Lecture 5 - GAD Flashcards
What do you need to be diagnosed with GAD?
Excessive worry, more days than not, worry is difficult to control
If you have that first part, you also need three symptoms out of a list (Restlessness, Easily fatigued, Difficulty concentrating, Irritability, )
In the context of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), what does the term “vulnerability markers” refers to ?
psychological, cognitive, and biological traits or mechanisms that increase a person’s susceptibility to developing GAD. These markers help explain why some individuals are more prone to excessive worry and anxiety than others (ex. attentional bias, emotion dysregulation, overactive amygdala)
lifetime prevalence of GAD?
5-6%
when does GAD normally onsets?
symptoms often evident in adolescence or earlier but can onset at any time.
true or false: onset of GAD is normally abrupt, symptoms appear suddently
No, usually gradual onset, increase in symptoms is slow
while the fear objects in phobias can be spiders, snakes, tornados, what is the fear object in GAD?
The fear object in GAD is emotions. Negative thoughts are threats to them. Worried about getting worried.
The most prominent current theory of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) comes from Thomas Borkovec, known as the Avoidance Model of Worry and GAD (also called the Cognitive Avoidance Theory). What does the theory suggest?
This theory suggests that worry serves as a cognitive avoidance strategy to suppress emotional and physiological arousal linked to anxiety.
By staying in a verbal mode of thinking, people with GAD avoid distressing mental imagery that would trigger stronger emotional reactions.
Instead of imagining a feared event (e.g., losing a loved one), a person with GAD might repetitively think, “What if something bad happens?”, avoiding the deeper emotional experience.
treatment for GAD?
exposure, you need the imagery to become emotionally aroused, if you never get aroused, you never change your fear structure
One thing that can be useful to distinguish major depressive disorder from GAD
Worry (more common in GAD) = future oriented
Rumination (more common in MDD): past oriented
the most common anxiety disorders?
1- specific phobias
2- social anxiety disorder
3- generalized anxiety disorder
what do you need to be diagnosed with social anxiety disorder?
- Intense fear or anxiety in one or more social situations
- The individual fears acting in a way that will be humiliating, embarrassing, or lead to rejection
- The feared social situations almost always provoke anxiety or distress
- The person avoids the social situations or endures them with significant distress
- The fear/anxiety is out of proportions
- Persist for at least 6 months
- Must interfere with daily life
What is Generalized Social Phobia?
Generalized Social Phobia refers to a form of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) where a person experiences intense fear or anxiety in most or all social situations.
In other words, it’s when the anxiety isn’t limited to specific situations (like public speaking) but instead extends to nearly all social interactions
It is a subtype of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), but it is not a separate diagnosis in the DSM-5 (you would be diagnosed with social anxiety disorder)
what is Taijin Kyofusho and is it part of the dsm5?
Characterized by fear of offending or embarrassing others due to one’s physical appearance, bodily functions, or behavior, rather than just being evaluated negatively
In the DSM-5, falls under the broader diagnosis of Social Anxiety Disorder.
