment. Finally there are social contributions which can be stressful events that trigger both preexisting biological and psychological vulnerabilities (Durand & Barlow, 2012). The social contributions predict how an individual might react to a stressful event. All of these factors combined develop the integrative triple vulnerability theory that can describe how individuals have a tendency to or develop an anxiety disorder (Durand & Barlow, 2012).

Generalized anxiety disorder or GAD is denoted by uncontrollable and chronic worry that is combined with physical symptoms such irritability and restlessness (Durand & Barlow, 2012). This particular anxiety disorder could be explained through the psychological element of the integrative theory. If an individual, for example, grew up in a home where they felt they had little to no control over the environment, that individual might have a higher tendency to react to other environments with a higher level of worry and feeling of lack of control. This, if combined with other elements such as a biological tendency or social element, could lead to an individual developing this disorder.

References:

Cooper, J.L, Masi, R., & Vick, J. (2009). Social-emotional development in early childhood. Retrieved from http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_882.html
Durand, V. M., Barlow, D. H. (01/2012). Essentials of Abnormal Psychology. [VitalSource Bookshelf Online]. Retrieved from https://kaplan.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781285708263/