Anxiety Flashcards
Anxiety and Fear
Anxiety is related to a sense of worry or dread, it is about evoking caution.
Fear is related to a sense of panic, it is about freezing, fleeing or fighting.
Symptoms of Anxiety
Faster breathing, tense muscles, rapid heart rate and nausea.
Inability to concentrate.
Distorted world perceptions.
Trait Anxiety = One’s general level of anxiety.
State Anxiety = Anxiety variations affected by situations.
When anxiety occurs, the mind responds in two ways…
1) Problem-solving efforts are increased
2) Defense mechanisms are triggered.
These are tactics where the ego develops to help deal with the ID and superego.
Defense Mechanisms Share 2 Properties:
1) They can operate unconsciously
2) They can transform, distort, or falsify reality in some way.
Various Defenses to hide/transform your anger:
Denial Suppression Projection Displacement Undoing Regression Sublimation Isolation of Effect Reaction Formation Intellectualization
Types of Anxiety Disorders
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) Phobic Disorder Panic Disorders Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders (OCD) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Generalised Anxiety Disorder
Free-floating anxiety or persistent/chronic anxiety.
Commonly appear in childhood.
Majority of people develop other disorders.
Symptoms: Muscular tension, vigilance, and scanning.
GAD Explanations
Sociocultural: Societal pressures make people feel that they cannot meet standards or their own abilities are underrated.
Biological: There is a genetic basis that increases sensitivity to anxiety which requires the use of drugs.
Behavioural: Patients become conditioned to fear more stimuli.
Humanism: Self-imposed pressures make people feel they cannot meet their own expectations or underrate their abilities.
Psychoanalytical: Ego defense mechanisms have failed and better regulation of defenses are needed.
Phobic Disorders
Phobias tend to vary by age.
Agoraphobia = avoidance of public places.
Social Phobias = Fear of exposure to scrutiny.
Simple Phobias = Persistent fear of objects or discrete events.
Treatment = Gradual Desensitization & Drug Therapies
Panic Disorders
Panic attacks are periodic, discrete bouts of panic that occur abruptly and reach a peak within 10 minutes.
Symptoms: Palpitations, shortness of breath, temperature changes, dizziness, tingling hands and feet.
Patients panic frequently, unpredictably, and without apparent cause.
Panic Disorder Explanations
Biological: Noradrenaline levels are high in these patients, due to an overly sensitive amygdala. Drugs that reduce noradrenaline levels help symptoms (e.g. antidepressants).
Cognitive-Biological: Patients react to an extreme bodily change (such as an illness) with panic. They overreact and fear the worst. This causes hyperventilation/panic attacks. If this cycle continues, then patients can regularly have panic attacks that are not set off by extreme bodily changes.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Persistent thoughts/wishes, about past or future.
Compelled to perform behaviours or mental acts.
Compulsive rituals are elaborate.
E.g cleaning, eating, verbal utterances
Begins in adolescence or early adulthood
No sex differences
Prevalence - 2%.
PTSD
The stressor is an intensely traumatic event - more disturbing than most human experiences. The stress reaction can occur immediately or within 3 months of the trauma (acute), or more than 6 months afterward (delayed).
Symptoms: flashbacks, nightmares, abuse of alcohol, depression, difficulty concentrating, hyper-alertness
