Lecture 2, Anxiety Flashcards
How is anxiety described as a basic emotion?
It is a normal response to danger or thoughts and has multiple subsystems
What are the subsystems of anxiety?
Cognitive, Behavioural and Physiological
What is anxiety as a personality dimension?
Trait anxiety, and neuroticism
What is anxiety as a psychological disorder?
GAD, OCD, Panic etc.,
According to Endler, Parker, Bagby and Cax, what are the 2 dimensions of state-anxiety?
Cognitive (worry) and autonomic (emotional/physiological).
Which component of state-anxiety is more disruptive?
Cognitive
What is a personality dimension?
In the case of anxiety, it means that people can be more prone to experiencing anxiety than others, and can be positively associated with psychopathology.
What is trait-anxiety?
Relatively stable individual difference in anxiety proneness.
The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T) is shown to have 2 factors, what are they?
Depression, and anxiety.
What causal factors are there to describe why some people are more anxious than others?
MZ twin studies of neuroticism demonstrate that there is an approximate 25% variance in neuroticism due to genetic factors.
No reliable differences between high and low anxious-trait individuals.
What are the cognitive factors in anxiety?
- Trait anxiety correlated with selective attention to threat stimuli
- Increased trait anxiety linked to more attention to threat, negative thought, worry
- Trait anxiety stronger predictor of attempts than state anxiety
What are the versions of emotional stroop task?
- Dot probe task
- Homophone spelling
What is the dot probe task?
Word pairs (threat and non-threat), follow by a dot probe in the same position as one of them. Trait-anxious and anxious patient’s focus on the threat word
What is the homophone spelling task?
Listen to words with alternative meanings; trait-anxious write the threatening word
What is the processing stage theory?
Anxiety effecting automatic processing leading to bias. In this approach, anxiety is viewed as a bottom-up process. Stimulus input -> State Effect -> Trait Effect
What is the hypervigilance theory?
Trait anxious scan environment for threat excessively and lock onto it. Unclear whether theory is bottom up or top down.
What is the S-REF theory?
Anxiety associated with activation of Cognitive Attentional Syndrome. CAS involves self-focus, worry, monitoring for threat and ironic coping responses.
What does S-REF stand for?
Self-regulatory executive function
What did Nordahl et al., 2019 discuss about metacognitive beliefs?
Predicted proneness to both domains of trait anxiety (anxiety and depression subscale); Metacognitive beliefs may be an underlying mechanism of vulnerability attributed to trait anxiety
When is anxiety a disorder?
Anxiety interferes with function; Prolonged/excessive; Impairs quality of life : Specific phobia, panic attack, GAD
What are the 3 chapters of anxiety disorders according to the DSM-5?
Anxiety disorders, OCD and related to disorders & trauma and stress related.
Give some examples of DSM-5 diagnoses of anxiety.
Separation anxiety, OCD, Agoraphobia
What are the trauma and stress disorders of anxiety?
- Acute Stress Disorders, usually occurs within 4 weeks of trauma, decreases within 4 weeks - labelled as a normal response.
- PSTD - This is the disorder developed if acute stress disorder persists
What are the symptoms of PTSD, according to the DSM-5 criteria?
Recurrent memories, flashbacks, marked physiological reasons, avoidance, alternation in cognition and mood associated with trauma
What is social anxiety disorder?
Fear of performance or social situations in which person is subject to scrutiny - situation is avoided/endured with intense anxiety/distress
What are the clinical models of social anxiety disorder?
Social skills deficit; Cognitive behaviours model
What theories do Cognitive Behaviours Model draw on?
Draws on Beck’s schema theory and cognitive model by Wells
What does Clark and Wells’ Cognitive Behaviours Model ask and answer?
Why doesn’t social anxiety self correct?
1. Self-focused attention; 2. Processing of inner image; 3. Safety behaviours & avoidance; 4. Anticipatory processing; 5. The post-mortem
What does the Clark and Well’s model distinguish?
Vulnerability factors and in-situation factors. Assumed that the person with anxiety has underlying beliefs or assumptions about the social world - leading to negative thoughts in social situations
What are the important additional mechanisms in the Clark and Well model?
Safety behaviours and somatic & cognitive symptoms
What is anticipatory processing?
A safety behaviour - Happens before entering a feared situation, difficulty in having an experience that challenges negativity
What is post-mortem safety behaviour?
Upon leaving a feared situation, ruminate and analyse performance. Reinforces negative inner image.
