
Hyperexcitability in fear circuits is expressed as pathological anxiety that is manifested in the various anxiety disorders. It is known by a range of other terms including mysophobia (fear of uncleanliness), verminophobia, bacillophobia, bacteriophobia. Reduced thresholds for activation and hyperexcitability in fear circuits develop through sensitization- or kindling-like processes that involve neuropeptides, hormones, and other proteins. Germaphobia (sometimes spelt germophobia) is a term used by psychologists to describe a pathological fear of germs, bacteria, microbes, contamination and infection. very writing of ethnographies in the midst of a war) was a way of coping with fear and. Pathological anxiety is conceptualized as an exaggerated fear state in which hyperexcitability of fear circuits that include the amygdala and extended amygdala (i.e., bed nucleus of the stria terminalis) is expressed as hypervigilance and increased behavioral responsivity to fearful stimuli. interesting enough, it has been incredibly quickly explained. Fear is a central motive state of action tendencies subserved by fear circuits, with the amygdala playing a central role. Fear, phobias, and anxiety fit together because a phobia may cause fear and anxiety. Fear responses (e.g., freezing, startle, heart rate and blood pressure changes, and increased vigilance) are functionally adaptive behavioral and perceptual responses elicited during danger to facilitate appropriate defensive responses that can reduce danger or injury (e.g., escape and avoidance). You describe a person or their behaviour as pathological when they behave in an extreme and unacceptable way, and have very powerful feelings which they cannot. Pathologic - this refers to any medical condition that is considered abnormal.In this article the authors address how pathological anxiety may develop from adaptive fear states. Paying close attention can help us better distinguish the nature of the fear, and thereby respond more appropriately (less pathologically). All anxiety, pathologic or normal, serves as an important communication of a feeling which can be used to help us perceive more precisely what stimulus in our environments might trigger our fear. This stalling can subsequently mushroom in time to a mental and physical paralysis, thus leaving them unable to perform in the originally desired fashion. Writers, musicians, or students display this anxiety via procrastination, postponing aspects of their preparation out of a sense of fear. Innate and learned fear mechanisms, particularly those involving the amygdala, are considered. The neurobiological basis of normal and pathological fear reactions is reviewed in this article. Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is defined as having obsessive.

the modification of a pathological fear structure, defined by Lang (1977) as an. However, when pathological, this anxiety might drift into obsessing on all of the details necessary to prepare for the test but never actually preparing. Although recognized as highly debilitating, pathological fear remains insufficiently treated, indicating the importance of research on fear processing. The goal is not to accept this core fear (e. Many theories have been proposed to explain the general process of. For example, an upcoming test or performance can motivate us to study or prepare for the challenge at hand.


Using the thermometer as a metaphor for understanding normal versus pathologic anxiety, one might consider normal anxiety as that which keys the body and prompts us to action in a way that helps us function better in life.Pathologic anxiety would prevent someone from doing what she wishes to do or from feeling how she would like to feel.
