The spectrum of anxiety from ‘normal’ anxiety to disorder

Fear and anxiety are experienced on a spectrum, stretching from basic ‘normal’ emotions to the categorical phenotypes of anxiety disorders.¹ Whilst much progress has been made in studying anxiety, it has been proposed that the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) – that attempt to develop an interdisciplinary science of psychopathology, creating a set of research principles to better investigate mental disorder – may be used to investigate the pathology underlying anxiety disorders, although there are challenges to doing to so.³

References:

1.American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Fifth Edition – text revision. © American Psychiatric Association, 2022.

2.Domschke K. Fear and anxiety – distinct or “kindred” phenomena? Biol Psychiatry Glob Open Sci 2022; 2 (4): 314–315.

3.Zoellner LA, Foa EB. Applying research domain criteria (RDoC) to the study of fear and anxiety: a critical comment. Psychophysiology 2016; 53 (3): 332–335.