Lectures 7-8: Anxiety Disorders Flashcards
What is the modern definition of neuroticism?
- Tendency to experience frequent and intense negative emotions in response to stress.
What are the key cognitive correlates of neuroticism?
- Perception that the world is dangerous/threatening
- Belief that one is unable to cope
- Heightened focus on criticism (criticism makes you feel completely inadequate)
- Believe that they do not have much control over their life
With what did the DSM authors replace the term “neurosis” (or “neurotic”)?
- The DSM authors, replaced the term “neurosis” with anxiety disorders and unipolar depression.
Consider that argument that the current DSM overemphasizes categories that are minor
variations of a broader underlying syndrome of neuroticism. Describe the evidence for this claim.
1) High rates of comorbidity (oftentimes, if someone is diagnosed with depression, they also have anxiety)
2) Broad treatment response (if you treat one anxiety disorder, it will typically improve other anxiety disorders or depression)
3) Shared neurobiological mechanisms (for both anxiety disorders and depression, there is a hyper-excitability of limbic structures and limited inhibitory control by cortical structures.)
Explain how positive affect and negative affect are related to anxiety and depression.
Anxiety: high negative affect and hyperarousal
Depression: high negative affect and low positive affect
Is neuroticism “treatable” (i.e., is it something that can be changed)? Explain.
YES!!
- Neuroticism is actually the easiest of the Big 5 personality traits to change. As we age, we develop our own user manual to help deal with our negative emotions.
- Also, SSRIs and drugs can decrease neuroticism and increase positive affect (exercise can help as well.)
What are the major diagnostic criteria for panic disorder?
- Recurrent (unexpected) panic attacks
- Followed by (ONE MONTH OF) one or more of the following:
- Worry about future attacks
- Maladaptive changes in behavior
as a result (ex: skipping class or
abusing substances)
What are the major diagnostic criteria for agoraphobia?
- Marked fear/anxiety about 2 or more of these places (FOR 6 MONTHS OR MORE)
- public transport
- open spaces
- enclosed spaces
- lines/crowds
- outside of home alone - This fear is caused because it would be really stressful to have a panic attack in one of these places, thus, you choose to just avoid these places in general.
Describe anxiety sensitivity and interoceptive awareness and how these two factors play a role
in panic disorder.
- Anxiety Sensitivity: you blow small bodily changes out of proportion (if you notice your heart beating a little fast, you may think you’re gonna have a panic attack)
- Interoceptive Awareness: when you’re really in tune with what’s happening with your body (if you notice a change in your heart rate, this can cause you to get anxious, and unintentionally bring about the panic attack yourself.)
Describe the components of the integrated model of panic disorder (see image in ppt or book)
we discussed and how they work together.
- In this model, a perceived threat may lead to worry, which is accompanied by various bodily sensations. And if a person catastrophizes the meaning of their bodily sensations, this will raise the level of the perceived threat, which then creates more worry (+ and more physical symptoms), which fuel further catastrophic thoughts. This cycle can lead to a panic attack.
- Also, sometimes the initial physical sensations do not need to arise form a perceived threat but may come from other sources as well (such as drugs, coffee, etc.)
Explain how CBT could be used to treat panic disorder. What steps would be involved?
- Relaxation Training: progressive muscle techniques, breathing techniques (a good clinician would tailor it to whatever you’re into)
- Identifying Cognitions: trigger the panic in therapy (consent from client).
- Powerful: allows for relaxation and reinterpretation (if you have someone start a panic attack and get out of it) - Exposure: Avoidance makes anxiety worse (thus exposing yourself to things until you don’t feel panicked anymore can be beneficial)
Describe the diagnostic criteria for GAD.
- Anxious almost all the time (more days than not), in almost all situations
- More days than not for at least 6 MONTHS
- This anxiety is generalized, its about a number of things
What are the characteristic cognitions of those with GAD?
- Always focused on threat (on the lookout for something to go wrong)
- Believe worry is effective and productive (don’t want to give up worry)
- Can interpret things that are neutral as wrong. Thus, this assumption leads to hyper-vigilance.
Describe the type of traumatic experience necessary for the diagnosis of PTSD.
- Exposure to actual or threatened death/serious injury or sexual violence (directly or witnessed in person)
- Learning of such events with respect to close family members/friends
- Experiencing exposure (repeated or extreme) to aversive details of traumatic events
- TV (or media) doesn’t count!
