Emotion and Anxiety

Question 1

what are the 3 related but distinct dimensions of the emotional response

what do each mean

Answer 1

(a) subjective (i.e. verbal report about how an individual feels);
(b) behavioural (i.e. what an individual does): this could include behaviour in social situations, changes in facial expression e.g. to show rage, freezing to danger, psychomotor retardation in depression;
(c) physiological: this includes changes in heart rate and respiration (autonomic responses), and neuroendocrine responses such as adrenaline or corticosteroids secreted from the adrenals.

Question 2

Why do humans find it hard to describe their emotional feelings (2)

Answer 2

intrinsically difficult

linguistic constraints

Question 3

how do behavioural indices of emotion between humans and animals

Answer 3

measured precisely in animals, but in humans they consist mainly of self-report or observations of symptoms by human observers, often clinicians

Question 4

what is a reinforcer

Answer 4

a stimulus that if it occurs, terminates or is omitted because of a response of the animal, the probability of that response occurring in the future is altered. Reinforcers increase a type of response

Question 5

what is a positive reinforcer

Answer 5

stimulus that increases a response

Question 6

what is a negative reinforcer

Answer 6

involves removal of a negative condition to strengthen behaviour
eg starting to cycle to work and finding that the negative condition (traffic) has been avoided

Question 7

what is punishment

Answer 7

given after the behaviour is exhibited and reduces responding as a consequence.

Question 8

what are the major physiological repsosnes to emotion that are usually measured (5)

Answer 8

heart rate,
blood pressure, galvanic skin resistance (GSR),
muscle tension
arousal measured as desynchronisation of the EEG

Question 9

What is GSR

Answer 9

galvanic skin resistance

a measure of the skin’s electrical conductance (often called SCR), as affected by sweating

Question 10

What are the physiological reactions to a spider in a patient with arachnophobia

what can we infer about these responses then

Answer 10

increases in heart rate,
skin conductance, vasomotor activity
decreased respiration

in response even to a picture of a spider

these autonomic changes are correlates of anxiety, but it is still not entirely clear whether a similar or different pattern of bodily responses accompanies other emotional feelings e.g. of joy or anger

Question 11

What did James hypothesise about emotion

Answer 11

the bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur IS the emotion

thus we don’t run bc we are afraid, we area afraid because we run

Question 12

What did Lange propose at the same time as James

Answer 12

emotion could be experienced as organic symptoms (thus essentially introducing the notion of psychosomatic illness)

thus the idea that emotional experience derives from bodily experience is generally called the James-Lange theory

Question 13

What did Cannon argue about emotion

Answer 13

argued strongly against the view that bodily feelings
contributed to emotional experience, mainly on the grounds that the viscera are relatively
insensitive structures and that visceral changes mediated by autonomic activity are too slow to be a
source of emotional feelings, which can arise very rapidly

Question 14

Give an experiment that supported Cannon’s argument against the James-Lange theory

(don’t describe the whole thing)

Answer 14

artificial induction of the visceral changes typical of strong emotions, e.g. by injecting adrenaline to produce tachycardia, did not actually produce emotional experiences. (Schachter and Singer, 1962)

Question 15

What did Hohmann find that supported the james-Lange theory

Answer 15

subjective feelings of anger and fear were diminished in subjects with spinal cord transection
and that the effect was greater the higher the level of the lesion.

subjects could act
as if they were angry in appropriate situations, but this “anger” subjectively lacked emotional colouring and intensity.

Therefore, although certain aspects of emotion (eg the thoughts or cognitions associated with specific emotions) apparently remained intact when the viscera were disconnected from the CNS, emotional experience was greatly reduced.

Question 16

What were the 4 main groups in the Schachter and Singer study of 1962

Answer 16

1. Epinephrine Ignorant: subjects were told (while being injected) that the injection was mild and harmless with no side effects. Therefore, the subject had no externally provided explanation of his/her bodily state.
2. Epinephrine Misinformed: subjects were told to expect totally inaccurate side effects e.g. numbness of feet, itching.
3. Epinephrine Informed: subjects were told to expect hand tremor, palpitations and flushing.
4. Placebo: subjects received injections of saline and were told the same as group 1.

Question 17

How were the 4 groups divided in the S and S emotion experiment

Answer 17

into two experimental conditions (or contexts) designed to elicit Euphoria or Anger.

In the first condition, subjects interacted with an actor (or “stooge”) who behaved euphorically.

In the second condition, the actor behaved angrily (there was no ‘Epinephrine Misinformed’ group for this condition).

Question 18

What was Schachter and Singer’s hypothesis

Answer 18

subjects in the misinformed group would be most affected by the external manipulations of the context of their emotional state, because they had a less adequate explanation of their bodily changes. This would then show that the same symptoms of peripheral arousal (in the 3 groups) could produce different emotions, depending on the external environmental context (evaluated cognitively)

Question 19

What were the 2 mains measures used by Schachter and Singer

Answer 19

1. Self-report ratings (e.g. How good or happy would you say you feel at present? 0 - I don’t feel at all happy to 4- I feel extremely happy).
2. Behavioural observations, through a one-way mirror - e.g. scores of initiating activity or agreeing/disagreeing with the actor.

pulse rate was also measured before and after the Adr injection to check it produced normal effects

Question 20

Why is the Singer and Schachter experiment important (2)

Answer 20

(i) providing support for the James-Lange position that peripheral arousal provides a substrate for emotion
(ii) Showing the importance of cognitive factors (especially the attribution or labelling of bodily states) in interpreting this generally non-specific peripheral arousal as specific emotions

Question 21

Which theories does the schachter and singer experiment bring together

Answer 21

theories of emotion based on peripheral arousal and those based on the neural mediation of emotional feelings and behaviour.

Question 22

Is hunger an emotional state

Answer 22

not really

merely an internal sensation

Question 23

What is required for hunger to be considered an emotion

Answer 23

must trigger cognitive appraisal of the situation that then elicits an emotional state.

For example, ‘anxiety’ may be elicited if the prospect of getting food in the near future is unlikely because you are living in the wilderness and finding food is becoming increasingly difficult

Question 24

How do benzodiazepines and beta blockers affect anxiety

Answer 24

While benzodiazepines are successfully used to treat different types of anxiety, ß-adrenergic receptor blockers (e.g. propranolol) are also effective for
treating ‘somatic’ rather than ‘psychic’ forms of anxiety

Question 25

What experiments did Tyrer perform to assess use of propranolol vs Diazepam What were the results of the experiments (2)

Answer 25

used the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (for subjective ratings) and physiological measures, such as pulse and respiratory rate, to compare the effects of placebo, diazepam and propranolol on groups of ‘somatic’ and ‘psychic’ clinically anxious subjects (i) Diazepam was effective for treating both psychic and somatic anxiety whereas the ß-blocker propranolol was effective only for treating somatic anxiety. (ii) Under propranolol, ‘psychic’ anxiety patients showed a greatly reduced pulse rate but reported no subjective reduction in their anxiety

Question 26

What elements of anxiety do bezxodiazepines affect

Answer 26

the psychic, rather than the somatic, in alleviating anxiety.

Question 27

What did Broca identify about the emotional parts of the brain

Answer 27

identified a rim of old cortex on the medial wall of the hemisphere and called it the grande lobe limbique or ‘smell brain’ as it received information from the olfactory system.

Question 28

What did Papez introduce for emotion in the brain

Answer 28

(Papez’s circuit) subserving emotion based not only on ideas from Broca but also observations about the consequences of brain damage in medial cortex in humans with research on the role of the hypothalamus in the control of emotional reactions in animals

Question 29

How did Papez's theory explain subjective emotion

Answer 29

explained the subjective experience of emotion in terms of the flow of information through a circle of anatomical connections from the hypothalamus to the medial cortex, via the anterior thalamus and back to the hypothalamus by way of the hippocampus. cingulate cortex also involved

Question 30

why was the cingulate cortex involved in Papez's theory of emotion Why was the hippocampus involved

Answer 30

when damaged, there was resulting apathy, depression and loss of emotional spontaneity, the hippocampus was included because brain damage resulting from rabies, which included pathology in the hippocampus, resulted in emotional disturbance

Question 31

Who identified the limbic system what does it involve

Answer 31

Maclean all the structures in the original Papez circuit along with the amygdala, septum and prefrontal cortex.

Question 32

What did Maclean hypothesise about the limbic system's evolution

Answer 32

evolved to mediate visceral functions and affective behaviours including feeding, defense, fighting and reproduction emphasised the role of hippocampus in emotional experience

Question 33

Why was the amygdala involved in the limbic system

Answer 33

removal of the temporal lobe gave a range of symptoms termeed 'psychic blindness' including tameness, lack of emotional responsiveness, excessive examination of objects often with mouthing and eating of previously rejected items such as meat as well as hypersexual behaviour

Question 34

What is another name for psychic blindness what are the symptoms

Answer 34

‘Kluver-Bucy’ syndrome tameness, lack of emotional responsiveness, excessive examination of objects often with mouthing and eating of previously rejected items such as meat as well as hypersexual behaviour

Question 35

what structures would a system that mediates emotionality involve

Answer 35

both cortical & subcortical elements. Some of these areas, if not all, will be intimately connected to the hypothalamus

Question 36

What are the principal components of the emotion system (5) Which is now thought to be less important

Answer 36

``` hypothalamus, amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, ventral striatum, cingulate cortex ``` BUT NOT so much hippocampus (hippocampus important for memory)

Question 37

why may we still think the hippocampus is involved in emotional processing

Answer 37

recent studies do implicate anterior hippocampus (or ventral hippocampus in rodents) in emotional processing

Question 38

are all emotional brain structures used for all emotions

Answer 38

There is ongoing debate whether there is a common set of brain structures important for all emotional behaviour or whether different emotions use a different set of brain structures by virtue of the fact that different emotions evolved for different reasons.

Question 39

What is important for emotions about the connections of the amygdala

Answer 39

e connections of the central amygdala to the brain stem and hypothalamus are well placed to initiate fearful and aggressive responses (emotional expression).

Question 40

What are US and CS in conditioning

Answer 40

US - unconditioned stimulus | CS - conditioned stimulus

Question 41

How can conditioned fear stimuli be blocked

Answer 41

by lesions of the central nucleus of the amygdala.

Question 42

What is the importance of the amygdala in facial expression recognition

Answer 42

e important for the recognition of fearful faces. Lesions of the amygdala impair fear recognition. fMRI studies have shown that the amygdala is activated when presented with emotional faces

Question 43

What are neuroses now called what are they

Answer 43

anxiety disorders a category of disorders in which the healthy response to, and the anticipation of, fear, becomes dysfunctional.

Question 44

What does the healthy response to fear include (3) How does this compare to anxiety disorders

Answer 44

subjective changes (feelings of dread, thoughts of impending harm), behavioural changes (‘flight or fight’) physiological changes (e.g. increased heart rate, pupil dilation). Patients with anxiety disorders show a similar triad of symptoms.

Question 45

What are the 4 main anxiety disorders

Answer 45

1) Phobias – an irrational fear of a specific object or situation 2) Panic Disorder – intense and overwhelming attacks of anxiety 3) Agoraphobia – a fear of crowds or public places that often gives rise to panic attacks. 4) Generalised Anxiety Disorders (GAD) – pervasive worry or anxiety lasting for months.

Question 46

Are OCD and PTSD anxiety disorders why may they still be relevant here

Answer 46

used to be but no longer much of the fundamental insight underlying certain symptoms will also be relevant for those disorders.

Question 47

What are the 3 key characteristics of a phobia disorder

Answer 47

1) Persistent fear of a situation or object which most people find tolerable. 2) Outside the phobic situation, the patient may acknowledge that the fear is irrational. 3) The patient changes their daily routine to avoid contact with the phobic object or situation. Over time, this avoidance (e.g. of going outside) becomes very debilitating.

Question 48

Name 3 common phobias

Answer 48

specific phobias social phobia agoraphobia

Question 49

What are specific phobias

Answer 49

either to animals (spiders, dogs), activities or inanimate objects (flying, dirt), illness or injury, or to blood and/or needles

Question 50

Why are blood/needle phobias important for doctors to know about in their patients

Answer 50

they show a physiological response to the phobic stimulus (heart rate/blood pressure decreases), which carries implications for treatment

Question 51

What is social phobia

Answer 51

an excessive fear of being observed (e.g. eating or speaking in public), linked to fear of humiliation or embarrassment

Question 52

How common are phobias requiring treatment what is the gender difference How common are debilitating phobia disorders? (eg cannot leave house)

Answer 52

6% of populations more prevalent in women (~8%) than men (~4%) 1%

Question 53

IS there a genetic element to phobias (2 pieces of evidence)

Answer 53

First-degree relatives of phobic patients are around 3 times more likely to suffer phobias, twin studies show a heritability of ~30% (also agorophobia 39%, panic disorder 44%)

Question 54

Do specific anxiety disorders breed true (3)

Answer 54

controversial some evidence that first-degree relatives are most likely to have the same disorder as the proband (Fyer et al 1995), but first-degree relatives are also at increased risk for other anxiety disorders and depression relative to healthy controls (Burmeister 2003). It is likely that some risk factors will be disorder-specific whereas others will be general risk factors for multiple disorders

Question 55

What does Little Albert represent in the acquisition of phobic anxiety

Answer 55

model of Pavlovian conditioning

Question 56

What is the case of Little Albert

Answer 56

11 month-old baby was conditioned (by John Watson) to fear a white rat (the conditioned stimulus, CS) by pairing it with a loud noise (the striking of a gong: the unconditioned stimulus, US) over Albert’s head. On presentation of the rat for the first time, Albert reached out to touch the rat (presumably showing no fear). But after many exposure trials to rat + loud gong, the presentation of the rat alone elicited crying and hiding behaviour (the conditioned response, CR).

Question 57

What are the 2 questions that arise from the behavioural account of acquisition of phobias

Answer 57

1) If phobias are caused by pavlovian conditioning, why does the CR not extinguish when the CS occurs without the US? 2) If phobias are the result of Pavlovian conditioning, why are all stimuli not equipotent in causing phobias?

Question 58

If phobias are caused by pavlovian conditioning, why does the CR not extinguish when the CS occurs without the US?

Answer 58

Avoidance - prevents extinction

Question 59

What is avoidance

Answer 59

Even if the phobic patient encounters the phobic object (e.g. a dog or snake), the act of running away will cause them to interpret the experience as a ‘lucky escape’ (NB. this is a more cognitive than behavioural account). Avoidance also acts as negative reinforcement, causing relief of anxiety

Question 60

What does Mowrer's 2 factor model (1947) propose

Answer 60

phobic anxiety was acquired by pavlovian conditioning but maintained by operant (instrumental) conditioning (avoidance).

Question 61

If phobias are the result of Pavlovian conditioning, why are all stimuli not equipotent in causing phobias?

Answer 61

Biological Preparedness vicarious conditioning

Question 62

What is Biological Preparedness

Answer 62

The lack of gun and knife phobias suggests some evolutionary bias towards objects and situations that were harmful to our ancestors

Question 63

What was Susan Mineka's evidence for Biological Preparedness

Answer 63

laboratory-reared rhesus monkeys do not exhibit behavioural avoidance or emotional distress or fear to toy snakes, whereas wild-reared monkeys do, suggesting that early experience can produce phobic reactions

Question 64

What was Mineaka's evidence for vicarious conditioning (2 experiments)

Answer 64

laboratory-reared adolescent monkeys did develop fearful or phobic responses if put into a situation where they could observe (on video for as little as 8 minutes) their parent’s fearful reactions to the same snake stimuli They also undergo this vicarious fear conditioning to toy snakes more easily than to toy flowers, suggesting that snakes have some innate properties that are recognised by the fear system

Question 65

What evidence did Ohman at el (1975) provide for the biological preparedness theory

Answer 65

presented to human subjects in a conditioning group either 1 or 5 pairings of a picture CS and a shock US. The picture was of a potentially phobic stimulus (a snake) for half the subjects and a neutral stimulus (a flower) for the remainder. The CR (the SCR response) was measured in extinction (i.e. in the absence of the shock) after conditioning: i.e. the pictures of snakes or flowers were presented alone. To check that any change in the SCR in the conditioning group was due to the positive temporal correlation of CS and US; control groups received simple exposure either to shock alone (“sensitization” control) or to the picture alone (CS alone). used measures of autonomic responses such as the SCR (sweating) as an index of fear conditioning

Question 66

What were the results of Ohman et al experiments on biological preparedness

Answer 66

(i) The Conditioned group showed a larger SCR than the control groups. (ii) There was more conditioning to the phobic CS (snake) than to the neutral (flower) CS; thus, indicating that certain stimuli are more easily established than others as CSs for an aversive US.

Question 67

How are expectancies implicated in Pavlovian conditioning How can this be manipulated to affect a CR

Answer 67

conditioning can sometimes be thought of as reflecting the formation of expectancies, so that when the signal or CS occurs, the subjects expect the US because of the predictive capacity of the CS. Expectancies can be manipulated by verbally presented information and so one might expect the strength of a CR to be similarly affected.

Question 68

What evidence did Ohman gather that phobias may be affected by expectation give the 2 phases and result

Answer 68

1) SCR acquisition (a) CS+ paired with a shock US; (b) CS- not paired with shock. The CS+ could be either (i) phobic or (ii) neutral, in different groups. 2) Extinction trials (no shock presented). But half the subjects were told that the shock would no longer occur (i.e. an instructed group), the other half were not told (i.e. a not instructed group). key result was that instructions reduced SCR responding to the CS+ when a neutral stimulus was employed, but there was no effect when a phobic CS+ was used, i.e. the conditioned fear response persisted.

Question 69

What happens in flooding therapy?

Answer 69

the patient is exposed to the CS until their anxiety (eventually) subsides in the absence of the US (i.e. extinction)

Question 70

What happens in modelling therapy

Answer 70

the patient observes another person (e.g. a friend) experience the CS in a non-fearful manner

Question 71

What does modelling therapy assume

Answer 71

conditioning processes can occur vicariously: by watching another person behave fearfully (or non-fearfully) to a stimulus, our own fear reactions are modified

Question 72

What is the most influential phobia treatment

Answer 72

Systematic Desensitisation (Wolpe, 1950)

Question 73

What is Systematic Desensitisation

Answer 73

consists of several stages: 1) The patient is trained in a relaxation technique, e.g. deep breathing 2) The patient and therapist develop a hierarchical list of fear situations, from slightly scary to full exposure. 3) They are then exposed to the first situation and implement relaxation to counter-condition their anxiety. 4) When they can handle the first situation with no fear reaction, they progress to the second scenario, and so on.

Question 74

What are some predisposing factors to phobias

Answer 74

may be biological or psychological in origin, and increase the risk of developing the disorder (e.g. being bitten by a dog in childhood). Precipitating factors then bring this vulnerability to the surface, often in adulthood (as a clinician, think: “what has made this issue a problem at this specific point in the patient’s life?”)

Question 75

What is the trigger factor in the case of phobias

Answer 75

presentation of the phobic stimulus (other anxiety disorders' triggers are harder to elucidate)

Question 76

What are the main cognitive biases perpetuating the phobia (3)

Answer 76

avoidance hyper-vigilance (constantly checking for the phobic stimulus, which makes the patient detect more of them!) thought suppression (trying not to think about the phobic stimulus, which makes the patient think about it even more)

Question 77

How can the cognitive biases of a phobia be demonstrated

Answer 77

d with the Spider Stroop task in which spider phobics are slower to read the colour of spider-associated words

Question 78

Where does the cognitive account of phobias actually diverge from the behavioural account?

Answer 78

fairly compatible and many therapists use a combination of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) - highly effective in treating specific phobias in 1-6 sessions.

Question 79

What does the behavioural account of phobias imply what do behaviourists use to support this

Answer 79

conditioning could occur with minimal awareness or appraisal of the situation phobic patients often acknowledge that their fears are irrational when they are not in the phobic situation.

Question 80

What does the cognitive account of phobias imply What did Thorpe et al show as evidence for this (2 experiments)

Answer 80

the person’s appraisal and interpretation of CS-US pairings are central to the development of phobias when phobic patients are in the phobic situation, they do not appreciate their irrationality and express strong conviction in their beliefs that the dog will attack and injure them conducted ‘pure’ cognitive therapy on arachnophobes, attempting to challenge and dispute their irrational beliefs about spiders, without any actual exposure (behavioural therapy) to spider stimuli. A single therapy session improved symptoms and normalised attentional biases on the Spider Stroop.

Question 81

What provides the basis for modelling disorders in humans what has this allowed

Answer 81

studying unconditioned and conditioned fear in animals a more detailed investigation of underlying neural mechanisms and providing a way to develop anxiolytic drugs

Question 82

What structure does the acquisition of conditioned fear rely on have we confirmed this

Answer 82

amygdala confirmed repeatedly in numerous experiments in animals. Lesions of the amygdala also prevent or impair fear conditioning in humans (e.g. in subjects with Urbach-Wiethe disease, in which the amygdala is calcified bilaterally – very rare)

Question 83

What clinical hypothesis has data on fear conditioning in animals and humans lead to is this supported by clinical tests?

Answer 83

amygdala may be overactive in anxiety disorders. Functional imaging studies support this: patients with spider phobia showed increased amygdala responses, compared to healthy controls, following presentation of phobic pictures, as well as presentation of other fearful and disgust-related pictures Schienle et al, 2005

Question 84

What has been shown to be the case for the prefrontal cortex in phobic patients

Answer 84

Under-activity of the prefrontal cortex has also been identified in phobic subjects suggesting that normally the prefrontal cortex acts to down-regulate amygdala responsivity to aversive stimuli.

Question 85

What is valium

Answer 85

diazepam (a benzodiazepine)

Question 86

What are the drugs of choice to treat anxiety

Answer 86

benzodiazepines such as diazepam

Question 87

What are benzodiazepines used to treat

Answer 87

anxiety anticonvulsants (eg in alcohol withdrawal) hypnotics and sleep inducers

Question 88

Why are benzodiazepines considered to be safe

Answer 88

lethal dose is rare BUT they are associated with a dependence-withdrawal syndrome (that includes insomnia, loss of appetite and anxiety) and also cognitive impairment, especially memory loss

Question 89

How effective are benzodiazepines at treating different anxiety disorders

Answer 89

mainly to treat generalised anxiety disorder, but are much less effective for treating panic disorder or phobias

Question 90

What is the Geller Seifter Conflict procedure

Answer 90

AKA conditioned suppression a mildly thirsty or hungry rat is trained to press a lever for water or food, respectively (or may even simply have access to water to drink), but occasionally a neutral light or tone stimulus (the to-be conditioned stimulus, CS) is presented that is terminated with a mild electric footshock punishment (i.e. pavlovian pairing between stimulus and shock) This produces ‘conflict’ when the now conditioned fear stimulus (CS) is presented alone, resulting in a suppression of behaviour until the anxiety-eliciting CS is switched off

Question 91

What are the anxiolytic effects of benzodiazepines predicted by

Answer 91

their effects on conditioned fear in animals – effects that resemble those of amygdala lesions in that they reduce conditioned fear. eg in the Geller Seifter Conflict

Question 92

How do benzodiazepines affect conditioned suppression

Answer 92

chlordiazepoxide (Librium) or diazepam (Valium) produce an increase in the number of responses made during periods signalled by the fear CS. This release of conditioned suppression is the “anxiolytic” effect

Question 93

What is the MOA of benzodiazepines

Answer 93

in the amygdala (where there are many benzodiazepine binding sites on GABAa receptors)

Question 94

why are animals useful for anxiolytic drug development

Answer 94

The potency of a range of benzodiazepines and other drugs in releasing conditioned suppression or reducing other behavioural measures of fear in animals correlates well with their clinical potency

Question 95

Name 3 groups of drugs that can treat anxiety

Answer 95

benzodiazepines SSRIs 5-HT1A receptor ligands (agonists i think but not sure)

Question 96

How is the serotonin system implicated in threat response

Answer 96

subjects with the less effective (short) allele of the serotonin transporter polymorphism show increased amygdala responses to fearful facial expressions, and are at increased risk of anxiety and depressive disorders, compared to subjects with the more effective (long) allele (Hariri et al 2003) but SSRIs decrease amygdala activity to phobic stimuli Paradox: would be predicted that carriers of the short allele, with low expression of the transporter, would be more resilient, not more vulnerable, given SSRI’s are anxiolytic

Question 97

How do SSRIs affect the amygdala

Answer 97

amygdala over-activity to phobic stimuli is reduced

Question 98

How does the efficacy of SSRIs change throughout the course what does this suggest

Answer 98

only effective after a few weeks of treatment suggesting that their efficacy is dependent upon specific adaptations, e.g. regionally selective down and/or up-regulation of specific 5-HT receptors

Question 99

Why does the short allele for 5-HTT produce changes beyond the role of serotonin alone

Answer 99

serotonin has an important role in developing brain circuits and thus, the short allele of the 5-HTT, which is associated with altered activity across brain circuits in adulthood, probably has its effects on the development of these circuits

Question 100

How well do phobias and anxiety disorders respond to pharmacotherapy

Answer 100

not well benzodiazepines effectively reduce anxiety in the feared situation but do little to affect the fear reaction when the medication is withdrawn

Question 101

Which forms of anxiety tend to by treated with benzodiazepines When would you use other drugs to treat anxiety disorders

Answer 101

chronic forms of anxiety (e.g. GAD) that are treated effectively with benzodiazepines ß-adrenergic receptor blockers (e.g. propanolol) are used to treat somatic anxiety SSRIs (e.g. Prozac) are increasingly widely used to treat anxiety, especially when associated with depression