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Anxiety: How to Calm Your Thoughts and Quieten Your Mind
by Debbi MarcoLife’s journey is not always smooth sailing, but there are ways of charting your own course. This compact book is packed with simple but effective tips and advice to ease your mind in times of turbulence, and help you find calm in every situation.
Anxiety
by S. RachmanAnxiety is a complex phenomenon and a central feature of many psychological problems. This thoroughly revised edition of Anxiety has been updated to include astonishing developments in the in the clinical implementation of knowledge about anxiety. In particular, this edition updates the reader with: A new chapter on health anxiety A fully updated chapter on obsessive compulsive disorders, including the concept of mental contamination and the causes of obsessions An account of advances in therapeutic techniques. Unique in combining an introduction to the subject with comprehensive coverage of the latest developments in research and practice, this book provides excellent breadth and depth of coverage which all practicing and trainee clinical psychologists, and students of clinical psychology, will find extremely informative.
Anxiety
by Stanley J. RachmanAnxiety is a complex phenomenon and a central feature of many psychological problems. This thoroughly revised edition of Anxiety has been updated to include astonishing developments in the in the clinical implementation of knowledge about anxiety. In particular, this edition updates the reader with: A new chapter on health anxiety A fully updated chapter on obsessive compulsive disorders, including the concept of mental contamination and the causes of obsessions An account of advances in therapeutic techniques. Unique in combining an introduction to the subject with comprehensive coverage of the latest developments in research and practice, this book provides excellent breadth and depth of coverage which all practicing and trainee clinical psychologists, and students of clinical psychology, will find extremely informative.
Anxiety
by Stanley J. RachmanAnxiety is a complex phenomenon and a central feature of many psychological problems. This thoroughly revised edition of Anxiety has been updated to include astonishing developments in the in the clinical implementation of knowledge about anxiety. In particular, this edition updates the reader with: A new chapter on health anxiety A fully updated chapter on obsessive compulsive disorders, including the concept of mental contamination and the causes of obsessions An account of advances in therapeutic techniques. Unique in combining an introduction to the subject with comprehensive coverage of the latest developments in research and practice, this book provides excellent breadth and depth of coverage which all practicing and trainee clinical psychologists, and students of clinical psychology, will find extremely informative.
Anxiety (Clinical Psychology: A Modular Course)
by Stanley J. RachmanAnxiety is a complex phenomenon and a central feature of many psychological problems. This new edition of Anxiety, part of the popular Clinical Psychology: A Modular Course Series, updates the remarkable developments that have occurred in the understanding of Anxiety and the astonishing dissemination of effective methods of treatment. This book details the growth of positive psychology, with its emphasis on learned optimism and resilience, is influencing clinical psychology and psychological therapy, and explains the new concept of prospection, a key element in positive psychology based on the human ability to imagine thoughts and images about the future. It is said that we are influenced by the past but drawn into the future, and this notion has significant implications for anxiety. The recent infusion of positivity into theorising about anxiety, has introduced a welcome balance into our understanding of this phenomenon. This informative book covers the latest developments in research, therapy and theorising, containing numerous case-history illustrations about Anxiety. It should appeal to practising and trainee psychologists and practitioners in related fields.
Anxiety (Clinical Psychology: A Modular Course)
by Stanley J. RachmanAnxiety is a complex phenomenon and a central feature of many psychological problems. This new edition of Anxiety, part of the popular Clinical Psychology: A Modular Course Series, updates the remarkable developments that have occurred in the understanding of Anxiety and the astonishing dissemination of effective methods of treatment. This book details the growth of positive psychology, with its emphasis on learned optimism and resilience, is influencing clinical psychology and psychological therapy, and explains the new concept of prospection, a key element in positive psychology based on the human ability to imagine thoughts and images about the future. It is said that we are influenced by the past but drawn into the future, and this notion has significant implications for anxiety. The recent infusion of positivity into theorising about anxiety, has introduced a welcome balance into our understanding of this phenomenon. This informative book covers the latest developments in research, therapy and theorising, containing numerous case-history illustrations about Anxiety. It should appeal to practising and trainee psychologists and practitioners in related fields.
Anxiety: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy with Children and Young People (CBT with Children, Adolescents and Families)
by Paul StallardCognitive behavioural therapy has proven to be an effective treatment for anxiety disorders in children and young people. This book provides an overview of CBT and explores how it can be used to help children with anxiety disorders. In Anxiety: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy with Children and Young People Paul Stallard describes the nature and extent of anxiety problems that are suffered in childhood and discusses evidence for the effectiveness of the cognitive behavioural model as a method of treatment. This concise and accessible book, written specifically for the clinician, provides a clear outline of how CBT can be used with children suffering from anxiety disorders in an easy to follow format. The book provides many ideas that can be incorporated into everyday practice, as well as clinical vignettes, case examples, and worksheets for use with the client. This straightforward text will prove essential reading for professionals involved with children who have significant anxiety problems including mental health workers, social services staff and those working in educational settings. The final chapter of this book contains worksheets that can be downloaded free of charge to purchasers of the print version. Please visit the website to find out more about this facility.
Anxiety: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy with Children and Young People (CBT with Children, Adolescents and Families)
by Paul StallardCognitive behavioural therapy has proven to be an effective treatment for anxiety disorders in children and young people. This book provides an overview of CBT and explores how it can be used to help children with anxiety disorders. In Anxiety: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy with Children and Young People Paul Stallard describes the nature and extent of anxiety problems that are suffered in childhood and discusses evidence for the effectiveness of the cognitive behavioural model as a method of treatment. This concise and accessible book, written specifically for the clinician, provides a clear outline of how CBT can be used with children suffering from anxiety disorders in an easy to follow format. The book provides many ideas that can be incorporated into everyday practice, as well as clinical vignettes, case examples, and worksheets for use with the client. This straightforward text will prove essential reading for professionals involved with children who have significant anxiety problems including mental health workers, social services staff and those working in educational settings. The final chapter of this book contains worksheets that can be downloaded free of charge to purchasers of the print version. Please visit the website to find out more about this facility.
Anxiety: Psychological Perspectives on Panic and Agoraphobia
by Author UnknownThis volume analyses the perplexing and often disabling form of distress known as anxiety from a psychological rather than a biomedical perspective, illustrating the rich contribution that psychological theory has made and is making to this topic.**The first section extensively examines the clinical literature, describing and delineating with case examples the cluster of characteristic features termed panic-anxiety. Research findings in other clinical areas such as alcohol dependence are shown to have conceptual and empirical links with panic-anxiety. The second section of the book reviews and evaluates the main theoretical approaches to anxiety, including specific models of panic and agoraphobia, challenging many traditional assumptions and advocating the analysis of anxiety as a socially constructed meaning imposed on experience rather than a theoretical concept or psychopathological state. The methodological implications are discussed and a schematic model of panic-anxiety is proposed.**The theoretical integration represents a major contribution to the resurgence of interest in this field and will be of relevance to all researchers and postgraduate students within the mental health professions.**FROM THE PREFACE: This book has two main objectives. The first is to describe a dimension of psychological distress I have called panic-anxiety. This takes up the first part of the book, which surveys literature that is primarily descriptive and psychiatric. The second objective is pursued in the second part of the book, in which I examine a large number of theories of anxiety to see what they might have to offer in explaining the panic-anxiety cluster of complaints. I am therefore concerned to apply psychological theory to a real-world problem, that is, to what people who seek professional help loosely describe as panic, anxiety and fears of public situations.**The theoretical and experimental literature on anxiety is so vast that I have had to be disciplined and in no small measure prejudiced in favour of a particular theoretical perspective. I have attempted as far as possible to treat anxiety as a lay construct, that is, as a social construction and not a scientific concept. For this reason, I have endeavoured to refer to reports of anxiety or to complaints of anxiety in order to avoid the common tendency to reify anxiety as a an entity which exists independently of the social origins of the term. Accordingly, I believe that the relevant question to ask is not, What is anxiety? but, What are the antecedents of reports (or complaints) of anxiety?**It is intended that this book should provide a coherent perspective on a common form of psychological distress, of value to therapists, researchers and students of abnormal psychology. In many ways, the problems for which people seek help do not define 'natural' areas of scientific research, and so it is difficult to combine theoretical and practical interests in one book. The complaints with which I am particularly concerned--panic and fears of public places--can be analysed to reveal scientific questions which have a significance much wider than the explanation of particular complaints made to professionals working in a clinical context. Apart from its obvious social significance, a clinical area is therefore simply a point of departure for scientific investigation. My intention, then, is to use this clinical area as an illustration of how such problems might be tackled from a theoretical perspective which is essentially psychological.**The theoretical position I have adopted owes much to the views of Sarbin (1964, 1968), Mandler (1975) and Averill (1980a,b). In taking anxiety to be a lay construct, I assume that the 'What is?' questions rightly belong to the sociology of knowledge. Of course, the applied psychologist also has substantive issues to consider.
Anxiety and Anxiolytic Drugs (Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology #169)
by Florian Holsboer Andreas StröhleThe present volume gives a comprehensive overview on the current state of basic and clinical research on Anxiety and Anxiolytic Drugs. Using newly developed methods and techniques researchers are now beginning to understand the molecular mechanisms of anxiety, anxiety disorders and their treatment. In parallel, new drug targets have been generated and the first clinical studies with new compounds have been started. In 20 chapters written by numerous experts in the field comprehensive information on all relevant topics is provided.
Anxiety and Behavior
by Charles D. SpielbergerAnxiety and Behavior focuses on the analysis of factors and conditions that contribute to anxiety, including stress, emotional disturbance, and psychosomatic disorders. The selection first offers information on theories and research on anxiety and the nature and measurement of anxiety. Topics include objective anxiety (fear) and neurotic anxiety, trends in anxiety research, anxiety and personality dynamics, and laws of anxiety change in pathological and other fields. The text then elaborates on questions and problems on the measurement of anxiety in children, including reservations about anxiety scales, concept of defense, and suggestions on the interpretation of anxiety scales. The publication reviews the psychosomatic aspects of anxiety, basis of psychopathology, and clinical origins of the activation concept. Discussions focus on anxiety and stress, observations of anxiety in men under stress, etiology of psychosomatic disorders, emotional disturbance, and activation. The text also considers conditioning and deconditioning of neurotic anxiety and interaction of cognitive and physiological determinants of emotional state. The selection is a dependable reference for readers interested in the study of anxiety.
Anxiety and Depression in Children and Adolescents: Assessment, Intervention, and Prevention
by Thomas J. HubertyAlthough generally considered adult disorders, anxiety and depression are widespread among children and adolescents, affecting academic performance, social development, and long-term outcomes. They are also difficult to treat and, especially when they occur in tandem, tend to fly under the diagnostic radar.Anxiety and Depression in Children and Adolescents offers a developmental psychology perspective for understanding and treating these complex disorders as they manifest in young people. Adding the school environment to well-known developmental contexts such as biology, genetics, social structures, and family, this significant volume provides a rich foundation for study and practice by analyzing the progression of pathology and the critical role of emotion regulation in anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and in combination. Accurate diagnostic techniques, appropriate intervention methods, and empirically sound prevention strategies are given accessible, clinically relevant coverage. Illustrative case examples and an appendix of forms and checklists help make the book especially useful. Featured in the text: Developmental psychopathology of anxiety, anxiety disorders, depression, and mood disorders. Differential diagnosis of the anxiety and depressive disorders. Assessment measures for specific conditions. Age-appropriate interventions for anxiety and depression, including CBT and pharmacotherapy. Multitier school-based intervention and community programs. Building resilience through prevention.Anxiety and Depression in Children and Adolescents is an essential reference for practitioners, researchers, and graduate students in school and clinical child psychology, mental health and school counseling, family therapy, psychiatry, social work, and education.
Anxiety and Depression in Primary Care: International Perspectives (WONCA Family Medicine)
by Sherina Mohd Sidik Felicity Goodyear-SmithThis book provides practical information about depression and anxiety in primary care, with a focus on the approach in different countries and incorporating global ranges/prevalence, risk factors and health burden including that associated with COVID-19 and its pandemic. To ensure the challenges of a wide international primary care community are reflected fully, authors from different world regions – Africa, Asia Pacific, East Mediterranean, Europe, IberoAmericana-CIMF, North America and South Asia – have co-contributed to individual chapters on the detection and management of depression and anxiety in primary care in their own countries, including the screening tools used, how widely these tools are adopted and by whom, and current policies. As well as the medical model, it also presents the alternative viewpoint that feeling low or anxious is part of the human condition and the attention should be on supporting people in their journey through life, struggling to deal with the mainly social challenges they meet, rather than defining these problems as disorders or diseases requiring identification and treatment. Key Features: Explores the instruments used for the detection of depression and anxiety in primary care in various countries, and why and how these instruments are being used Describes the pharmaceutical and non-drug interventions for treating depression and anxiety in primary care and compares the similarities and differences in detecting and managing depression and anxiety in primary care among different countries Includes in-depth regional examples of how screening tools are used in practice and how policies can be established in the management of depression and anxiety in primary care Concludes with lessons learned from various countries and from different stakeholders with clear advice on what to do and, importantly, what not to do Addressing primary care detection and management of mental health issues across the globe, the book will be an invaluable practical aid for family medicine practitioners and the wider primary and community care teams and a useful reference for those involved in policy setting at regional and national levels including ministries of health.
Anxiety and Depression in Primary Care: International Perspectives (WONCA Family Medicine)
by Sherina Mohd Sidik Felicity Goodyear-SmithThis book provides practical information about depression and anxiety in primary care, with a focus on the approach in different countries and incorporating global ranges/prevalence, risk factors and health burden including that associated with COVID-19 and its pandemic. To ensure the challenges of a wide international primary care community are reflected fully, authors from different world regions – Africa, Asia Pacific, East Mediterranean, Europe, IberoAmericana-CIMF, North America and South Asia – have co-contributed to individual chapters on the detection and management of depression and anxiety in primary care in their own countries, including the screening tools used, how widely these tools are adopted and by whom, and current policies. As well as the medical model, it also presents the alternative viewpoint that feeling low or anxious is part of the human condition and the attention should be on supporting people in their journey through life, struggling to deal with the mainly social challenges they meet, rather than defining these problems as disorders or diseases requiring identification and treatment. Key Features: Explores the instruments used for the detection of depression and anxiety in primary care in various countries, and why and how these instruments are being used Describes the pharmaceutical and non-drug interventions for treating depression and anxiety in primary care and compares the similarities and differences in detecting and managing depression and anxiety in primary care among different countries Includes in-depth regional examples of how screening tools are used in practice and how policies can be established in the management of depression and anxiety in primary care Concludes with lessons learned from various countries and from different stakeholders with clear advice on what to do and, importantly, what not to do Addressing primary care detection and management of mental health issues across the globe, the book will be an invaluable practical aid for family medicine practitioners and the wider primary and community care teams and a useful reference for those involved in policy setting at regional and national levels including ministries of health.
Anxiety and Depression Workbook For Dummies
by Laura L. SmithTackle anxiety and depression head-on with this practical workbook If you're one of the millions of people affected by—or whose loved ones are affected by—anxiety and depression, you're probably looking for strategies to help subdue or even transcend these debilitating and painful disorders. In that case, Anxiety and Depression Workbook For Dummies is a great place to start. This book is filled with chapters that cut across diagnostic categories, incorporating treatment techniques based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Emotion Focused Therapy, and Interpersonal Therapy. Use the techniques explored in this book to start making real changes, which can quickly lead to you feeling better. It also includes: Practical and hands-on descriptions of mindfulness-based practices you can implement immediately Brand-new updates to reflect modern changes in technology, social media, and the prevalence of loneliness Consideration of the pros and cons of medications and other biological interventions for depression and anxiety, including exploration of the placebo effect Additional worksheets online available for download Perfect for anyone trying to work through the challenging issues presented by anxiety and depression, for those trying to help a loved one do the same thing, or for those in therapy, this book is an excellent supporting resource that can help contribute to positive changes in the lives of people affected by emotional distress.
Anxiety and Depression Workbook For Dummies
by Laura L. SmithTackle anxiety and depression head-on with this practical workbook If you're one of the millions of people affected by—or whose loved ones are affected by—anxiety and depression, you're probably looking for strategies to help subdue or even transcend these debilitating and painful disorders. In that case, Anxiety and Depression Workbook For Dummies is a great place to start. This book is filled with chapters that cut across diagnostic categories, incorporating treatment techniques based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Emotion Focused Therapy, and Interpersonal Therapy. Use the techniques explored in this book to start making real changes, which can quickly lead to you feeling better. It also includes: Practical and hands-on descriptions of mindfulness-based practices you can implement immediately Brand-new updates to reflect modern changes in technology, social media, and the prevalence of loneliness Consideration of the pros and cons of medications and other biological interventions for depression and anxiety, including exploration of the placebo effect Additional worksheets online available for download Perfect for anyone trying to work through the challenging issues presented by anxiety and depression, for those trying to help a loved one do the same thing, or for those in therapy, this book is an excellent supporting resource that can help contribute to positive changes in the lives of people affected by emotional distress.
Anxiety and Mood Disorders Following Traumatic Brain Injury: Clinical Assessment and Psychotherapy (The Brain Injuries Series)
by Rudi CoetzerWhile there are many excellent texts addressing cognitive impairment and behavioural difficulties and on rehabilitation associated with traumatic brain injury, few textbooks specifically address the most common emotional problems that can have such an adverse effect on rehabilitation and outcome. Uniquely this book deals exclusively with the identification and psychotherapeutic management of mood and anxiety disorders after traumatic brain injury. Furthermore, a systematic approach to identifying and diagnosing anxiety and mood disorders is followed throughout the text. As well as providing an introduction to anxiety and mood disorders after traumatic brain injury, it provides a psychological perspective on their evolution and management. It is aimed at a range of professionals in training (or those responsible for providing training in psychopathology, neuropsychology and psychotherapy), as well as those who may have an interest in working with the type of patients with anxiety or depression, commonly seen in post-acute brain injury rehabilitation settings. Case studies, summaries and suggested references for further reading are used throughout to facilitate understanding and teaching where relevant.
Anxiety and Mood Disorders Following Traumatic Brain Injury: Clinical Assessment and Psychotherapy (The Brain Injuries Series)
by Rudi CoetzerWhile there are many excellent texts addressing cognitive impairment and behavioural difficulties and on rehabilitation associated with traumatic brain injury, few textbooks specifically address the most common emotional problems that can have such an adverse effect on rehabilitation and outcome. Uniquely this book deals exclusively with the identification and psychotherapeutic management of mood and anxiety disorders after traumatic brain injury. Furthermore, a systematic approach to identifying and diagnosing anxiety and mood disorders is followed throughout the text. As well as providing an introduction to anxiety and mood disorders after traumatic brain injury, it provides a psychological perspective on their evolution and management. It is aimed at a range of professionals in training (or those responsible for providing training in psychopathology, neuropsychology and psychotherapy), as well as those who may have an interest in working with the type of patients with anxiety or depression, commonly seen in post-acute brain injury rehabilitation settings. Case studies, summaries and suggested references for further reading are used throughout to facilitate understanding and teaching where relevant.
Anxiety and Neurosis
by Charles RycroftAnxiety may be debilitating or stimulating; it can result in neurotic symptoms or in improved, heightened performance in an actor or athlete. It is something every human being has experienced. As Professor G. M. Carstairs points out in his Foreword: 'During the course of the twentieth century we have found it progressively easier to concede that we are all to often swayed by emotion rather than reason. We have come to recognize the symptoms of neurotically ill patients are only an exaggeration of experiences common to us all, and hence that the unraveling of the psychodynamics of neurosis can teach us more about ourselves'. Although Charles Rycroft is also a psychoanalyst, it is as a biologist that he has made this study of anxiety, the three basic responses to it - attack, flight or submission - and the obsessional, phobic and schizoid and hysterical defenses. Written in precise but everyday language, Anxiety and Neurosis is based on adult experiences rather than the speculative theories of infantile instinctual development. Its clarity and authority can only add to Dr Rycroft's established international reputation.
Anxiety and Neurosis
by Charles RycroftAnxiety may be debilitating or stimulating; it can result in neurotic symptoms or in improved, heightened performance in an actor or athlete. It is something every human being has experienced. As Professor G. M. Carstairs points out in his Foreword: 'During the course of the twentieth century we have found it progressively easier to concede that we are all to often swayed by emotion rather than reason. We have come to recognize the symptoms of neurotically ill patients are only an exaggeration of experiences common to us all, and hence that the unraveling of the psychodynamics of neurosis can teach us more about ourselves'. Although Charles Rycroft is also a psychoanalyst, it is as a biologist that he has made this study of anxiety, the three basic responses to it - attack, flight or submission - and the obsessional, phobic and schizoid and hysterical defenses. Written in precise but everyday language, Anxiety and Neurosis is based on adult experiences rather than the speculative theories of infantile instinctual development. Its clarity and authority can only add to Dr Rycroft's established international reputation.
Anxiety and Panic: How to reshape your anxious mind and brain (The Flag Series #1)
by Dr Harry BarryTHE NUMBER 1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERA practical guide to understanding, managing and overcoming anxiety and panic attacks by bestselling author and GP Harry Barry. Do you or does someone you love suffer from general anxiety, social anxiety, panic attacks, a phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder? Or are you a health-care worker treating people with these disorders? Then this book is for you. Dr Harry Barry combines a deep knowledge of the inner workings of the mind and brain with a wealth of experience treating patients as a GP to offer a way out of the fear, worry and shame of anxiety. In this wise, supportive book, Dr Barry explains clearly and simply what it is about our minds and brains that generates the symptoms of anxiety. Through a series of case studies based on his real-life experiences treating patients, he explains and demonstrates how to use lifestyle changes, mindfulness, exercise and CBT techniques to cope with these symptoms and ultimately feel better.Previously published as Flagging Anxiety: How to Reshape Your Anxious Mind and Brain, this edition has been fully revised and updated.
Anxiety and Panic Attacks: Your Questions Answered (Q&A Health Guides)
by Daniel Zwillenberg PsyDA new title in the Q&A Health Guides series, this book tackles readers' questions regarding anxiety and panic attacks, dispelling misconceptions and examining real-world scenarios that highlight important concepts and controversies.How is social anxiety different from shyness or introversion? Are anxiety disorders only a problem in the Western, industrialized world, and if not, are they expressed differently in other cultures? Why do some people suffer from panic attacks while others do not? What kinds of therapy and medication are available for anxiety? What happens in therapy? How can well-meaning family and friends help a person with an anxiety disorder rather than make things worse? Anxiety and Panic Attacks: Your Questions Answered addresses all of these topics and much more, presenting information in a question-and-answer format that makes finding the desired information easy. The book begins with a "Guide to Health Literacy" section that explains what health literacy is and provides readers with tools to improve their health literacy, and then examines five myths and misconceptions about anxiety and supplies five case studies that provide real-world context and reinforce the concepts discussed in the book. All of the Greenwood Q&A Health Guides series books are specifically designed to provide readers with authoritative yet accessible answers to their questions in a concise, targeted resource that they can trust to be medically accurate.
Anxiety and Panic Attacks: Your Questions Answered (Q&A Health Guides)
by Daniel Zwillenberg PsyDA new title in the Q&A Health Guides series, this book tackles readers' questions regarding anxiety and panic attacks, dispelling misconceptions and examining real-world scenarios that highlight important concepts and controversies.How is social anxiety different from shyness or introversion? Are anxiety disorders only a problem in the Western, industrialized world, and if not, are they expressed differently in other cultures? Why do some people suffer from panic attacks while others do not? What kinds of therapy and medication are available for anxiety? What happens in therapy? How can well-meaning family and friends help a person with an anxiety disorder rather than make things worse? Anxiety and Panic Attacks: Your Questions Answered addresses all of these topics and much more, presenting information in a question-and-answer format that makes finding the desired information easy. The book begins with a "Guide to Health Literacy" section that explains what health literacy is and provides readers with tools to improve their health literacy, and then examines five myths and misconceptions about anxiety and supplies five case studies that provide real-world context and reinforce the concepts discussed in the book. All of the Greenwood Q&A Health Guides series books are specifically designed to provide readers with authoritative yet accessible answers to their questions in a concise, targeted resource that they can trust to be medically accurate.
Anxiety and Personality: The Concept of a Directing Object and its Applications
by Karl KoenigThe concept of a "directing object" is based on extensive clinical observations linked to a combination of ego psychology and object relations theory in the tradition of Otto Kernberg and Anne Marie and Joseph Sandler. People with a phobic disposition are those who were not, during childhood, permitted to learn by trial and error and thus gain confidence in their actions. They did not learn to direct their own actions and did not develop confidence in their capability to act successfully. In their inner world, they did not establish an internal directing object. Thus, they now need an external directing object, who watches over them. This has considerable influence on interpersonal relationships and on work. Phobic persons can work without difficulty when there is a external directing object, but they will not be able to work without such a companion. In therapy, they use their therapist as a directing object, which can create the illusion that the phobic patient is already much better. However the patient will fall back into phobic symptomatology when the therapist is no longer available as a directing object. Applying the concept of a directing object helps to understand a phobic person's psychodynamics. This will improve the results of therapy, and also help phobic persons to compensate difficulties arising from the lack of a companion, and deal with difficulties in finding and keeping one. Therapy can help them to develop their own internal directing object.
Anxiety and Personality: The Concept of a Directing Object and its Applications
by Karl KoenigThe concept of a "directing object" is based on extensive clinical observations linked to a combination of ego psychology and object relations theory in the tradition of Otto Kernberg and Anne Marie and Joseph Sandler. People with a phobic disposition are those who were not, during childhood, permitted to learn by trial and error and thus gain confidence in their actions. They did not learn to direct their own actions and did not develop confidence in their capability to act successfully. In their inner world, they did not establish an internal directing object. Thus, they now need an external directing object, who watches over them. This has considerable influence on interpersonal relationships and on work. Phobic persons can work without difficulty when there is a external directing object, but they will not be able to work without such a companion. In therapy, they use their therapist as a directing object, which can create the illusion that the phobic patient is already much better. However the patient will fall back into phobic symptomatology when the therapist is no longer available as a directing object. Applying the concept of a directing object helps to understand a phobic person's psychodynamics. This will improve the results of therapy, and also help phobic persons to compensate difficulties arising from the lack of a companion, and deal with difficulties in finding and keeping one. Therapy can help them to develop their own internal directing object.