Citation : Perrotta G. Anxiety disorders: definitions, contexts, neural correlates and strategic therapy.
JJ Neur Neurosci 2019; 6(1): 042.
Review article
Anxiety Disorders: Defnitions, Contexts, Neural Correlates And Strategic Therapy
Giulio Perrotta
*Corresponding author: Dr. Giulio Perrotta, UNIFEDER University, Department of Criminal Psychology, Italy,
Phone :( +39) 349 2108872; E-mail: info@giulioperrotta.it
Received Date: 03-12-2019
Accepted Date: 03-25-2019
Published Date: 03-29-2019
Copyright: © 2019 Giulio Perrotta
Jacobs Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience
Abstract
Starting from the concept of anxiety, we proceeded to separate the “physiological” form from the “pathological” forms,
distinguishing between fear, anguish, panic, phobia, fear, terror and stress, all terms often confused and overlapped in
the common jargon. Distinguishing the individual psychopathologies contained in DSM-V anxiety disorders, with a focus
on the psychodynamic profile, the analysis focused on the neural correlates involved in anxiety disorders and on the best
pharmacological and psychotherapeutic approaches chosen to treat the morbid condition, paying particular attention to
the strategic model and the most important clinical techniques.
Keywords: Psychology; neuroscience; anxiety; panic; terror; anxiety disorders; panic attack; panic disorder; selective
mutism; phobia; agoraphobia; amygdala; prefrontal cortex; fear; anxiety; psychotherapy; psychopharmacology; benzodia-
zipines; antidepressants; strategic approach
Introduction
The definition of anxiety is not unequivocal in the literature [1] although the descriptive characteristics are well
circumscribed and easily identifiable. The American Psychiatric Association, on the definition of anxiety, describes anxi-
ety as the anticipated anticipation of a future danger or negative event, accompanied by feelings of dysphoria or physical
symptoms of tension. The elements exposed to risk may belong both to the internal world and to the external world [2]
Similarly, in the Italian Treaty of Psychiatry, precisely in reference to the definition of anxiety, it is referred to as emotional
state with an unpleasant content, associated with a condition of alarm and fear that arises in the absence of danger real
and which, however, is disproportionate to any triggering stimuli [3].
However, the idea that it consists of a psychophysical state characterized by a feeling of apprehension, uncertainty,
fear and alarm towards events towards which the subject feels helpless and/or is univocal helpless. It involves a psychic
and somatic involvement, associating itself with biological modifications, and involving different systems, among which:
neuro-transmittitorial, immune, neuroendocrine [4].
It represents an essential emotion for the correct functioning of our organism in response to external or internal
stimuli, allowing a functional adaptation to environmental demands. The related manifestations of anxiety have prevalence,