Anxiety and Adjustment Disorders Flashcards
What is anxiety?
What are some autonomic symptoms of anxiety?
- The subjective experience of fear and its physical manifestations
- Autonomic symptoms
- Palpitations
- Perspiration
- Dizziness
- Mydriasis
- GI disturbances
- Urinary urgency & frequency
What is the etiology of anxiety disorders?
- Combination of genetic, environmental, biological and psychosocial factors
- Neurotransmitter disturbances
- Increased NE
- Decreased GABA & serotonin
Anxiety disorders
Women: ___%
Men: ___%
(High/Low) socioeconomic groups
- Women: 30% lifetime prevalence
- Men: 19% lifetime prevalence
- Higher socioeconomic groups
What are the 9 primary anxiety disorders?
- Panic disorder
- Agoraphobia
- Specific and social phobias
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Posttraumatic stress disorder
- Acute stress disorder
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Anxiety disorder secondary to general medical condition
- Substance-induced anxiety disorder
What at 8 medical causes of anxiety disorders?
- Hyperthyroidism
- Vitamin B12 deficiency
- Hypoxia
- Neurological disorders
- Epilepsy, brain tumors, MS
- Cardiovascular disease
- Anemia
- Pheochromocytoma
- Hypoglycemia
What are the 10 medication or substance-induced anxiety disorders?
- Caffeine intake and withdrawal
- Amphetamines
- Alcohol and sedative withdrawal
- Other illicit drug withdrawal
- Mercury or arsenic toxicity
- Organophosphate or benzene toxicity
- Penicillin
- Sulfonamides
- Sympathomimetics
- Antidepressants
How long do panic attacks last?
Are they provoked?
- Often peak in several minutes and subside within 25 minutes
- Rarely last >1 hour
- Attacks unexpected or provoked by triggers
- “Sudden rush of fear”
What is the DSM IV criteria for a panic attack?
Discrete period of intense fear and discomfort that is accompanied by at least 4 of the following:
- Palpitations
- Sweating
- Shaking
- Shortness of breath
- Choking sensation
- Chest pain
- Nausea
- Light-headedness
- Depersonalization (feeling detached from oneself)
- Fear of losing control or “going crazy”
- Fear of dying
- Numbness or tingling
- Chills or hot flushes
What is the DSM IV criteria for panic disorder?
- Spontaneous recurrent panic attacks with no obvious precipitant
- At least 1 of the attacks has been followed by a minimum of 1 month of the following:
- Persistent concern about having additional attacks
- Worry about the implications of the attack (“Am I out of control?”)
- A significant change in behavior related to the attacks (avoid situations that may provoke attacks)
How should panic disorder by specified?
with or without agoraphobia
How do panic attacks related to panic disorder present?
How often do they occur?
- 1st panic attack unexpected
- Physical symptoms
- Tachycardia, sweating, SOB
- Extreme fear w/o understanding the source
- May sense impending death or harm
- Attacks on average 2x/week
- 20-30 min long
- Common: anticipatory anxiety
What is the etiology of panic disorder?
- Biological, genetic & psychosocial factors
- Dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system, CNS & cerebral blood flow
- Increased NE
- Decreased serotonin & GABA
What are some examples of panic-inducing substances?
- Hyperventilation or its treatment (inhalation of CO2/breathing in & out of a paper bag)
- Caffeine
- Nicotine
Panic disorder
- Lifetime prevalence
- Female vs. Male
- Genetics
- Age of onset
- Lifetime prevalence: 2-5%
- 2-3x more common in females than males
- Strong genetic component
- 4-8x greater risk if 1st degree relative affected
- Onset: late teens to early thirties (avg 25)
What are 4 conditions frequently associated with both panic disorder & agoraphobia?
- Major depression (40-80%)
- Substance dependence (20-40%)
- Social & specific phobias
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Differential diagnosis for panic disorder
Medical
- Cardiac
- CHF, angina, MI
- Endocrine
- Thyrotoxicosis, pheochromocytoma, carcinoid syndrome
- Neuro
- Temporal lobe epilepsy, MS
- Pulmonary
- COPD
Differential diagnosis for panic disorder
Mental
- Depressive disorders
- Phobic disorders
- Obsessive-compulsive disorders
- Posttraumatic stress disorder
Differential diagnosis for panic disorder
Drug
- Amphetamine
- Caffeine
- Nicotine
- Cocaine
- Hallucinogen intoxication
- Alcohol or opiate withdrawal
What is the prognosis for patients with panic disorder?
- 10-20% continue to have significant symptoms that interfere with daily functioning
- 50% continue to have mild, infrequent symptoms
- 30-40% remain free of symptoms after treatment
What drugs are used to treat panic disorder?
When are they used?
How long are they used for?
-
Benzodiazepines
- Acute initial treatment of anxiety
- Dose should be tapered with SSRI intro
-
SSRIs
- Maintenance
- Paroxetine, sertraline
- 2-4 weeks to become effective
- Treatment for 8-12 months
- Relapse common
What are some alternatives to drugs for panic disorder?
- Relaxation training
- Biofeedback
- Cognitive therapy
- Insight-oriented psychotherapy
- Family therapy
Why start SSRIs at low dose and increase slowly?
- Activation side effects
- Anxiety symptoms that mimic those of panic
In agoraphobia patients, ___% have coexisting panic disorder.
50-75%
What is the DSM-IV criteria for agoraphobia?
- Anxiety about being in places or situations from which escape might be difficult, or in which help would not be readily available in the event of a panic attack
- The situations are either avoided, endured with severe distress, or faced only with the presence of a companion
- These symptoms cannot be better explained by another mental disorder
What are the typical fears of agoraphobia?
- Being outside the home alone
- Being on a bridge or in a crowd
- Riding in a car, bus or train
What is an example of the relationship between panic attacks and agoraphobia?
Clinical progression
- A person who has a panic attack while shopping in a large supermarket subsequently develops a fear of entering that supermarket.
- As the person experiences more panic attacks in different settings, he or she develops a progressive and more general fear of public spaces (agoraphobia)