Exam 4: Anxiety Disorders Flashcards

1
Q

most common type of psychiatric disorder
lifetime prevalence ~30&
women twice as likely to experience than men
patients with this have up to 90% comorbidity with other disorders

A

anxiety disorder

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2
Q

3 major categories of anxiety disorders reclassified by DSM-5

A
  • anxiety disorders
  • OCD and related disorders
  • trauma related disorders like PTSD
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3
Q

anxiety symptoms

A
  • panic episodes
  • phobic avoidance of anxiety-eliciting stimuli
  • intrusive thoughts or compulsive behaviors
  • damaging negative thinking patterns
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4
Q

anxiety manifests as…

A
restlessness
fatigue
excessive anxiety and worrying
inc muscle aches or soreness
impaired concentration 
irritability 
difficulty sleeping
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5
Q

what happens in brain - anxiety

A

activation of sympathetic nervous system, inc HR, sweating, fight or flight

-intensity varies from felings of vague discomfort to intense sensatios of terror

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6
Q

why from evolutionary standpoint is a little anxiety beneficial

A

keeps you alert, protective

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7
Q

fear vs anxiety

A

fear: emotional response to current threat
anxiety: apprehension about possible future events

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8
Q

eustress

A

low anxiety levels improves performance

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9
Q

distress

A

high anxiety levels impair performance

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10
Q

3-component model of anxiety

A

cyclical interaction of body responses, ineffective behaviors, and upsetting thoughts
- high anxiety can lead to failure, maladaptive coping strategies exacerbate anxiety

can all exacerbate eachother
or you are so overwhelmed that you do nothing which will make it worse

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11
Q

generalize anxiety disorder (GAD)

A
  • individuals show signs of constant worry and continuously predict, anticipate, or imagine dreadful events
  • life is generally stressful, even minor events provoke worry (forgot a pencil even though have a laptop)

-chronic anxiety reduces the individual’s performance on many tasks and decreases pleasure
things no longer fun - chronic sympathetic activation

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12
Q

panic attacks

A
  • individual experiences all effects of a fear reaction without a threatening stimulus
  • strong arousal of sympathetic nervous system

can be mistaken for heart attack
mental and physical symptoms: chest pain, hands numb, inc HR

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13
Q

panic disorder

A

individual experiences both panic attacks and anticipatory anxiety

  • recurring unpredictable panic attacks
  • range from many times a day to one or twice a year
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14
Q

anticipatory anxiety

A

over the possibility of having an attack in a place that is not safe
-impairs daily activity, do not want to go out or do anything

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15
Q

social anxiety disorder (SAD)

A

persistent fear and avoidance of social/performance situations without justification
-onset at young age, half develop symptoms by age 11

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16
Q

characteristics of social anxiety disorder

A
  • fear of situations where you may be judged
  • worrying about embarassing yourself
  • intense fear of talking with strangers
  • sweating, trembling, shaky voice
  • fear being center of attention
  • spending time finding flaws after an event
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17
Q

agoraphobia

A

fear of public places
anxiety being in an unsafe place

  • these ppl have limited lives bc they never leave safety of their homes
  • inc anxiety in everyday situations
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18
Q

situations ppl with agoraphobia avoid

A
  • shopping malls
  • buses, trains, subways
  • wide streets
  • waiting in line
  • crowds
  • elevators
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19
Q

phobias involve…

A

fears that the individual recognizes as irrational
-may focus on specific objects or situations like high places or closed-in spaces, snakes, social situations , public speaking

20
Q

what people fear is at least partially determined by…

A

culture

pa-leng in chinese culture - changes in body T

21
Q

how can phobia be treated

A

behavior therapy
behavioral desensitization - exposure therapy
-face fear - start with picture then in same room and then maybe touching fear

22
Q

PTSD

A

complex patterns of dysfunctional responses following exposure to traumatic experience or event

  • war, school shooting, assault, natural disasters
  • can be victim or someone observing
23
Q

PTSD symptoms from 4 categories

A

-re-experiencing(flashbacks): remembering event and getting physiological response-sympathetic nervous system

  • avoidance of people/places: avoid triggers
  • negative condition/mood: memory deficits, cognitive, guilt, blame

-arousal: hypervigilance, sleep disturbances, aggression, self-destructive behaviors

24
Q

people with PTSD have greater incidences of

A

suicide attempts, substance abuse, marital problems, depression, guilt, anger

long term consequences, without intervention it will not go away

25
Q

risk factors of PTSD

A

-genetic contribution: monozygotic twins, 74% sufferrs had a family member who had a history

  • women have inc incidences than men
  • children of parents with PTSD are at an inc risk
26
Q

OCD

A

recurring, persistent, intrusive thoughts of contamination, violence, sex, religion that the individual tries to resist but that cause a great deal of anxiety, guilt, and shame

27
Q

compulsions

A

repetitive rituals to relieve the tremendous anxiety generated by obsessive thoughts

  • actions to relieve anxiety
  • hording, touching a doorknob a certain amount of times before opening
28
Q

amygdala and anxiety

A

major component of emotion processing circuit
-receives highly processed sensory & cognitive information from thalamus, hippocampus, sensory and association areas

-fear components

29
Q

how does amygdala orchestrate fear components of anxiety

A

sympathetic nervous system activation, enhanced reflexes, inc vigilance, activation of HPA axis

30
Q

amygdala activation of hypothalamus through HPA axis

A

stress respons

31
Q

amygdala activation of sympathetic arousal, brainstem

A

locus coreulus

32
Q

amygdala activation o finsula

A

monitor internal body state

-feeling uneasy, fast HR

33
Q

amygdala and PFC

A

modifies attention

-AND PFC can shut down amygdala indirectly - decides if the amygdala is providing a justified response

34
Q

amygdala-hippocampus connectivity

A

responsible for memory consolidation

  • emotional memory
  • prolonged and sustained-strong memory of when they said the wrong thing
35
Q

PFC and Anterior cingulate cortex

A

exert inhibitory control over primitive responses of subcortical regions
-long lasting changes prevent inhibition of amygdala - improper activation

36
Q

BNST (bed nucleus of stria terminalis) - along ventricles

A

initiates behavioral manifestations of anxiety
-when stimuli are not great predictors of danger

projects to similar regions as amygdala (hippocampus, brainstem)

37
Q

BNST produces state of…

A

sustained preparedness for an unclear danger and prolonged anticipation of unpleasantness
- recruit energy but unclear when danger is coming so you have a prolonged response

38
Q

insula shares reciprocal projections with…

A

amygdala and BNST

39
Q

insula function

A
conscious awareness of internal states 
-butterflies in stomach
-racing heart or flushing skin 
interpretation, what am I actually feeling
-are you excited bc puppy or anxious
40
Q

brain changes in GAD

A
  • inc volume/size of the amygdala
  • more neurons responding to threats

PET scans show: inc amygdala activity with exposure to neg stimuli
more threat messages sent out

41
Q

brain changes in GAD

A
  • inc volume/size of the amygdala
  • more neurons responding to threats

PET scans show: inc amygdala activity with exposure to neg stimuli
more threat messages sent out

42
Q

brain activity during a panic attack

A

-inc activity in insula while recalling mental/physical distress of panic attack
inc awareness of changes in PNS

escalation of anxiety and fear associated with inc amygdala activity - overreaction

dec PFC activity - cannot suppress the amygdala
- inability to control emotions

43
Q

brain changes in PTSD

A
  • smaller hippocampus: unsure why, may be vulnerability factor
  • smaller anterior cingulate cortex and medial PFC
44
Q

what do the anterior cingulate cortex and medial PFC normally do

A

inhibit amygdala and establish extinction of conditioned emotional responses

45
Q

faulty fear extinction in PTSD patients

A

-continued amygdala activation/hyperactivity
-inability to extinguish fear response
-reduced activity in vmPFC
no ability to turn off amygdala

do not learn that things you shouldn’t be afraid of are not scary

46
Q

amygdala and mPFC in PTSD

A

hyperactivity of amygdala in response to threatening imagery - positively correlated with symptom severity

reduced mPFC activity and hippocampal formation
-inversely correlated with symptom severity