Anxiety Flashcards
Explanation of anxiety
In anxiety disorders anxiety and fear are exaggerated and disturb daily life
Major AD’s: generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, phobias
DSM-5 Anxiety key points
A: excessive anxiety and worry
B: person finds it difficult to control the worry
Associated with 3 or more or 6 symptoms: restlessness, fatigued easily, difficulty concentrating, irritability, muscle tension, sleep disturbance
D: disturbance not better explained by another disorder
E: the anxiety cause social impairment in social, occupational or other areas of functioning
F: disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance or general medical condition
Key anxiety facts Lowe et al., 2008
- Most prevalent class of mental disorders in the general population
14-29% of people will experience an anxiety disorder in their lifetime
Recent study showed 9.5% of patients were diagnosed with at least 1 of the 4 most common disorders
41% of patients with anxiety disorders report no current treatment
Anxiety measures and types: Beck anxiety inventory: Leyfer et al., 2006
Designed to differentiate between behavioural, emotional and physiological symptoms in those with anxiety
Good measure of panic disorder
Two factors: somatic: 12 items describing physiological symptoms e.g., dizziness, lightheaded. Subjective anxiety and panic e.g, “fear of the worst happening” and “unable to relax”
Anxiety measures and types: State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, (Knowles and Olatunji, 2020)
Moat well known and most cited measure of trait anxiety
Two subscales: state anxiety measuring “subjective feelings of apprehension, anxious expectation and activation of the autonomic nervous system”
Measuring “individual differences in anxiety proneness”
An individuals tendency to appraise situations as threatening, avoid anxiety-provoking situations and demonstrate high baseline physiological arousal
Anxiety measures and types: (Plummer et al., 2016; Spitzer et al., 2006) GAD-7
The best performance characteristics for identifying GAD in comparison to other measures
The GAD-7 had acceptable properties for identifying GAD at cut off scores 7-10
Anxiety measures and types: Social anxiety disorder (LSAS)
Liebowitz social anxiety scale
Social phobia received little research and attention and was not officially classified as a disorder till DSM-III (1980)
Persistent fear of embarrassment or negative evaluation while engaged in social interaction
Activities such as interactions with strangers, formal presentations are feared by those with social phobia
Anxiety measures and types: Phobias, Eaton et al., 2018
Both fear and avoidance
Linked to disgust
Those with specific phobias avoidance can reduce the constancy and severity of distress and impairment
Prevalence for specific phobias across the world 3%-15% heights and animals most common
Specific phobias can begin in childhood, incidence peak mid/old age
Persist for several years/decades also predict other disorders e.g., anxiety
Exposure therapy main treatment but may be less effective in the long term
Anxiety measures and types: PTSD, (PCL-5) (Weathers et al., 2013)
Occurs after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event
3 different kinds of symptoms:
- reliving the trauma in some way
- Either staying away from places or people that remind them of the trauma
- Feeling on guard, irritable or startling easily
Anxiety origins: genetic epidemiological studies
report a moderate level of familial aggregation (odds: 4-6)
Heritability coefficient estimated 30-50%
Anxiety origins: Role of control
Ability to personally influence events and outcomes in one’s environment, an immediate sense of diminished control is commonly associated with the immediate expression of anxiety
History of a lack of control may put individuals at risk of chronic anxiety
Converging evidence suggests sufficient early experience with uncontrollable events may lead to an increased tendency to percieve or process events as not within their control
Anxiety and depression links
12 month prevalence of a major depressive disorder in 2017 estimated 7.1% adults and 13.3% adolescents
2001-2003 anxiety disorders 12 month prevalence estimated 19.1% adults and 2001-2004 lifetime prevalence for adolescents 31.9%
Both anxiety and depression are more common in women, 2:1 ration men to women in women’s reproductive years
45.7% those with depression had a lifetime history of 1 or more anxiety disorder
Wearing stress of anxiety may lead to depression
Men to women suicide 4:1 women less likely to receive treatment
Anxiety and Social demographics: Minority groups
Discrimination can be a form of social rejection based on factors most often out of control of the individual being discriminated against
Anxiety and Social demographics: LGBTQ+
In societies where distinctions of social status between dominant and minority groups are prominent there’s a tendency for the dominant to marginalise the minority
Effects of cisnormativity
Number of studies have shown prevalence of mental illness in gender diverse people
Systematic review of the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and disorders among TDG people across countries of Americas, Europe and Asia, found prevalence of anxiety among TGD people may be as high as 68%, compared to18% in general population surveys
Anxiety and Social demographics: LGBTQ+ Meyer (1995)
Drew on Societal Reaction Theory to provide explanations for the “processes by which persons come to be defined as deviant” by societies
A behaviour is deviant if it departs from the conventional understanding of an appropriate behaviour or social norm
Identifies members of a minority group who are defined by social norms as deviant, as well as how they are treated
