Panic Disorders: A Case Study

The hypothesis that social anxiety disorder is associated with heightened self-focused attention has a long lineage and is well supported. Within the Clark and Wells (1995) model, self-focused attention increases the individuals awareness of interoceptive information that is likely to be taken as a sign that they are about to fail, or have failed, to convey an acceptable impression to others. In other words, individuals with social anxiety attend to their own internal experience, monitoring their performance and paying particular attention to signs of anxiety, including physical cues. Physical symptoms of social anxiety commonly reported including: palpitations, trembling, sweating, muscle tension, stomach pain, dry throat, hot or cold flashes, and headaches (Leahy et al., 2011). For some patients the physical symptoms
Panic Disorder. Although panic attacks can occur in the context of other anxiety disorders, panic disorder is diagnosed if the individual experiences persistent, unforeseen attacks and experiences continual apprehension either about having future attacks or about the repercussion of the attacks. Therefore, when the presence of a panic attack is identified, it is noted as a specifier rather than a primary diagnosis (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Sandra does experience panic attacks, but her primary concern is about fear of negative evaluation, whereas in panic disorder the concern is about the panic attacks themselves.
3. Depression. Social withdrawal and hypersensitivity to criticism may be present in major depression. However, these symptoms are mood-dependent and remit when the depressive episode resolves. Moreover, the worry related to social anxiety is about being negatively evaluated because of certain social behaviors or physical symptoms. Sandra has not reported or demonstrated any depressive symptoms other than occasional loneliness and insomnia. However, further evaluation is needed in order to assess and quantify her