Biological Basis Of Menal Disease Flashcards
What is anxiety?
Normal physiological response to stress - avoidance, increased vigilance, prepare for fight or flight
Whats the kind of feelings you experience with anxiety?
Sweating
Trembling
Increased heart rate
Whats anxiety disorder?
Intensity of feelings out of proportion to the danger
Define chronic anxiety disorder?
General anxiety
Define acute anxiety disorder?
Panic attack
When does anxiety become abnormal?
Excessive anxiety leading to atypical, maladaptive, irrational behaviour and personal distress
Examples of abnormal anxiety?
- generalised anxiety disorder
- panic disorder
- phobics
- separation anxiety disorder
Whats the percentage of adults expericing anxiety disorder?
20%
Explain the stress response?
- cascade of hormonal events
- Release of corticortrophin releasing factor (CRF)
- CRF release
- release of stress hormones ( glucocorticoids and adrenaline from the adrenal cortex)
Whats the stress hormones?
And where are they release from?
Glucocorticoids and Adrenaline
Adrenal cortex
When is the stress hormones activated?
When survival is threatened
- actual threat
- anticipation of a threat
What does glucocorticoids also do?
Exert negative feedback decreasing the release of CRF
What kind of response is anxiety?
Normal homeostatic response
What are the models of anxiety?
- elevated plus maze
- ## open field
Explain the elevated plus maze anxiety model?
- plus shaped maze = where two arms have no walls and two have opaque walls
- rodents spend less time in the no walls (open) arena then the opaque walls (closed)
- anxiogenic effect seen by spending less time in open arms
- anxiolytic effect seen by spending more time in open arms
When is anxiogenic effect mostly seen?
When the rodents spend less time in open arms in the no walls area
When does it show a anxiolytic effect?
When the rodents spend more time in the open arms area, the no walls area
Explain the open field model of anxiety?
- large square that’s brightly lit areana
- rodents prefer not o spend time in the middle
- anxiogenic effect = spend even less time in middle area
- anxiolytic effect = spend more time in the middle of the arena
When is anxiogenic effect seen in the open field?
Spend even less time in the middle
When is anxiolytic effect seen in the open filed?
Spend more tiem in middle of arena
What does neurostramitter has a positive link with anxiety?
Serotonin
What can benzodiazepines in anxiolytic effect be replicated by?
- lesions to serotonin system
- inhibition of serotonin synthesis
- suggests a role for serotonin in anxiety
What does reduced GABA activity produce in animals?
Produces anxiety
What are drugs which increase GABA function?
Anxiolytic
What function increases in panic attacks
Noradrenaline function
