An Update on Anxiety Disorders: Etiological, Cognitive & Neuroscientific Aspects

This book aims to synthesize recent theoretical and experimental findings from psychology, neuroscience, epigenetics and genetics to understand anxiety disorders and their etiology and treatments. Each anxiety disorder is discussed from cognitive, behavioral and biological perspectives. The book evaluates talk therapies, mindfulness-based interventions, brain stimulation, biofeedback and neurofeedback treatments. Chapters consider a biologically-informed framework for the understanding of anxiety disorders. In line with current thinking, the book integrates many levels of information (from genomics and circuits to behavior and self-report) to understand normal and abnormal human behaviors.

Synthesizing recent research on anxiety disorders according to their categorization in the DSM5, this book will bring psychology students, researchers, psychiatrists and psychologists up to date.

Marwa Azab has a master’s in Counseling Psychology and a PhD in Biological Sciences- Neuroscience. She has been teaching since 2004 and has delivered many academic lectures on anxiety disorders. She has also taught many courses that pertain to this subject: psychopharmacology, physiology of behavior, neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience.

She has also devised a full day seminar for mental health professionals to update their knowledge of anxiety disorders. She teaches these seminars through PESI (a continuing education institute) and professionals attend these seminars to fulfill their continuing education licensing requirements. The seminar presents recent evidence from cognitive psychology, neuroscience and epigenetics. It also explains which treatments are backed up by empirical research. She has trained hundreds professionals over the years. In addition, she has been invited by the American Psychological Association to deliver a half-day seminar at APA Convention2020. Her course for Stanford University Continuing Studies, ＂Anxiety Disorders and Evidence-Based Treatments,＂ is based on this textbook.

Currently, she is also contributing a chapter to an edited book commissioned by the American Psychiatry Association and Stanford University on Anxiety Disorders in Muslim Minorities.

Lastly, she writes for Psychology Today ＂Neuroscience in Everyday Life＂ and has more than 1.1 million views. She has delivered five TEDx talks, a couple of which have been translated into multiple languages. She has been interviewed by many news outlets such as Vice, The Daily Beast, KGO radio and BBC. Her most recent interview with BBC was to address anxiety and worry in times of pandemics.