Sociocultural and Multicultural Considerations

Welcome back to Module

3, Anxiety Disorders. This is Lecture 5, Sociocultural and Multicultural

Considerations. Recall from Module 1, we learned that sociocultural

and multicultural factors are best used to supplement

the other models in use. This is certainly the case here. As we consider issues of

family, society, and culture, bear in mind that these issues deepen our understanding of the biological and

cognitive-behavioral models of anxiety disorders rather

than replace them. Researchers have

studied the impact of parenting styles on the

experience of anxiety. A style of parenting often referred to as

overprotective parenting, has been identified

as a contributor to the development of anxiety

disorders later on in life. Overprotective parents

demonstrate a strong tendency to go to great lengths to rescue their children from

challenging situations or to prevent

challenging situations from happening altogether. In colder climates,

this style is sometimes referred to

as snowplow parenting. As it calls up the

image of a snowplow pushing all the snow off

the roads so people can drive their cars

without worrying about the possibility of sliding off the road or becoming stuck. Snowplow parents strive to

remove all obstacles from their children's paths so they

can make their way through their lives with no barriers or obstacles to slow them down. Research indicates

this parenting style prevents children from having the opportunities to experience difficulties

and distress, and then learn how to manage it and tolerate it on their own. As a result, they grow

up without developing the self-confidence

that they can handle whatever difficulties

arise in their lives. The combination of this

parenting style with a child who possesses a biological or genetic vulnerability to anxiety can result in the child experiencing excessive

amounts of anxiety and potentially later on developing

an anxiety disorder. Other research has looked at broader community-based

factors and the roles they play in the development of

anxiety disorders. Factors such as

chronic life stress, poverty, family disruptions, and community crime all increase the likelihood

that individuals who experience them over

an extended period of time will develop

anxiety disorders. For example, studies have found significantly

higher rates of anxiety disorders among people living in chronically

threatening conditions, such as near nuclear

power plants or in high crime neighborhoods. In North America, research shows that people living

beneath the poverty line have twice the rate of generalized anxiety disorder as people who are not

living in poverty. Another life stressor that

can raise their likelihood of developing an anxiety disorder

is chronic discrimination. A country or

community in which a particular racial,

ethnic, religious, or sexual minority

group experiences ongoing stress and threat from the constant presence

of discrimination, sets the stage for the members

of that group to be at increased risk for developing

anxiety disorders. Most of the research into

this experience involves the presence of post-traumatic

stress disorder, or PTSD. While long considered a form of anxiety disorder by the

US diagnostic system, PTSD has in recent

years been placed into a separate category

of psychological disorder. We will discuss PTSD

in the next module. Our next lecture will be the

last one in this module, so it will be the

third lecture in the foundations of

empathy series. In the next lecture, we're going to talk more about core supportive skills and

active listening techniques.