Anxiety & PTSD Flashcards
Define anxiety
Apprehension, uneasiness, uncertainty, or dread from real or perceived threat
What is normal anxiety?
- necessary for survival
A natural response to threatening situations – could be stress at school/work or in times of loss, divorce, accidents, or trauma
When is anxiety considered a disorder?
when the degree of anxiety of fear is so high that it interferes with personal, occupational, or social functioning
What are the characteristics of mild anxiety?
- Daily hassles
- Alert and perceptual field is increase
- See and hear better bc senses are heightened
- Can prompte creativity
What are characteristics of moderate anxiety?
- Perceptual field narrows into what they are focusing on
- Feel worried
- Hears sees and understands less
- Can redirect a person in this level
what are characteristics of severe anxiety?
- Significant reduction in perceptual field - unable to think about anything else
- All behaviour is aimed at relieving that anxiety
- Some direction might be needed to refocus them, but we can still redirect them
What are characteristics of panic?
- Involves awe, dread, terror, disorganization of personality
- Increased or degreed motor activity (fight/flight/freeze)
- Decreased ability to relate to others
- Distorted perceptions
- Loss of rational thought
- Inability to communicate or function effectively, even w direction
- People dont do well with someone trying to redirect or ask questions
- Might be aggressive and unpredictable
What is an anxiety disorder?
Excessive fear resulting in altered perceptions and behaviour
Which disorder frequently co-occurs with anxiety?
depressive disorders
What are characteristics of a panic disorder?
- Panic attacks are key feature
- Connected w disorganized thinking, doom, SOB, chest pain, feelings of terror and helplessness, palpations
What is separation anxiety disorder?
Developmentally inappropriate levels of concern over being away from a significant other
What is agoraphobia?
Excessive anxiety or fear about being in places or situations from which escape might be difficult or embarrassing
What is social anxiety disorder?
Severe anxiety or fear provoked by exposure to a social or a performance situation that will be evaluated negatively by others
What are characteristics of generalized anxiety disorder?
- Excessive worry that lasts for months
- Inability to quit worrying/hypervigilant
- Symptoms for at least 6 months
- Impairs social, occupational or other important areas of functioning
- Begins in childhood to young adults
- Worrying about everyday concerns
-Trouble concentrating, agitated
Define obsessions
Thoughts, impulses, or images that persist and recur, so that they cannot be dismissed from the mind
Define compulsions
Ritualistic behaviours an individual feels driven to perform in an attempt to reduce anxiety
What is obsessive-compulsive disorder?
a disorder in which people have recurring, unwanted thoughts, ideas or sensations (obsessions). To get rid of the thoughts, they feel driven to do something repetitively (compulsions).
What neurotransmitters are impacted when someone is anxious?
- Low GABA: trouble relaxing, racing thoughts, photosensitvtiy, stiff, palpitations, irritable bowel
- Serotonin and norepinephrine: worrying, poor concentration, poor sleep, poor appetite
What is acute stress disorder?
- Occurs within one month of a highly traumatic event (resolving within 4 weeks)
- has to have at least 3 dissociative symptoms present
What are the symptoms of acute stress disorder?
- a subjective sense of numbing, detachment, or absence of emotional responsiveness
- a reduction in awareness of surroundings
- derealization (a sense of unreality related to the environment)
- depersonalization (a sense of unreality or self-estrangement)
- dissociative amnesia
What are the features of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?
- Re-experiencing of the trauma through recurrent intrusive recollections (Flashbacks)
- Avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma
- Numbing of general responsiveness,
-Increased arousal – irritability, difficulty sleeping, difficulty concentrating, hypervigilance, or exaggerated startle response
What is dissociative disorder?
-Occur after significant adverse experiences or traumas
-Individuals respond to stress with severe interruption of consciousness
- Unconscious defence mechanism
-Protects individual against overwhelming anxiety through emotional separation
