Exam 2.1 Flashcards
What is the historical distinction between fear and anxiety?
Fear: There is a specific origin of threat
Anxiety: Danger is less specific
What is the contemporary distinction between fear and anxiety?
Fear: Activation of fight-or-flight response in reaction to immediate danger
Anxiety: Complex blend of emotions and cognitive processes
What are anxiety disorders categorized by?
Unrealistic, irrational fears that cause significant distress and impairs functioning
What are the 5 anxiety disorders?
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Specific Phobia
- Panic Disorder
- Agoraphobia
What are the clinical features of specific phobias?
- Severe, persistent fear of a specific object/situation
- Fear causes distress and impairs functioning
- Experiencer takes extensive measures to avoid any possibility of encountering the object of fear
What are the main subtypes of specific phobias?
- Animals
- Blood-injection-injury
- Situational
- Other
What is a causal factor of specific phobias from a psychoanalytical perspective?
- Defense against stress from the id’s repressed impulses
- Id’s repressed impulses are projected onto a symbolic, external object
What other causal factors are considered to be related to specific phobias?
- Learned, conditioned responses
- Genetic and temperamental variables
What is a common treatment for specific phobias?
Exposure therapy
What are some clinical features of social anxiety?
- Fears of 1+ social situations that cause distress and impairs functioning
- Preoccupation with the possibility of negative evaluation
What are some causal factors of social anxiety?
- Conditioned, learned responses
- Genetic predisposition to qualities such as behavioral inhibition
- Cognitive bias
What are some clinical features of panic disorder?
- Recurrent, spontaneous panic attacks
- Fear of the persisting symptoms
What is one of the causal factors of panic disorder?
Genetic predisposition to traits such as neuroticism
What is the amygdala?
- Located in hippocampus
- Critically involved in emotions and fear
What are some clinical features of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)?
- Chronic, excessive, and unreasonable worry
- Lasting 6+ months
- Anxious apprehension
What is a causal factor of GAD, according to Psychoanalytic Theory?
- Unconscious conflict between the impulses of the id and ego
- Unconscious conflicts are not properly dealt with due to underdeveloped or disrupted defense mechanisms
What are some causal factors of GAD, according to Biological Theory?
- Abnormal activity of neurotransmitters norepinephrine and serotonin
- Amygdala overactivation
What are some causal factors of GAD, according to Learning Theory?
Developments of associating external cues with internal reactions
What are some causal factors of GAD, according to Cognitive Theory?
The condition may develop in individuals that are more susceptible to having exaggerated interpretations of bodily sensations
What is the estimated heritability rate of GAD?
30%
What are common treatments to GAD?
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
- Medication
What are some clinical features of obsessive-compulsive disorder?
- Intrusive thoughts and obsessions
- Compulsive behaviors whose purpose is to relieve the thoughts
- No longer an anxiety disorder; it is in its own category in the DSM-V, “Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders”
What are common therapies for obsessive-compulsive disorder?
Cognitive and behavioral therapy
What is Body Dysmorphic Disorder?
- “Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders”
- Obsessed with real or imagined flaws
- Obsessions cause distress and impairs functioning
Describe some examples of cultural differences in sources of worry
- Caribbean Latin Americans, Puerto Ricans
- “Ataque de Nervios” often results from family-related circumstances
- Yoruba culture of Nigeria
- Primary causes of anxiety: pressure to maintain large families, being cursed or hexed in dreams, and bodily complains
- China and Southeast Asian countries
- Concerns about male potency and the penis retracting into the body
Why is exposure therapy important in the treatment of anxiety disorders?
Repeated exposure builds resistance against the fear(s), reducing fear and decreasing avoidance
What are the two neurological pathways involved in anxiety disorders?
Neuroendocrine and Neurotransmitter Pathways
How might treatments differ based on which neurological pathway is activated in anxiety disorders?
Medications will vary based on which receptors they act on and which pathways they are working to help
Why was OCD controversial in its placement with anxiety disorders?
- Some argue that it belongs in its own category due to it being characterized as involving intrusive thoughts and obsessions along with compulsive behaviors meant to relieve those thoughts.
- The other anxiety disorders do not involve these thought distortions and behavioral inclinations
Where is OCD listed in the DSM-V?
“Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders”
