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Question 1

Anxiety disorder

Answer 1

is the occurrence of anxiety without an obvious external cause that affects daily functioning.

Anxiety disorder is different than normal anxiety that we all feel as a reaction to a stressful situation.

Question 2

Three major types of anxiety disorders are

Answer 2

1. Phobic disorder
2. Panic disorder
3. Generalized anxiety disorder

Question 3

Specific phobia

Answer 3

is the intense, irrational fears
of specific objects or situations.

ex. Acrophobia - fear of heights or a more serious phobia - xenophobia (a fear of strangers)

Question 4

Although the objective danger posed by an anxiety producing stimulus is typically small or nonexistent

(Specific phobia)

Answer 4

but to the individual suffering from the phobia the danger is great, and a full-blown panic attack may follow exposure to the stimulus.

Question 5

Phobias may have only a minor impact on people’s lives

Answer 5

if those who suffer from them can avoid the stimuli that trigger fear.

Question 6

Agoraphobia

Answer 6

Fear of places, such as unfamiliar or crowded spaces, where help might not be available in case of emergency

Ex. Person becomes housebound because any place other than the person’s home arouses extreme anxiety symptoms.

Question 7

Specific Phobia:

Answer 7

Fear of specific objects, places, or situations

Question 8

Animal type Phobia

Answer 8

Specific animals or insects

ex. Person has extreme fear of dogs, cats, or spiders

Question 9

Natural environment type phobia

Answer 9

Events or situations in the natural environment

ex. Person has extreme fear of storms, heights, or water.

Question 10

Situational type phobia

Answer 10

Public transportation, tunnels,
bridges, elevators, flying, driving

ex. Person becomes extremely claustrophobic in elevators.

Question 11

Blood, injection, injury type phobia

Answer 11

ex. Person panics when viewing a child’s scraped knee.

Question 12

Social phobia

Answer 12

Fear of being judged or embarrassed by others

ex. Person avoids all social situations and becomes a recluse for fear of
encountering others’ judgment.

Question 13

Panic disorder

Answer 13

is the occurrence of panic attacks that last from a few seconds to a few hours.

Panic attacks seemingly come out of nowhere and are unconnected to any specific stimulus.

Question 14

Unlike phobias, panic disorders

Answer 14

are not triggered by any identifiable stimulus;
instead, during an attack, anxiety suddenly (and often without warning) rises to a peak, and an individual feels a sense of impending, unavoidable doom.

Question 15

Symptoms of Panic Disoders may include

Answer 15

heart palpitations, shortness of breath, unusual sweating, faintness and dizziness, an urge to urinate, gastric sensations, and (in extreme
cases) a sense of imminent death.

Question 16

In addition to the physical symptoms, panic disorder

Answer 16

affects how the brain processes information

People with panic disorder have reduced reactions in the anterior cingulate
cortex to stimuli.

It may be that recurring high levels of emotional arousal that patients with panic
disorder experience, desensitizes them to emotional stimuli.

Question 17

Because they don’t know what triggers their feelings of panic, victims of panic attacks

Answer 17

may become fearful of going places.

Question 18

agoraphobia

Answer 18

Some people with panic disorder develop

(the fear of being in a situation in which escape is difficult and in which help for a possible panic attack would not be available).

Question 19

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

Answer 19

is the occurrence of long-term, persistent anxiety and worry.

Sometimes their concerns are about identifiable issues (Ex. family, money, work, or health).

Or In other cases, people with the disorder feel
that something dreadful is about to happen but can’t identify the reason, experiencing “free-floating” anxiety.

Question 20

Due to the persistent anxiety, people with GAD

Answer 20

cannot concentrate, cannot set their worry and
fears aside; their lives become centred on their worry.

Their anxiety may eventually cause medical
problems.

Question 21

Genetic factors

Answer 21

are linked to Anxiety Disordors

Question 22

overactive autonomic nervous
system

Answer 22

may be at the root of panic attacks.

poor regulation of the brain’s locus coeruleus may lead to panic attacks, which cause the limbic system to become overstimulated.

Question 23

the overstimulated limbic system

Answer 23

produces chronic anxiety, which ultimately leads the ** locus coeruleus ** to generate still more panic attacks.

Question 24

The behavioural perspective emphasize environmental factors.

Answer 24

Consider anxiety to be a learned response to stress.

Ex. If a dog bites a young girl, when the girl next sees a dog, she is frightened and runs away—a
behaviour that relieves her anxiety and thereby reinforces her avoidance behaviour.

After repeated encounters with dogs in which she is reinforced for her avoidance behaviour, she may develop a full-fledged phobia regarding dogs.

Question 25

Cognitive perspective suggests that anxiety disorders

Answer 25

grow out of inappropriate and inaccurate thoughts and beliefs about circumstances in a person’s world.

Question 26

According to the cognitive perspective,

Answer 26

people’s maladaptive thoughts about the world are at the root of an anxiety disorder

Ex. People with anxiety disorders may view a friendly puppy as a ferocious and savage pit bull, or they may see an air disaster looming every moment they are in the vicinity of an airplane.

Question 27

The trauma- and stressor-related disorders are

Answer 27

a class of disorders in which exposure to a traumatic or stressful event is an explicit diagnostic criteria.

This category includes reactive attachment disorder, acute stress disorder, and—most notably—post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Question 28

Post-traumatic stress disorder

Answer 28

is a serious psychological disorder that affects all aspects of an individual’s functioning.

Question 29

key diagnostic criteria of PTSD is

Answer 29

exposure to trauma

Question 30

A second diagnostic criteria of PTSD is

Answer 30

intrusion symptoms, such as the involuntary, intrusive recollection of the traumatic event.

These occur along a continuum from full flashbacks where the person enters a dissociative state to distressing unwanted thoughts to disturbing nightmares about the traumatic event(s).

Question 31

Avoidance

Answer 31

is another diagnostic criteria for PTSD, whereby the individual will avoid external triggers or situations associated with the traumatic event(s).

This often leads to individuals with PTSD becoming increasingly socially isolated, and
usually impairs their ability to function in a significant way.

Question 32

Another diagnostic criteria of PTSD involves disturbances in thinking and mood.

Answer 32

Cognitive distortions could include persistent negative beliefs (“I am never safe”) or
personalization (“that person left the party the second that I showed up because they hate me”).

Question 33

The final diagnostic criteria of PTSD involves a disruptions in physiological arousal and reactivity.

Answer 33

This often manifests as hyper-vigilance, irritability, or self-destructive behaviours.

Question 34

causes of PTSD are identified

Answer 34

within the diagnostic criteria: namely, the experience of trauma, which the
DSM defines as “exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence”.

PTSD was once referred to as shellshock or battle fatigue, because it was thought to occur only in veterans of active combat.

Question 35

depending on a person’s perceptions of
the experience and their own individual vulnerability of traumatic experiences

Answer 35

can result in PTSD

Question 36

But even the most traumatic of experiences cannot induce PTSD in everyone.

Answer 36

In fact, only a minority of veterans of active combat that experience traumatic experience will develop PTSD

Risk of developing PTSD ranges from 10% to 30%.

Question 37

The risk of developing PTSD depends not only on the experience itself

Answer 37

but also on the individual’s neurological or genetic vulnerability, and past history of traumatic experiences.

This includes childhood experiences but also the experience of historical trauma