Lecture 5 - Treatment of Anxiety

Question 1

What are the pros and cons of benzodiazepines?

Answer 1

Quick acting and less addicting, but had an interaction with alcohol and high relapse rates.

Question 2

What are the pros and cons of barbiturates?

Answer 2

Quick acting, but high levels of relapse, highly addictive, overdosing and interaction with alcohol.

Question 3

What are the pros and cons of SSRIs?

Answer 3

Slow acting with fewer side effects, but relapse is still an issue.

Question 4

Why are biological treatments avoided?

Answer 4

The deal with the anxiety symptoms, not the cause of the anxiety itself (plus side effects).

Question 5

What is the main aim of CBT?

Answer 5

To reduce the biased threat appraisal (probability and cost) while increasing biased coping appraisal.

Question 6

What are two key techniques in CBT when dealing with anxiety?

Answer 6

Thought diaries: identify the automatic processes (write down instances of anxiety to identify triggers).
Socratic questioning: leading the patient to come to conclusions about the ‘against’ evidence (as they only consider the pro-evidence).

Question 7

What is the key component of behavioural therapies? Why is it important?

Answer 7

Exposure to feared stimuli and outcomes, which reduce overestimation of probability and cost. Uses in vivo and imaginary exposure that gradually become more intense (rather than flooding). Ultimate aim is to disprove the hypothesis of the patient and create new learning habits.