Lecture 3 - Introduction to anxiety disorders, specific phobia and social anxiety disorder Flashcards
Anxiety
A mood state characterized by strong negative emotions and physical symptoms of tension in anticipation of future danger or misfortune.
Anxiety Disorders
A group of mental illnesses where the primary symptom is excessive or unrealistic anxiety and fearfulness, disproportionate to the actual threat.
Specific Phobia
An excessive, unreasonable, and persistent fear of a specific object or situation.
Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)
Fear of social situations or interactions where negative evaluation is possible, leading to overwhelming anxiety.
Co-morbidity
The presence of one or more additional medical or psychological disorders co-occurring with a primary condition.
Displacement (in psychology)
A defense mechanism where emotions or impulses are redirected from their original target to a less threatening substitute.
Oedipus Complex
In psychoanalytic theory, a stage of psychosexual development (phallic stage) where a child develops unconscious sexual desires for the opposite-sex parent and rivalry with the same-sex parent.
Castration Anxiety
In psychoanalytic theory, an irrational fear in boys that their father will castrate them as punishment for their desire for their mother.
Conditioning
A learning process where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus, eliciting a specific response.
Mowrer’s Two-Factor Model
A theory of phobia development that suggests fear is acquired through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning.
Biological Preparedness
The theory that humans are predisposed to fear certain stimuli that posed threats to our ancestors, facilitating survival.
Non-Associative Fear Acquisition
The development of fear towards biologically relevant stimuli without prior learning or conditioning.
Habituation
A decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated exposure.
Amygdala
A brain structure involved in processing emotions, particularly fear and anxiety.
Exposure Therapies
Therapeutic approaches based on principles of classical conditioning, involving gradual or sudden exposure to feared stimuli to reduce anxiety.
Counterconditioning
A technique where a feared stimulus is paired with a positive stimulus to reduce the fear response.
Systematic Desensitization
A type of exposure therapy where individuals are gradually exposed to a hierarchy of fear-inducing stimuli while practicing relaxation techniques.
Flooding
A type of exposure therapy where individuals are directly exposed to the most feared stimulus for a prolonged period, preventing avoidance and promoting extinction of the fear response.
Cognitive Therapy Techniques
Therapeutic approaches focusing on identifying and changing unhelpful thoughts and beliefs that contribute to anxiety.
Cognitive Restructuring
A cognitive therapy technique that involves identifying and challenging negative or distorted thoughts and replacing them with more realistic and helpful ones.
Self-Focused Attention
A tendency to focus inward on oneself and one’s anxiety responses during social situations, exacerbating anxiety.
Information and Interpretation Bias
A cognitive bias where individuals selectively attend to and interpret information in a way that confirms their existing beliefs or anxieties.
Selective Attention
The process of focusing on specific stimuli while ignoring others, often influenced by anxiety or fear.
Behavioural Inhibition (BI)
A temperamental trait characterized by distress and withdrawal from unfamiliar situations, people, or environments, often considered a precursor to social anxiety.