anxiety disorder chapter questions Flashcards
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a negative mood state, characterised by physical tension and apprehension about the future.
What is fear?
Fear is an immediate alarm reaction to present danger or life-threatening emergencies.
What is the relationship between anxiety and fear
Fear and anxiety reactions differ psychologically and physiologically. Anxiety is a future oriented mood state, characterized by apprehension because we cannot predict or control upcoming events. Fear, on the other hand, is and immediate emotional reaction to current danger characterised by strong escapist action tendencies and, often, a surge in the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system.
What is a panic attack?
Panic attack is defined as an abrupt experience of intense fear or acute discomfort, accompanied by physical symptoms that usually include heart palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath, and possibly, dizziness.
What is the proposed relationship between biological, psychological and social factors in the development of anxiety disorders?
Triple vulnerability theory proposed an integrated model that put all the factors together to describe the development of anxiety disorders. The first vulnerability is a generalized biological vulnerability. We can see that a tendency to be uptight might be inherited. But the generalized biological vulnerability to develop anxiety is not anxiety itself. The second vulnerability is a generalized psychological vulnerability. That is, you might also grow up believing the world is dangerous and out of control and you might be able to cope when things goes wrong based on your early experiences. If this perception is strong, you have a generalized psychological vulnerability to anxiety. The third vulnerability is a specific psychological vulnerability in which you learn from early experience, such as being taught by your parents, that some situations or objects are fraught with danger (even if they really aren’t).
If you are under a lot of pressure, particularly from interpersonal stressors, a given stressor could activate your biological tendencies of to be anxious and your psychological tendencies to feel you might not be able to deal with the situation and control the stress. Once this cycle starts, it tends to feed on itself, so it might not stop even when the particular life stressor has long since passed.
What are the main features of GAD?
Main features of GAD are anxiety focuses on minor everyday events with not major concern, difficulty in controlling this anxiety, significant distress or impairment, and at least three of the following symptoms: restless, easily fatigued, difficulty concentrating, irritability, muscle tension, sleep disturbance.
What are the main treatment approaches?
GAD is quite common, and available treatments, both drug and psychological, are reasonably effective. Benzodiazepines are most often prescribed for generalized anxiety, and evidence indicates that they give some relief ST. but they seem to impair cognitive and motor functioning and produce psychological and physical dependence. Antidepressants (e.g., Paxil, Tofranil and Effexor) are also useful. Psychological treatments are better in LT since they focus on what is actually threatening the clients. Cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) for GAD is developed in which patients evoke the worry process during the therapy sessions and confront anxiety-provoking images and thoughts head-on. The patients learn to use cognitive therapy and other coping techniques to counteract and control the worry process.
What is panic disorder?
Panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA) is fear and avoidance of situations the person believed might induce a dreaded panic attack. Panic disorder without agoraphobia (PD) is panic attacks experienced without development of agoraphobia.
What is agoraphobia?
Agoraphobia is anxiety about being in places or situations from which escape might be difficult.
What are the main pharmacological treatments for panic disorders?
Main pharmacological treatment of panic disorder is using antidepressants which affect the noradrenergic, serotonergic, GABA neurotransmitter system. Traditionally, we used benzodiazepines (e.g., Xanax). Currently, we use SSRIs such as Prozac and Paxil to block panic attack.
What are the main psychological treatments for panic disorders?
Main psychological treatment is panic control treatment (PCT). Panic control treatment concentrates on exposing patients with panic disorder to cluster of Interoceptive sensations that remind them of their panic attacks. The therapist attempts to create ‘mini’ panic attacks in the office by having the patients exercise to elevate their heart rates or perhaps by spinning them in a chair to make them dizzy. Various exercises have been developed for this purpose. Patients also receive cognitive therapy. Basic attitudes and perceptions concerning the dangerousness of the feared but objectively harmless situations are identified and modifies.
What is the definition of phobia?
A Specific Phobia is an irrational fear of specific object or situation that markedly interferes with an individual’s ability to function.
How might phobias develop?
Phobia usually began with a traumatic experience: can be experience of an unusual traumatic event, a vicarious experience (observing someone else experience severe fear), or under right conditions, being told about danger. This traumatic experience is then conditioned with experience of a false alarm (panic attack) in a specific situation. Finally fear is more likely to develop if we seem to carry an inherited tendency to fear situations. Social and cultural factors are strong determinants of who develops and reports a specific phobia.
How can phobias be treated?
Specific phobia requires structured and consistent exposure-based exercises. Nevertheless, most patients who expose themselves gradually to what they fear must be under therapeutic supervision (otherwise may strengthen the phobia). New developments make it possible to treat many specific phobias in a single, daylong session. Basically, the therapist spends most of the day with the individual, working through exposure exercises with the phobia object or situation. The patients then practice approaching the phobic situation at home, checking in occasionally with the therapist.
For separation anxiety, parents are often included to help structure the exercises and work with parental reaction to childhood anxiety, For blood-injury-injection phobia, where fainting is a real possibility, graduated exposure-based exercises must be done in specific ways. Individual must tense various muscle groups during exposure exercises to keep their blood pressure sufficiently high to complete the practice.
What distinguished social phobia from other anxiety disorders?
Social phobia is extreme, enduring, irrational fear and avoidance of social or performance situations. Features of social phobia include: marked and persistent fear of one or more social situations when exposed to unfamiliar people. This exposure provokes anxiety and sometimes a panic attack. The fear is avoided or endued with intense anxiety.
