Module 49 - Anxiety Disorders Flashcards
Anxiety
Feeling of apprehension (uncertainty) or fear in potentially dangerous or threatening environment.
Anxiety Disorders
occur when anxiety is too intense, frequent, or persistent
Generalized anxiety disorder
unexplained and persistent tension and uneasiness
Post-traumatic stress disorder
intrusive memories, nightmares and general hyper-reactivity following exposure to a severe, uncontrollable threatening event
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
troubled by persistent anxiety producing thoughts
Phobias
irrational and intense fear of a specific thing or place.
Panic disorder
Sudden onset of intense dread
Specific phobias
include irrational fears of: animals, insects, heights, blood, close spaces.
Social Phobias
involved intense fear of being scrutinized
by others: Shyness to the extreme.
Obsessive thoughts
intrusive, disruptive, worrisome thoughts that won’t go away
Compulsive Behaviour
Repetitive or elaborate behaviors that follow the obsessive thought
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Four or more weeks of the following symptoms following exposure to a severe, life-threatening event:
- Intrusive Memories
- Nightmares
- Social Withdrawal
- Hyper-reactivity to noise
- Sleep problems
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Development related to intensity of emotional experience due to either:
1) Intensity or proximity to the threat. More PTSD for NewYorkers in towers, than for those outside (though rates were higher in NewYorkers overall)
2) Individual differences in emotional reactivity.
Post-Traumatic Growth
People who struggle with major crisis or challenge (cancer) leads to increased appreciation for life. “What doesn’t kill you may make you stronger.”
Learning Perspective: Classical Conditioning
Come to fear a neutral stimulus following its association with aversive stimulus (fear a sound paired with a shock)
Operant Conditioning
May explain maintenance of avoidance behaviors (social phobias) and development of compulsions (OCD)
Learning Perspective: Observational Learning
Recall: Monkeys pass on fear of snakes to offspring. Many fears (phobias) in children are learned by watching responses of others (parents).
The Biological Perspective: Natural Selection
Across cultures, humans appear biologically prepared to fear similar things: spiders, snakes, heights, storms, the dark.
Even in countries objects (e.g. snakes) don’t exist (Ireland) Phobias most easily learned, most difficult to extinguish
The Biological Perspective: Genes
Fearfulness runs in monkey families
Closer relation, stronger correlation for fear responding Identical Twins raised apart develop similar phobias Genes for glutamate (hyper-excitability)
The Biological Perspective: The Brain
Anxiety disorders accompanied by increased activity in brain areas
OCD: Increased activity in anterior cingulate cortex PTSD: hyperactive amygdala likely
Brain Imaging
A PET scan of the brain of a person with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). High metabolic activity (red) in the frontal lobe areas are involved with directing attention.
