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PSY2013- Biological Psychology with Research Methods 2 > 6- Anxiety > Flashcards

6- Anxiety Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the most common type of psychological disorder?

A

Anxiety disorders

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2
Q

How many people approximately suffer from an anxiety disorder at some point in their life?

A

30%

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3
Q

How many more people suffer from anxiety disorders than mood disorders?

A

Twice as much

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4
Q

How many anxiety disorders are recognised by the DSM-5?

A

9

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5
Q

How is fear characterised in specific phobias?

A

Persistent and irrational

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6
Q

What are specific phobias of?

A

Specific objects, activities or behaviours

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7
Q

How is social anxiety disorder characterised?

A

By overwhelming fear of social situations

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8
Q

How is generalised anxiety disorder characterised?

A

General anxiety that is not directed towards anything specific

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9
Q

How is panic disorder characterised?

A

By reoccurring and unexpected panic attacks

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10
Q

How is agoraphobia characterised?

A

By anxiety in situations where the person perceives their environment as unsafe

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11
Q

How are panic attacks characterised?

A

Feeling of sudden and intense fear and anxiety

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12
Q

8 physical symptoms of a panic attack

A
  1. Rapid irregular heart rate
  2. Sweating
  3. Trembling
  4. Breath shortness
  5. Chest pain
  6. Nausea
  7. Dizziness
  8. Dry mouth
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13
Q

How long do panic attacks usually last?

A

Less than 30 minutes

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14
Q

How many anxiety disorders involve panic attacks?

A

Most

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15
Q

Are panic attacks always triggered by a disorder?

A

No, they can occur spontaneously

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16
Q

When is the peak of anxiety?

A

A panic attack

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17
Q

What are physical symptoms of anxiety and panic similar to?

A

A fear response

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18
Q

What is activated in the fear response?

A

The sympathetic autonomic nervous system

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19
Q

4 responses triggered by the ‘fight-or-flight’ mechanism

A

Increased heart rate
Increased blood pressure
Depressed digestive functions
Mobilised glucose reserves

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20
Q

What understanding is also required in order to understand anxiety disorders?

A

Understanding of brain circuits that control fear responses and the sympathetic autonomic nervous system

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21
Q

Response controlled by the parasympathetic nervous system

A

‘Rest-and-digest’

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22
Q

How is the sympathetic nervous system controlled?

A

By activation of the ‘HPA axis’

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23
Q

What does the HPA axis stand for?

A

H= hypothalamic
P= pituitary
A= adrenal cortex

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24
Q

5 stages of the HPA axis

A
  1. Hypothalamus decides if a stimulus is stressful
  2. CRH released, stimulates pituitary gland to release hormones
  3. Stimulates adrenal cortex
  4. Hormone release
  5. Physical symptoms of anxiety/panic
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25
Q

Where is the amygdala in the brain?

A

Small brain region next to the hippocampus

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26
Q

Where does the amygdala receive sensory information from?

A

The cortex, thalamus and hippocampus

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27
Q

How does the amygdala trigger the fear response?

A

Sending projections to the hypothalamus

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28
Q

When is the amygdala critical?

A

In the fear response

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29
Q

Where is sensory info from the thalamus and cortex processed, and where is it next passed on to?

A

Processed in basolateral nucleus, passed on to central nucleus

30
Q

How has the involvement of the amygdala in fear conditioning been demonstrated?

A

In recording studies of mice and fMRI studies in humans

31
Q

When is the amygdala activated?

A

When seeing fearful faces

32
Q

What do patients with amygdala damage show and why?

A

Show much lower fear levels as they process face stimuli differently

33
Q

What brain damage did SM have?

A

Complete bilateral amygdala damage

34
Q

How was SM described?

A

As very outgoing, extremely friendly and uninhibited

35
Q

What was SM impaired in and why?

A

Recognising negative social cues (including fear in facial expression) as she doesn’t pay much attention to the eye region

36
Q

What was SM unable to detect?

A

Environmental threats

37
Q

How did SM display that she had no memory deficit?

A

She could remember events, they just didn’t cause her to change behaviours

38
Q

How was no fear response damaging for SM?

A

Meant that fear conditioning wasn’t established

39
Q

What is a common MRI finding of people with anxiety disorders?

A

Overactivity of amygdala to negative stimuli

40
Q

What is the process of fear conditioning?

A

Repeatedly presenting a neutral stimulus with an aversive unconditioned stimulus, causing a fear response to the conditioned stimulus

41
Q

How do patients with amygdala damage respond to fear conditioning?

A

Don’t show a normal physiological fear response to a conditioned stimulus, but remember the outcome of that stimulus

42
Q

What response do patients with hippocampal damage show in response to fear conditioning?

A

A physiological response but no recollection

43
Q

What is the amygdala associated with?

A

Emotional association and response

44
Q

What is the hippocampus associated with?

A

Fear memories

45
Q

What is the amygdala important for?

A

Processing fear and triggering the HPA axis (causing physical symptoms of anxiety and panic)

46
Q

What is caused by amygdala damage?

A

Reduced fear response

47
Q

What is seen regarding the amygdala in anxious patients?

A

Amygdala overactivity

48
Q

What is the hippocampus important for?

A

Fear memories

49
Q

What was the early treatment of anxiety disorders?

A

Benzodiazepines

50
Q

How do benzodiazepines work?

A

Increase GABA activity

51
Q

What is GABA and what does it produce?

A

An inhibitory neurotransmitter, produces sedative/anxiolytic effects

52
Q

What do benzodiazepines cause in the brain?

A

Reduced amygdala activity

53
Q

Why has drug treatment shifted away from benzodiazepines?

A

Due to dependence concerns

54
Q

What are now the first treatment choice for most anxiety disorders?

A

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)

55
Q

What do SSRIs do?

A

Increase levels of serotonin

56
Q

What does a single dose of SSRIs decrease?

A

Amygdala activation

57
Q

What does SSRI treatment reduce?

A

Amygdala activation and hippocampal activity under stress conditions

58
Q

What is extinction?

A

Conditioned fear responses are reduced when feared conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented by itself

59
Q

How does exposure therapy suppress fear inhibition?

A

Repeated exposure to CS only generates an inhibitory memory

60
Q

What occurs in fear conditioning?

A

CS is repeatedly presented by itself

61
Q

What is the result of fear extinction?

A

Conditioned fear response disappears over time

62
Q

How is it shown that extinction does not equal forgetting?

A

Memory for association is inhibited but not erased by fear extinction

63
Q

What brain area is involved in extinction?

A

Ventromedial prefrontal cortex

64
Q

What is shown in the brain after exposure therapy for a specific phobia?

A

Amygdala overactivation disappears after therapy and there is increased frontal cortex activity

65
Q

Why is there increased frontal cortex activity after exposure therapy?

A

Greater cognitive control of amygdala fear response

66
Q

How do the PFC and the amygdala interact?

A

PFC inhibits the amygdala

67
Q

What is a similarity between all anxiety disorders?

A

All characterised by an excessive fear response

68
Q

How could physical anxiety symptoms be explained?

A

By HPA activation

69
Q

When is the amygdala important?

A

For fear processing and activation of fear response

70
Q

What brain activity is often key in anxiety disorders?

A

Amygdala overactivity

71
Q

What are common treatment options for anxiety disorders?

A

Benzodiazepines and SSRIs

72
Q

How do treatments for anxiety disorders act?

A

To reduce amygdala activity

PSY2013- Biological Psychology with Research Methods 2 (37 decks)

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