Mental Health - Anxiety Disorder/Specific Phobia (Chapter 18)

Question 1

DP5

Answer 1

Applicaiton of a biopsychosocial framework to understanding and managing simple phobia as an example of an anxiety disorder.

Question 2

Anxiety

Answer 2

A state of aroussal associated with feelings of apprehension, worry or uneasiness that something is wrong or something unpleasant is about to happen.

Question 3

Anxiety Disorder

Answer 3

Characterised by chronic feelings of anxiety, distresss, nervousness and apprehension or fear about the future, with a negative effect

Question 4

Phobia Definition

Answer 4

Persistent, irrational and intense fear of a particular object, animal situation, activity or person that causes a significant distress and interferes with daily functinoing

Question 5

Phobic Disorders - Divided into 3 main categories

Answer 5

1) Specific Phobia - fear of a single object or event that triggers a panic response
2) Social Phobias - social disorder - fear of other people or social situations. Includes feeling scrutinised by others while eating, speaking in public or attending a party.
3) Agoraphobias - fear of leaving a place. Can be worse when accompanied by a panic attack.

Question 6

DSM Phobia Categories

Answer 6

1. Animals
2. Situations.
3. Blood/Injections
4. Natural Environments
5. Other

Question 7

Biological Factors

Answer 7

Genetic Predisposition

Stress Response - Fight or Flight, Heart Palpitations, increased perspiration

Question 8

Gamma-amino-butyric-acid (GABA)

Answer 8

PRIMARY INHIBITORY neurotransmitter in the CNS

• Inhibits postsynaptic neurons
• Gets in the synapse t block the transmission

Question 9

Glutamate

Answer 9

EXCITATORY neurotransmitter

• Makes postsynaptic neurons more likely to PASS ON the neural impulse
• Gets the post synaptic neuron excited so it requires less stimulation to make it fire
• Also plays a role in learning and memory, strengthing synaptic connections

Question 10

GABA and Anxiety

Answer 10

Lack of the neurotransmitter might lead to over stimulation, and thus heightened anxiety
Benzodiazepines - a class of drugs that 'calm down' neural activity.

Question 11

Agonist and Antagonists (DRUGS)

Answer 11

Agonists - mimic the activity of a neurotransmitter

Antagonists - inhibit the activity of a neurotransmitter

Question 12

Benzodiazepines and Anxiety

Answer 12

Mimic the activity of GABA in inhibiting post synaptic neural activity

Question 13

CBT

Answer 13

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy that helps people to change unhelpful or unhealthy thinking habits, feelings and behaviours. CBT may be used to treat problems including anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, uncontrollable anger, substance abuse, eating disorders and other problems.

Question 14

Psychodynamic Model

Answer 14

• Mental disorders are caused by unresolved conflicts that occur in the subconscious

- Psychosexual Stages
ORAL 0-2
ANAL 2-3
PHALLIC 4-5
LATENCY 6-Puberty

• As we progress through these stages different parts of the body become focus of attention and pleasure
• Each stage has a critical development conflict that must be resolved to move onto the next stage

UNRESOLVED CONFLICTS CAUSE ANXIETY

• We use defense mechanisms to protect ourselves from this anxiety
• The ego (conscious part of mind) distorts, denies or falsifies reality unconsciously

Question 15

Oedipal Complex

Answer 15

Phallic Stage 4-5

Male/female child develops sexual attraction to his/her mother/father

Fears father/mother who is bigger and stronger

Repression of sexual impulses towards opposite sex parent - used as a defense mechanism

Question 16

Behavioural Model

Answer 16

• Assumes phobias are learned through experience and may acquired, maintained or modified by environmental consequences such as rewards and punishment

Classical Conditioning

• Explains acquisition of a phobia and generalisation
• Fear of a CR through association with CS

Operant Conditioning

• Explains persistence of phobia
• May also explain acquisition

Question 17

Cognitive Model Definition

Answer 17

Emphasises how the individual processes information about the phobic stimulus and related events

Question 18

Cognitive Biases

Answer 18

Tendencies for distorted thinking, mistaken judgements, flawed, decision-making

Question 19

Cognitive Model - attentional bias

Answer 19

selectively attend to threat-related stimuli rather than neutral stimuli

Question 20

Cognitive Model - memory bias

Answer 20

Recall negative or threatening information rather than positive/neutral information

Question 21

Cognitive Model - interpretive bias

Answer 21

Interpret or judge ambiguous stimuli and situations in a threatening manner

Question 22

Cognitive Model - Catastrophic bias

Answer 22

object or event is perceived as intolerable, dangerous, insufferable or resulting in the worst possible outcome when actually none of these is realistic

Overestimate threat and underestimate ability to cope with threat

Question 23

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Answer 23

Assists person to understand interrelationship between thoughts, emotions and behaviour in interpreting and responding to phobic stimuli

Combines cognitive therapy and behavioural therapy

• Cognitive Therapy: thinking therapy, aims to address the problems in cognition that contribute to negative emotions and behaviours
• Behavioural Therapy: application of classical, operant and observational learning to address behavioural aspects of a disorder

Question 24

CBT and phobias

Answer 24

Switch from unhelpful irrational automatic thoughts to evidence-based rational thoughts

Question 25

CBT behavioural component

Answer 25

Behavioural component aims to address maladaptive behaviours that are part of the condition

1. Make a prediction
2. Review the evidence for and against
3. Devise an experiment to test it
4. Note the results
5. Draw conclusions

Question 26

Socio-cultural factors - Specific environmental triggers

Answer 26

Specific Environmental Triggers: specific objects or situations in the environment that produce (trigger) the fear response

Question 27

Socio-cultural factors - Parental Modelling

Answer 27

Parental Modelling: learning through observation of a parent model’s fearful response (and consequences) to a specific object or situation

Question 28

Socio-cultural factors - Transmission of threat information

Answer 28

Transmission of Threat Information: information received directly or indirectly from people or media about potential threat or actual threat/danger of a specific object or situation