Chapter 04 - Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive, and Related Disorders

Question 1

Fear

Answer 1

The central nervous system’s physiological and emotional response to a serious threat to one’s well-being.

Question 2

Anxiety

Answer 2

The central nervous system’s physiological and emotional response to a vague sense of threat or danger.

Question 3

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Answer 3

A disorder marked by persistent and excessive feelings of anxiety and worry about numerous events and activities

Question 4

Client-Centered Therapy

Answer 4

The humanistic therapy developed by Carl Rogers in which clinicians try to help clients by being accepting, empathizing accurately, and conveying genuineness.

aka - person-centered therapy

Question 5

basic irrational assumptions

Answer 5

The inaccurate and inappropriate beliefs held by people with various psychological problems, according to Albert Ellis.

Question 6

rational-emotive therapy

Answer 6

A cognitive therapy developed by Albert Ellis that helps clients identify and change the irrational assumptions and thinking that help cause their psychological disorder.

Question 7

metacognitive theory

Answer 7

Adrian Wells; theory that people with generalized anxiety disorder implicitly hold both positive and negative beliefs about worrying.

Question 8

intolerance of uncertainty theory

Answer 8

Theory that certain individuals with generalized anxiety disorder cannot tolerate the knowledge that negative events may occur, even if the possibility of occurrence is very small.

Question 9

avoidance theory

Answer 9

Thomas Borkovec; people with generalized anxiety disorder have great bodily arousal than other people, and that worrying serves to reduce this arousal by distracting them from the unpleasantness.

Question 10

family pedigree study

Answer 10

a research design in which investigators determine how many and which relatives of a person with a disorder have the same disorder.

Question 11

benzodiazepines

Answer 11

the most common group of anti-anxiety drugs, which includes Valium and Xanax.

Question 12

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)

Answer 12

A neurotransmitter whose low activity in the brain’s fear circuit has been linked to anxiety.

Question 13

brain circuits

Answer 13

networks of brain structures that work together, triggering each other into action.

Question 14

sedative-hypnotic drugs

Answer 14

Drugs that calm people at lower doses and help them fall asleep at higher doses.

Question 15

phobia

Answer 15

A persistent and unreasonable fear of a particular object, activity, or situation

Question 16

specific phobia

Answer 16

A severe and persistent fear of a specific object or situation.

Question 17

agoraphobia

Answer 17

An anxiety disorder in which a person is afraid to be in public situations from which escape might be difficult or help unavailable if panic-like or embarrassing symptoms were to occur.

Question 18

classical conditioning

Answer 18

A process of learning in which two events that repeatedly occur close together in time become tied together in a person’s mind and so produce the same response.

Question 19

modeling

Answer 19

A process of learning in which a person observes and then imitates others. Also, a therapy approach based on the same principle.

Question 20

preparedness

Answer 20

A predisposition to develop certain fears.

Question 21

exposure treatment

Answer 21

treatment in which persons are exposed to the objects or situations they dread.

Question 22

systematic desensitization

Answer 22

An exposure treatment that uses relaxation training and a fear hierarchy to help clients with phobias react calmly to the objects or situations they dread.

Question 23

flooding

Answer 23

An exposure treatment for phobias in which clients are exposed repeatedly and intensively to a feared object and made to see that it is actually harmless.

Question 24

social anxiety disorder

Answer 24

A severe and persistent fear of social or performance situations in which embarrassment may occur.

Question 25

social skills training

Answer 25

A therapy approach that helps people learn or improve social skills and assertiveness through role-playing and rehearsing of desirable behaviors.

Question 26

panic attacks

Answer 26

periodic, short bouts of panic that occur suddenly, reach a peak within minutes, and gradually pass.

Question 27

panic disorder

Answer 27

An anxiety disorder marked by recurrent and unpredictable panic attacks.

Question 28

locus coeruleus

Answer 28

A small are of the brain that seems to be active in the regulation of emotions. Many of its neurons use norepinephrine.

Question 29

biological challenge test

Answer 29

A procedure used to produce panic in participants or clients by having them exercise vigorously or perform some other potentially panic-inducing task in the presence of a researcher or therapist.

Question 30

anxiety sensitivity

Answer 30

A tendency to focus on one’s bodily sensations, assess them illogically, and interpret them as harmful.

Question 31

obsession

Answer 31

A persistent thought, idea, impulse, or image that is experienced repeatedly, feels intrusive, and causes anxiety.

Question 32

compulsion

Answer 32

A repetitive and rigid behavior or mental act that a person feels driven to perform in order to prevent or reduce anxiety.

Question 33

obsessive-compulsive disorder

Answer 33

A disorder in which a person has recurrent obsessions, compulsions, or both.

Question 34

neutralizing

Answer 34

A person’s attempt to eliminate unwanted thoughts by thinking or behaving in ways that put matters right internally, making up for the unacceptable thoughts.

Question 35

exposure and response prevention

Answer 35

A cognitive-behavioral technique used to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder that exposes a client to anxiety-arousing thoughts or situations and then prevents the client from performing his or her compulsive acts.

aka - exposure and ritual prevention

Question 36

obsessive-compulsive-related disorders

Answer 36

Disorders in which obsessive-like concerns drive people to repeatedly and excessively perform certain abnormal patterns of behavior.

ex: body dysmorphic disorder, hoarding disorder

Question 37

hoarding disorder

Answer 37

A disorder in which individuals feel compelled to save items and become very distressed if they try to discard them, resulting in an excessive accumulation of items.

Question 38

trichotillomania

Answer 38

A disorder in which people repeatedly pull out hair from their scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, or other parts of the body.

aka - hair-pulling disorder

Question 39

excoriation disorder

Answer 39

A disorder in which people repeatedly pick at their skin, resulting in significant sores or wounds.

aka - skin-picking disorder

Question 40

body dysmorphic disorder

Answer 40

A disorder in which individuals become preoccupied with the belief that they have certain defects or flaws in their physical appearance. Such defects or flaws are imagined or greatly exaggerated.