This article explores what we refer to as norm‐stimuli‐state discrepancies, which are disparities between people's physical‐emotional responses to emotional cues and the normative meanings of those cues. Drawing on forty qualitative interviews and participant observation research at support groups, we show that people with anxiety disorders describe two forms of norm‐stimuli‐state discrepancies. The first form involves discrepancies of type, in which people label fearful emotional states as deviant for being caused by the “wrong” stimuli. The second involves discrepancies of intensity, in which people label fearful states as deviant for involving feelings or displays of “too much” anxiety in response to an “appropriate” stimuli. The article further addresses the role of stimuli in prompting treatment seeking. Unexpected and intense emotional distress in combination with the falling away of external cues—which we refer to as “stimuli‐less fear”—serve as a critical juncture on the path to an anxiety disorder diagnosis.

中文翻译：

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情绪失调：焦虑症和恐惧的社会意义

本文探讨了我们称之为规范-刺激-状态的差异，这是人的情感线索物理情绪反应和这些线索的规范意义之间的差距。通过对支持小组的四十次定性访谈和参与者观察研究，我们发现焦虑症患者描述了两种形式的正常刺激状态差异。第一种形式涉及类型差异，在这种差异中，人们将恐惧的情绪状态标记为是由“错误”刺激引起的。第二个涉及强度差异，人们将恐惧状态标记为对响应“适当”刺激而产生的“过多”焦虑的感觉或表现出的偏差。该文章进一步论述了刺激在促使寻求治疗中的作用。意外的，强烈的情绪困扰以及外部线索的消失（我们称为“无刺激的恐惧”）是焦虑症诊断道路上的关键关头。