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ANXIETY DISORDERS

المؤلف:  PAUL MALORET

المصدر:  Caring for People with Learning Disabilities

الجزء والصفحة:  P76-C5

2025-10-10

529

ANXIETY DISORDERS

Anxiety disorders are characterized by a persistent and sometimes over whelming feeling of apprehension, accompanied by a range of physical and psychological symptoms (Priest & Gibbs 2004). In a lifetime, any given individual has a 5 per cent chance of suffering from an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are normally considered in several different categories; people with learning disability are more likely to suffer from three of these, which are obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorders (American Psychiatric Association 2000).

Anxiety disorders are nearly always related to stress and stressful situations, which can often be the trigger to provoke an attack. Anxiety is a natural response to stress and only becomes a problem if individuals are unable to deal with this stress and it has a detrimental effect on a person’s ability to function. Those with learning disabilities are more likely to find themselves in a greater number of situations that are stressful than people without learning disabilities. This may be a result of not having the skills to deal with these stressful circumstances adequately, such as paying a water bill or using public transport – simple procedures that can be very complex if you do not possess sufficient experience or knowledge (Gates 2003).

Ambelas (1987) ranked 16 life events that can cause severe stress; highly positioned are moving home, separating of friendships and unemployment. Gates (2003) suggests people with learning disabilities generally move home many more times in their lifetime and often do not have a choice of where they are moving to; they are very often separated from friends as a consequence of moving and most people with learning disabilities have very low employment opportunities. Additionally, the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities (2005) reported that the young people with learning disabilities interviewed in their research project cited loss and bereavement, family contact, troubled relationships with peers, social isolation and worries about specific health conditions as the main contributors to stress and, in turn, anxiety.