Anxiety Flashcards
What differentiates anxiety disorders from each other
most have similar physiological symptoms and behavioural manifestations, but the cognitive component of the disorder (i.e., focus of the apprehension for that disorder) differs
What is an important way of diving anxiety for psychopharmacological perposes and why?
- the immediate physiological response -> fear and panic
- more future oriented things like worry and rumination
Important because the underlying neural circuitry is different -> implications for treatment
What part of neurobiology is important for understanding the more immediate anxiety/fear symptoms?
The amygdala: because it is the fear conditioning and emotion processing centre in the brain
What part of neurobiology is important for understanding the more future oriented worry symptoms?
Cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical ‘loops’
Describe how the amygdala is related to fear?
The amygdala integrates sensory and cognitive information (e.g. fear memories) to determine if we should have a fear response resulting in:
- feelings of fear
- motor response
True or false: When we do fear extinction we are eliminating a pathway in the brain?
False we are creating a new pathway/new learning
The emotional component of fear is related to which circuit (acronyms only said not important to remember names of areas)
amygdala to ACC and OFC
The Avoidance type behaviours of fear are related to which circuit (acronyms only said not important to remember names of areas)
Amygdala and PAG
Fear is related to overactivation of circuits related to which 4 circuits
- Affect
- Avoidance
- Endocrine output
- Autonomic output
The autonomic output of fear is related to
amygdala and LC
The Endocrine output of fear is related to?
amygdala and hypothalamus
Which neurotransmitters are involved in the fear circuits?
- Serotonin (5HT)
- GABA
- glutamate
- Norepinepherine
- Cortocotropin releasing
Worry is related to overactivation of which ciruit?
overactivation in cortico- striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) feedback loops originating in the prefrontal cortex
Which neurotransmitters are involved in the worry circuits?
- Serotonin (5HT)
- GABA
- glutamate
- Norepinepherine
- Dopamine
What is the main advantage of bezodiazepines over barbiturates?
What is the problem?
Overdose is rarely fatal unless combined with alcohol or opioids
benzos often combined with drugs and alcohol and are involved in many overdose deaths
What is the difference between the action that barbiturates versus benzodiazepines have on GABA receptors?
benzos increase the frequency of ion channel opening
barbiturates increase the duration of the ion channel opening