OCD and Anxiety Disorders: Crash Course Psychology #29

same. Natural selection, for example, can explain our fear of dangerous animals such as snakes and general fear of heights or small spaces. Our more vigilant ancestors, who were more careful and avoided cliff edges and snakes, likely lived longer and passed on their genes, and this may explain why these fears still exist and why people are afraid of snakes. despite living in Places without poisonous snakes. Genes and brain chemistry must also be taken into account. Studies have shown that identical twins, the most popular subject of study, are more likely to develop phobias even if they live apart from their twins.

Some researchers have observed that there are 17 different genes that appear to be expressed in various

anxiety

disorders

. So maybe some people are naturally more anxious than others and can pass this trait on to their children. Of

course

, different brains differ in the way they process

anxiety

. Physiologically, people who suffer from panic attacks, generalized anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorder exhibit excessive arousal in the parts of the brain related to emotional control and habit-forming behaviors. We do not know if this anomaly is a cause or result of the disorder, but it reinforces the fact that every psychological phenomenon is biological at the same time.

This also applies to many psychological

disorders

that we will talk about in the coming weeks, many of which have names that you may have heard used incorrectly. Today you learned the definition of anxiety disorder, as well as the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and phobias. He also learned about the two theories about the origin of anxiety disorders, the acquisition theory and the biological theory. I hope you've learned not to use the word "possessive" sarcastically anymore. Thanks for following us and a special thanks to our Subbable subscribers who allow us to continue preparing our show for them and others.

To see if you can support us, visit subbable.com/

crash

course

. This episode was written by Kathleen Yale, reviewed by Blake DeBastino, and mentored by Dr. Ranjit Bhagwat. The director and editor is Nicholas Jenkins, the script supervisor is Michael Aranda, who is also the sound designer, and the graphics are done by the Thought Café team.