Anxiety Flashcards
Explain the different symptoms of anxiety
- Panic, fear, uneasiness.
- Feelings of restlessness, panic, doom, or danger.
- Sleep problems
- Not being able to stay calm and still
- Cold, sweaty, numb, or tingling hands or feet
- Shortness of breath
- Breathing faster and more quickly than normal (hyperventilation.)
- Heart palpitations
- Dry mouth
- Nausea
- Tense muscles
- Dizziness
- Thinking about a problem over and over again and unable to stop (rumination).
- Inability to concentrate.
- Intensely or obsessively avoiding feared objects or places.
Explain what an anxiety disorder is
Anxiety or worrying is uncontrollable especially with no rationale cause.
Worried or anxious nearly every day for at least 6 months.
Many patients are troubled by severe and persistent symptoms that cause significant personal distress, impair function and reduce quality of life.
To meet the diagnosis of an anxiety disorder, patients have to experience a number of symptoms for more than a minimum specified period, the symptoms causing significant personal distress, with an associated impairment in everyday function
Explain generalised anxiety disorder
Characterised by excessive and inappropriate worrying that is persistent (lasting more than a few months) and not restricted to particular circumstances. Patients have physical anxiety symptoms and key psychological symptoms (restlessness, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, irritability, muscle tension and disturbed sleep).
Generalised anxiety disorder is often co-morbid with major depression, panic disorder, phobic anxiety disorders, health anxiety and obsessive-compulsive
disorder.
Explain panic disorder
- Panic disorder is characterised by recurrent unexpected surges of severe anxiety (‘panic attacks’), with varying degrees of anticipatory anxiety between attacks.
- Panic attacks are discrete periods of intense fear or discomfort, accompanied by multiple physical or psychological anxiety symptoms.
- Panic attacks typically reach their peak within 10 minutes and last around 30 to 45 minutes.
- Most patients develop a fear of having further panic attacks.
- Around two-thirds of patients with panic disorder develop agoraphobia, defined as fear in places or situations from which escape might be difficult or in which help might not be available, in the event of having a panic attack. These situations include being in a crowd, being outside the home, or using public transport: they are either avoided or endured with significant personal distress.
Explain social phobia (social anxiety disorder)
Social Phobia
• Social phobia is characterised by a marked, persistent and unreasonable fear of being observed or evaluated negatively by other people, in social or performance situations, which is associated with physical and psychological anxiety symptoms.
• Feared situations (such as speaking to unfamiliar people or eating in public) are either avoided or are endured with significant distress.
• Social phobia (social anxiety disorder)
• Specific phobia is characterised by excessive or unreasonable fear of (and restricted to) single people, animals, objects, or situations (for example, dentists, spiders, lifts, flying, seeing blood) which are either avoided or are endured with significant personal distress.
Explain separation anxiety
Separation anxiety disorder is characterised by fear or anxiety concerning separation from those to whom an individual is attached: common features include excessive distress when experiencing or anticipating separation from home, and persistent and excessive worries about potential harms to attachment figures or untoward events that might result in separation.
Explain post traumatic stress disorder
• Post-traumatic stress disorder is characterised by a history of exposure to trauma (actual or threatened death,
serious injury, or threats to the physical integrity of the self or others) with a response of intense fear, helplessness or horror.
• Later Development of intrusive symptoms (such as recollections, flashbacks or dreams),
• Avoidance symptoms (for example efforts to avoid activities or thoughts associated with the trauma),
• Negative alterations in cognitions and mood.
• Hyper-arousal symptoms (including disturbed sleep, hypervigilance and an exaggerated startle response).
Explain Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder is characterised by recurrent obsessive ruminations, images or impulses, and/or recurrent physical or mental rituals; which are distressing, time-
consuming and cause interference with social and occupational function.
• Common obsessions relate to contamination, accidents, and religious or sexual matters
Common rituals include: • Washing • Checking • Cleaning • Counting and touching
Explain illness anxiety disorder
Somatic symptom related disorder characterised by excessive or disproportionate preoccupations with having or acquiring a serious illness, with excessive health-related behaviours and high levels of alarm about personal health status
Explain anxiety in relation to the brain
Brain activity in Anxiety disorders now better understood with the development of functional and structural imaging. Amygdala is a key area in modulating fear and anxiety. Patients with anxiety disorders often show heightened amygdala response to anxiety cues. Hyperresponsiveness of the amygdala (may relate to reduced activation thresholds) when responding to perceived social threat
Explain the treatment recommendations for anxiety disorders
- Identifying which patients with anxiety disorders should undergo treatment.
- Many anxious individuals have mild symptoms of recent onset that are associated with stressful life events or troublesome situations, which will often improve without needing specific treatment.
- However, the chronic nature and significant associated disability of anxiety disorders means that most patients who fulfil the diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder – in terms of severity, duration, distress and impairment – are likely to benefit from some form of treatment, whether this is psychological or pharmacological
