contemporary learning perspective on anxiety disorders

Question 1

watson & rayner proposal for how phobias developed

Answer 1

phobias are classically conditioned fears, where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a traumatic event

Question 2

wat waren 2 kritiekpunten op dit traditionele conditioning model

Answer 2

• what about individual differences for who develops a phobia and who does not?
• what about vicarious learning?

Question 3

sources of individual differences in acquisition of phobias

Answer 3

• genetics
• temperament (shy = more likely to develop)
• life experiences:
  1. prior exposure to the cs -> latent inhibition -> reducing the subsequent conditioning (dus meer eerdere encounters van CS-no US leidt tot minder kans op een phobia)
  2. history of control over environment (hoe meer gevoel van controle en mastery, hoe minder snel anxiety disorders)
• context during conditioning (escape possible = better prognosis)
• post event experiences (iets nog veel traumatischer meemaken)

Question 4

evolutionary perspective on phobias

Answer 4

humans may be predisposed to fear certain stimuli that were ancestral threats: prepared fears, easily acquired and resistant to extinction (such as spiders and snakes)

fear-relevant stimuli show superior conditioning, over fear-irrelevant stimuli. show automaticity and resistance to cognitive control. these are biased associations in preparedness effects. the acquisiton of phobias involves a basic, emotionally driven learning process, shared across mammals.

Question 5

social phobia may arise from…

Answer 5

direct traumatic conditioning, or social learning.

Question 6

4 social learning pathways

Answer 6

1. vicarious conditioning (vulnerable individuals may develop social phobia after witnessing someone getting humiliated/ridiculed)
2. famillial modelling (people with social phobia tend to have more socially avoidant family members)
3. direct social reinforcement and verbal instruction (parents tend to reciprocate avoidant behaviours of anxious children, and discussing potentially threatening information could strengthen these avoidant tendencies)
4. culturally transmitted display rules and norms: bv Japanese disorder Taijin Kyofusho (TK), which involves fears of embarrasing or offending others.

Question 7

how can you extend preparedness theory to social anxiety

Answer 7

social anxiety may be linked to the evolution of dominance hierarchies. social stimuli signalling dominance and intra-specific threat may serve as fear-relevant or prepared conditioned stimuli for social anxiety. bv angry face expressions (vaak een sign of dominance during primate conflicts)

Question 8

temperament can predict the onset of both…

Answer 8

specific phobias in childhood and social phobias in adolescence.

Question 9

perceptions of …. contribute to individual differences in developing social phobia

Answer 9

uncontrollability

Question 10

wat voor research was er naar uncontrollability

Answer 10

animal research shows that uncontrollable stressors such as electric shock of social defeat, lead to increased submissiveness. the effects of social defeat, including learned helplessness and fear conditioned responses, are associated with social phobia

Question 11

goldstein and chambless’s approach of panic attack

Answer 11

• emphasizing exteroceptive and interoceptive conditioning
• fear of fear, resulting from interoceptive conditioning, where low-level somatic sensations of anxiety become associated with higher levels of anxiety

Question 12

wat is een soort subtype van panic disorder

Answer 12

panic disorder with agoraphobia (die mensen ontwikkelen agoraphobic tendencies because they avoid the situations that may be difficult to escape whenever they have a panic attack).

Question 13

Bouton exteroceptive and interoceptive conditioning in panic disorder

Answer 13

vulnerable individuals experience conditioning during the initial panic attacks. prototypic conditioned stimilu (CSS) include both interoceptive sensations (heart rate) and exteroceptive stimuli (escalators and malls).

Question 14

interoceptive conditioning is ook te zien in honden (laboured breathing to intestinal distention) dus het kan dat het daarom ook zo belangrijk is bij panic disorder en panic disorder + agoraphobia

Answer 14

oke

Question 15

waar wordt die agoraphobia vaak door veroorzaakt

Answer 15

door exteroceptive conditioning (anxiety becomes linked to places where the panic attacks have occured).

Question 16

two significant risk factors for developing agoraphobia

Answer 16

• gender (women)
• employment (individuals who work outside the house; less prone) -> avoidance is a maintaining factor

Question 17

wat voor conditioned stimuli kunnen nog meer de response beinvloeden

Answer 17

• inhibitory stimuli for safety (compagnion mee)
• stimuli associated with anxiety can lead to more safety behaviours

Question 18

baseline anxiety levels predict who will experience panic in response to panic provocation agents.

Answer 18

oke

Question 19

3 key vulnerability factors for developing panic disorder

Answer 19

1. genetic and temperamental vulnerability
2. psychological vulnerability from prior learning experiences
3. specific learning experiences

Question 20

psychological vulnerability from prior learning experiences=

Answer 20

lack of control, helplessness (bv experiences such as death or divorce).

positive experiences with control and mastery contribute to developing coping abilities.

Question 21

specific learning experiences =

Answer 21

bv panic attacks: more likely to being encouraged to engage in sickness behaviour during panic attacks. more exposure to chronic illnesses also.
-> observing physical suffering may contribute to evaluating somatic symptoms as dangerous

Question 22

waar is ptsd aan gelinkt

Answer 22

perception of uncontrollable and unpredictable stress (drawing parallels to animal models of learned helplessness)

Question 23

trauma phase:

Answer 23

• traumas perceived as uncontrollable and unpredictable are more likely to lead to ptsd
• the psychological state during the trauma is indicated as a critical factor
• psychological readiness, resistance and active coping during torture may reduce the likelihood of developing ptsd.

Question 24

pre-trauma phase:

Answer 24

• prior exposure to uncontrollable stress sensitizes (gevoelig maken) the person for the harmful effects of trauma
• history of repeated trauma increases the risk (especially when deemed uncontrollable)
• prior experiences of control have a protecting effect

Question 25

post trauma phase

Answer 25

these factors can have an impact:
- reexperiencing symptoms
- severity of re experiencing symptoms
- re-evaluation, contextual exposure

Question 26

risk factors GAD

Answer 26

• history of uncontrollable and unpredictable life stress
• suppression of emotional and physiological responses reinforces worry
• attempts to control the worry leads to increased intrusive thoughts -> nog meer anxiety

Question 27

OCD =

Answer 27

unwanted intrusive thoughts and or compulsive behaviours

Question 28

wat is een risk factor for ocd development

Answer 28

verbal transmission of dangerous thoughts (bv van ouders -> warnings about contamination, thought-action fusion, nihilistic thoughts)
dus social learning !

Question 29

wat voor correlatie zie je bij ocd en religie

Answer 29

mensen met een religie meer kans op ocd, waarschijnlijk door meer nadruk thought-action fusion

Question 30

preparedness in ocd=

Answer 30

obsessions and rituals are often linked to evolutionary themes (bv. animal species that perform displacement activities under conflict, contamination)

Question 31

learning models suggest targeting…

Answer 31

at risk individuals based on their prior learning histories.

Question 32

wat kan immunization zijn tegen anxiety disorders

Answer 32

facilitating the development of mastery and exposure to non-anxious mdoels from an early age, especially in children of parents with anxiety disorders