Anxiety: Terms

Question 0

Anxiety

Answer 0

Vague sense of dread related to an unknown danger.

Question 1

Fear

Answer 1

Reaction to a specific danger.

Question 2

Mild Anxiety

Answer 2

Occurs in everyday living & allows individual to perceive reality in sharp focus; heightened senses and problem solving; sx = restlessness, irritability.

Question 3

Moderate Anxiety

Answer 3

Perceptual field narrows and selective inattention demonstrated; ability to learn and problem solve still occurs but not at an optimal level; sx = tension, increased HR/RR, perspiration, mild somatic sx.

Question 4

Severe Anxiety

Answer 4

Focus on one detail or many scattered details and has difficulty noticing what is going on in the environment; learning and problem solving not possible; sx = somatic sx, trembling, increased HR, hyperventilation.

Question 5

Panic

Answer 5

Most extreme level of anxiety; unable to process what is going on in the environment and may lose touch with reality; sx = pacing, running, shouting, screaming, withdrawal.

Question 6

Defense Mechanisms

Answer 6

Automatic coping styles that protect people from anxiety.

Question 7

Compensation

Answer 7

Makes up for perceived deficiency and covers up shortcomings (i.e. individual drinks alcohol to boost low self-esteem)

Question 8

Conversion

Answer 8

Unconscious transformation of anxiety into a physical symptom with no organic cause (i.e. test anxiety turned into a headache).

Question 9

Denial

Answer 9

Escaping unpleasant, anxiety-causing thoughts, feelings, wishes, or needs by ignoring their existence (i.e. refusing to believe the death of a loved one).

Question 10

Displacement

Answer 10

Transference of emotions associated with one person/object/situation to another (i.e. child unable to acknowledge fear of father becomes fearful of animals).

Question 11

Dissociation

Answer 11

Separation of feeling and thought (i.e. student mentally separates herself from noisy environment to become absorbed in her work).

Question 12

Identification

Answer 12

Attributing to oneself the characteristics of another person or group (i.e. child role plays teacher and puts together a pretend classroom).

Question 13

Intellectualization

Answer 13

Process in which events are analyzed based on remote, cold facts and without passion, rather than incorporating feeling and emotion into the processing (i.e. man responds to death of his wife by focusing on details of day care and operating the household rather than processing grief)

Question 14

Introjection

Answer 14

Process by which the outside world is incorporated or absorbed into a person’s view of the self (i.e. child whose parents were overcritical begins to take on her parents view as part of her self-image).

Question 15

Projection

Answer 15

Unconsciously rejects emotionally unacceptable features by attributing them to others (i.e. man who is attracted to other women teases his wife about flirting).

Question 16

Rationalization

Answer 16

Justifying illogical or unreasonable ideas, actions, or feelings by developing acceptable explanations that satisfy the teller and the listener (i.e. believing you didn’t get a raise because the boss doen’t like you).

Question 17

Reaction Formation

Answer 17

Unacceptable feelings or behaviors are controlled and kept out of awareness by developing the opposite feeling or emotion (i.e. recovering alcoholic preaches about the evil of drinking).

Question 18

Regression

Answer 18

Reverting to an earlier, more primitive and childlike pattern of behavior (i.e. child starts wanting a bottle after new baby brother is born).

Question 19

Repression

Answer 19

First line psychological defense against anxiety; temporary or long-term exclusion of unpleasant or unwanted experiences, emotions, or ideas from conscious awareness; happens at unconscious level (i.e. man forgets wife’s bday after marital fight).

Question 20

Splitting

Answer 20

Inability to integrate both positive and negative qualities of oneself or others into cohesive image (i.e. toddler views parents as superhuman).

Question 21

Sublimation

Answer 21

Unconscious process of substituting mature, constructive, socially acceptable activity for immature, destructive, and unacceptable impulses (i.e. woman angry with her boss writes a short story about a heroic woman).

Question 22

Suppression

Answer 22

Conscious denial of a disturbing situation or feeling (i.e. putting off paying rent until after an exam).

Question 23

Undoing

Answer 23

Person makes up for an act or communication (i.e. after flirting with male secretary, woman brings home concert tickets for her husband).

Question 24

Panic Attack

Answer 24

Sudden onset of extreme apprehension or fear, usually associated with feelings of impending doom; sx = palpitations, chest pain, breathing difficulties, nausea, feelings of choking, chills, hot flashes.

Question 25

Agoraphobia

Answer 25

Intense, excessive anxiety or fear about being in places or situations from which escape might be difficult or embarrassing or in which help might not be available if a panic attack occurred.

Question 26

Phobia

Answer 26

Persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity or situation that leads to a desire for avoidance or actual avoidance of the object, activity or situation.

Question 27

Specific Phobia

Answer 27

Characterized by the experience of high levels of anxiety or fear in response to specific objects or situations (i.e. spiders, heights); usually does not cause too much difficulty.

Question 28

Social Phobia

Answer 28

AKA Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD); severe anxiety or fear provoked by exposure to a social performance situation.

Question 29

Obsessions

Answer 29

Thoughts, impulses, or images that persist and recur, so that they cannot be dismissed from the mind.

Question 30

Compulsions

Answer 30

Ritualistic behaviors and individual feels driven to perform in an attempt to reduce anxiety.

Question 31

General Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Answer 31

Characterized by excessive anxiety or worry about numerous things, lasting 6 months or longer.

Question 32

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Answer 32

Characterized by persistent re-experiencing of a highly traumatic event that involved actual or threatened death, or serious injury to self or others, in which the individual responded with intense fear, helplessness, or horror.

Question 33

Flashbacks

Answer 33

Dissociative experiences during which the event is relived, and the person behaves as though he or she is experiencing the event at that time.

Question 34

Acute Stress Disorder

Answer 34

Occurs within 1 month after exposure to a highly traumatic event and resolves within 4 weeks; includes at least 3 sx including numbing, detachment, absence of emotional responsiveness, reduction in awareness of surroundings, derealization, depersonalization, dissociative amnesia.

Question 35

Substance-induced Anxiety Disorder

Answer 35

Characterized by sx of anxiety, panic attacks, obsessions and compulsions that develop with the use of a substance or within a month of stopping the use of a substance.

Question 36

Freud & Anxiety

Answer 36

Theorized that anxiety results from the threatened breakthrough of repressed ideas or emotions from the unconsciousness into consciousness.

Question 37

Sullivan & Anxiety

Answer 37

Believed that anxiety is linked to emotional distress caused when early needs go unmet or disapproval is experienced; believed anxiety is “contagious” from mother to infant

Question 38

Behavioral Theories & Anxiety

Answer 38

Anxiety is a learned response to specific environmental stimuli.

Question 39

Cognitive Theory & Anxiety

Answer 39

Anxiety disorders are caused by distortions in an individual’s thought & perceptions.

Question 40

Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety

Answer 40

Classifies anxiety behaviors and assists in targeting behaviors and achieving outcome measures.

Question 41

Cognitive Restructuring

Answer 41

Helps the pt identify automatic negative beliefs, explore the basis for these thoughts, reevaluate the situation realistically, and replace negative self-talk with supportive ideas.

Question 42

Relaxation Training

Answer 42

Behavioral therapy; teaches pt to relax breathing and muscle groups.

Question 43

Modeling

Answer 43

Behavioral therapy; therapist or role model demonstrates appropriate behavior in feared situation, and then pt imitates it (i.e. role model rides elevator with claustrophobic pt).

Question 44

Systemic Desensitization

Answer 44

Behavioral therapy; gradual exposure to feared object or experience through a series of steps from least frightening to most.

Question 45

Flooding

Answer 45

Behavioral therapy; Pt exposed to large amount of undesirable stimulus in an effort to extinguish the anxiety response.

Question 46

Response Prevention

Answer 46

Behavioral therapy used for compulsive behavior; pt is not allowed to perform the compulsive ritual and learns that anxiety does subside even when ritual is not completed.

Question 47

Thought Stopping

Answer 47

Behavioral Therapy; negative thought or obsession is interrupted; distraction blocks automatic undesirable thoughts and cues the pt to select an alternative, more positive idea (i.e. pt yells stop when a negative thought occurs).