Anxiety

Question 1

Dimensions of anxiety

Answer 1

-Emotion: anxiety disorders involve fear, tension, nervousness, and panic
-Physiology: anxiety has a physical state that may include stomach discomfort, muscle tension, rapid heartbeat and breathing, perspiration, and other manifestations of autonomic nervous system arousal
-Cognition: anxious thoughts are inherently future-oriented, with overstimulation of both likelihood and magnitude of possible negative events → children plagued by fearful self-talk and underestimate coping resources
-Behavior: the behavioral hallmark of anxiety is avoidance. When feared situation cannot be avoided → leads to agitation, clinging to parents, crying, disorganization, and aggression

Question 2

What are the neurobiological etiologies of anxiety?

Answer 2

large amygdalas, alarm analogy, behavioral inhibition → fear reactions to novel stimuli

Question 3

What are the behavioral etiologies of anxiety?

Answer 3

-Avoidance learning (negative reinforcement): two-factor explanation of classical and operant
Association → avoidance
Skills deficits with relaxation and social skills

Question 3

What are the behavioral etiologies of anxiety?

Answer 3

-Avoidance learning (negative reinforcement): two-factor explanation of classical and operant
Association → avoidance
Skills deficits with relaxation and social skills

Question 4

What are the behavioral etiologies of anxiety?

Answer 4

-Avoidance learning (negative reinforcement): two-factor explanation of classical and operant
>Association → avoidance
-Skills deficits with relaxation and social skills

Question 5

What are the cognitive etiologies of anxiety?

Answer 5

-Fear-dominated attentional biases and misperceptions of threat & cognitive distortions
>Pessimistic outlook, overestimating danger,
forecasting
>Misinterpreting physiological cues

Question 6

What are the systemic etiologies of anxiety?

Answer 6

-Parental messages/modeling
-Overcontrolling, overprotective parenting
-Behavioral inhibition
-Indirect, disguised, self-contradictory communication
-Double binds in particular can cause people to feel anxious without knowing why because problems are never acknowledged

Question 7

What are the clinical considerations for anxiety?

Answer 7

-Interventions should be based on the content, settings, and causes of client’s symptoms (consider etiology)
-Are the fears realistic?
-Separation anxiety
>Insecure attachment → object relations
>Parental discomfort with autonomy → systems or
parent counseling