PSYC1024 · Anxiety, Mood and Stress
Anxiety Disorders
Week 7 goes deep on the specific anxiety disorders introduced in Week 5 — generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, the phobias, social anxiety disorder and agoraphobia — their defining features, typical course and how they differ from one another, each connected back to the fear/anxiety neurobiology of Week 4. It is final-exam examinable (the 40% Inspera final covers all topics), and the classic item hands you a case and asks which disorder it is and why it is not the others. (Week 7's own lecture slides were not among the materials this guide was built from, so the criteria below are discipline-standard first-year canon — confirm against your Moodle notes.)
What this chapter covers
- 01Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD): uncontrollable worry across domains, ≥6 months, with restlessness, fatigue, concentration and sleep problems
- 02Panic Disorder: recurrent unexpected panic attacks peaking within minutes, plus ≥1 month of worry about further attacks
- 03Catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations (Clark's cognitive model of panic)
- 04Specific Phobia: marked fear of a specific object/situation, immediate anxiety and avoidance, ≥6 months
- 05Social Anxiety Disorder: fear of scrutiny or negative evaluation; self-focused attention and safety behaviours
- 06Agoraphobia: fear/avoidance of situations where escape or help may be difficult
- 07Common cognitive features: attentional bias to threat, overestimation of probability and cost, intolerance of uncertainty
- 08Maintenance by avoidance and safety behaviours — why the fear never disconfirms
Identify the disorder and rule out the alternatives
- +1Identify Panic Disorder: recurrent unexpected panic attacks — abrupt surges of intense fear peaking within minutes with palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness and fear of dying — plus at least a month of persistent worry about further attacks and maladaptive change (avoiding the gym). Catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations is the central cognitive process.
- +1Rule out GAD: generalised anxiety disorder is chronic, uncontrollable worry across many life domains for ≥6 months, not discrete attacks that peak within minutes. Here the defining feature is the sudden attacks, so it is not GAD.
- +1Rule out specific phobia and social anxiety disorder: a specific phobia is fear cued by a particular object or situation, and social anxiety disorder is fear of scrutiny or negative evaluation. These attacks are unexpected and not tied to a feared object or to being watched, so neither fits.
- +1Name the maintenance mechanism (and why it is not simply agoraphobia yet): avoiding the gym reduces anxiety short-term through negative reinforcement but maintains the disorder by preventing disconfirmation that exertion is safe. Agoraphobia would require fear/avoidance of multiple situations where escape or help is hard; a single avoided setting driven by fear of attacks still points to panic disorder as the primary diagnosis.
Key terms
- Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
- Excessive, uncontrollable worry about multiple domains, more days than not for ≥6 months, with symptoms such as restlessness, fatigue, poor concentration, irritability, muscle tension and sleep disturbance. Central process: chronic worry as maladaptive cognitive avoidance.
- Panic Disorder
- Recurrent unexpected panic attacks — abrupt surges of intense fear peaking within minutes (palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, fear of dying/losing control) — plus ≥1 month of persistent worry about further attacks or maladaptive behaviour change. Clark's model centres catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations.
- Specific Phobia
- Marked, persistent fear of a specific object or situation (animal, blood-injection-injury, situational), out of proportion to actual danger, with immediate anxiety and avoidance, lasting ≥6 months. Often acquired via conditioning or modelling.
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Fear of social or performance situations involving possible scrutiny or negative evaluation, with fear of humiliation and avoidance, ≥6 months. Maintained by self-focused attention and safety behaviours.
- Agoraphobia
- Fear and avoidance of two or more situations (public transport, open or enclosed spaces, crowds/queues, being outside the home alone) where escape or help may be difficult if panic-like symptoms occur; ≥6 months.
- Safety behaviours
- Actions taken to prevent a feared outcome (sitting near an exit, over-preparing, avoidance). They reduce anxiety momentarily but maintain the disorder by preventing the fear from being disconfirmed — a target of exposure-based treatment.
Anxiety Disorders FAQ
How do the anxiety disorders differ from one another?
By what the fear is about. Generalised anxiety disorder is uncontrollable worry about many domains; panic disorder is fear of the bodily sensations of a panic attack itself; specific phobia is fear of a particular object or situation; social anxiety disorder is fear of scrutiny or negative evaluation; and agoraphobia is fear of situations where escape or help would be hard. Asking "what is the fear about?" separates most cases quickly.
What is panic disorder?
Recurrent unexpected panic attacks — sudden surges of intense fear that peak within minutes with symptoms like a pounding heart, shortness of breath, dizziness and a fear of dying or losing control — together with at least a month of persistent worry about further attacks or a change in behaviour to avoid them. Clark's cognitive model places catastrophic misinterpretation of harmless bodily sensations at its centre.
Why does avoidance make anxiety worse?
Avoiding a feared situation brings immediate relief, which negatively reinforces the avoidance, but it also stops you ever learning that the feared outcome would not have happened — so the fear is never disconfirmed and the disorder persists. Safety behaviours work the same way. This is exactly why exposure-based treatment (Week 9) deliberately drops avoidance and safety behaviours.
Can AI help me tell the anxiety disorders apart?
Yes. Sia can drill you on case vignettes, help you name the primary diagnosis and justify the rule-outs, and connect each disorder back to the fear/anxiety neurobiology from Week 4. It mirrors how the material is assessed at UNSW; it does not sit the final for you, and UNSW academic-integrity rules apply.
Exam move
Week 7 is all about discrimination, so build a comparison table of the disorders with three columns — the core feature, the trigger, and the typical course — and drill telling them apart by asking "what is the fear about?" for each fresh case. Memorise the few numbers that carry diagnostic weight: the ≥6-month duration common to GAD, phobia, social anxiety and agoraphobia, and the ≥1-month worry period that defines panic disorder after the attacks. Keep panic disorder's catastrophic-misinterpretation model and the shared cognitive features (attentional bias to threat, overestimation of probability and cost, intolerance of uncertainty) at your fingertips, because the final likes to test the mechanism, not just the label. Above all, understand maintenance by avoidance and safety behaviours here — it is the bridge to the treatment chapter. Because Week 7's own lecture materials were not among the materials this guide was built from, confirm the criteria wording on Moodle. Ask Sia for extra case vignettes and to check your diagnosis-plus-rule-outs.
Working through Anxiety Disorders in PSYC1024? Sia is AskSia’s AI Psychology tutor — ask any PSYC1024 Anxiety Disorders question and get a clear, step-by-step explanation grounded in how PSYC1024 is taught and assessed. Read this chapter free, then take your hardest questions to Sia.
