Think about a time when our heart pounded with a sudden sense of dread, breathing quickened and muscles tensed, as if unpleasant were going to happen. Its unspecified threat is termed anxiety.
The culture can play a significant role in development of anxiety disorder. Societal changes or personal qualities might act to relieve the stress. The maladaptive assumptions cause this disorder. Changing maladaptive assumptions by thinking rationally. Cognitive therapy is rational-emotive approach, trying to alter the numerous automatic thoughts that arise from the maladaptive assumptions of anxiety-prone persons and bombard their thinking in situation after situation. The therapist helps client recognize his or her automatic thoughts, observe the faulty logic and assumptions underlying them, and test the validity of the thoughts.
According to sociocultural perspective this disorder is more likely to develop in people who are confronted with societal pressure and situationsthat pose real danger. As clients increasingly recognize the inaccuracy of their automatic thoughts and underlying assumptions, they are expected to become less prone to see danger where there is none. A cognitive technique for coping with stress called self- instruction training or stress inoculation training. It is based on the belief that during stressful situations [self- statements] therapists teach self- instruction to the clients to rid themselves of negative self-statements and replace them with coping self – statements. They learn to say things to themselves that prepare them for a stressful situation and learn to reinforcing self- statements after coped effectively. People in highly threatening environments are indeed more likely to develop the general feelings of tension, anxiety, fatigue, the exaggerated startle reactions and the sleep disturbances. It appears that culture can play a significant role in development of anxiety disorder. Certain kinds of societal changes or personal qualities might act to relieve the stresses of modern society, and thus reduce the likelihood of people developing this disorder. Everyday experiences of anxiety are not pleasant; they have an adaptive function: they prepare us for action- ‘fight or flight’ when danger threatens. They may motivate us to drive more cautiously in a storm, keep up with our reading assignments, treat our date more sensitively and work harder at our job. Unfortunately some people suffer such continuous and disabling anxiety that cannot lead a normal life.