Anxiety Disorders Flashcards
most common type of mental disorder in the US
anxiety disorders
four characteristics of anxiety disorders
- high levels of persistent anxiety
- defense mechanisms and avoidance responses
- feelings of distress, insecurity, inferiority, unhappiness, or dissatisfaction
- feeling threatened
anxiety
negative feelings of being high-strung, tightly wound, and overly concerned about the future
fear
feelings of immediate alarm with an emotional response to a current perceived danger in the present
panic
an abrupt experience of intense fear
a panic attack includes at least 4 of the following
- increased heart rate
- sweating
- trembling
- breathing difficulty
- choking feeling
- chest pain
- nausea
- dizziness
- chills/hot flashes
- numbness/tingling
- depersonalization
- fear of losing control
- fear of dying
biological vulnerabilities for anxiety disorders
- genetic predisposition
- highly neurotic personality
- GABA, norepinephrine, serotonin, and cortisol irregularities
- abnormal amygdala functioning
psychological vulnerabilities for anxiety disorders
- hypervigilance
- worrying/avoidance is negatively reinforced by preventing full-blown panic
social vulnerabilities for anxiety disorders
- high-expressed emotion family interaction style
- observational learning of other highly anxious people
- social stressors
- cultural context
comorbidity rate of anxiety disorders and depression
50%
symptoms of GAD
- 6 months +
- excessive anxiety that is difficult to control
- restlessness
- fatigue
- difficulty concentrating
- irritability
- muscle tension
- sleep disturbance
specific phobia
avoidance of an object or situation that is out of proportion to the danger, is recognized as groundless, and poses significant stress
5 categories of specific phobia
- animals
- natural environment
- blood/injection/injury
- situational/man-made
- other
symptoms of specific phobia
- 6+ month
- excessive fear
- immediate anxiety/fear
- attempts to avoid the specific thing or situation
symptoms of social anxiety
- 6+ months
- excessive fear of social situations
- expectations of negative evaluations
- provokes fear/anxiety
- attempts to avoid the social situations
performance-only identifier for social anxiety
symptoms only apply to performance in front of others
symptoms of panic disorder
- 1 month +
- unexpected panic attacks
- worry about the next attack and its consequences and/or significant change in behavior
symptoms of agoraphobia
- 6 months +
- excessive fear of at least two: public transportation, open spaces, enclosed spaces, standing in line/crowds, being outside of the home alone
- immediate anxiety/fear when in the situation
- attempts to avoid the feared situation
exposure therapy
- can be gradual or all at once
- can be in-vivo, virtual, or imaginal
- allows a specific level of avoidance
- not very effective for GAD
systematic desensitization
exposure therapy with self-soothing work and relaxation techniques
medications for anxiety disorders
anxiolytics/benzodiazepines: fast acting but temporary results and are physically addicting
-antidepressants
habituation
process by which the emotional response to a stimulus that elicits anxiety is reduced by exposing the patient to the stimulus repeatedly
expected/cued vs unexpected/uncued panic attacks
triggered by a specific stimulus vs “out of the blue”
learned alarms
normal sensations that come to be associated with panic attacks; often the bodily sensations of arousal
separation anxiety disorder
typically arises in childhood and is characterized by excessive anxiety about separation from home or from a specific person
