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Ap Psychology > Module 66: Anxiety Disorder > Flashcards

Module 66: Anxiety Disorder Flashcards

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1
Q

Anxiety Disorders

A

Psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that induce anxiety

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2
Q

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

A

An anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal

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3
Q

What are some markers of Generalized Anxiety Disorder?

A

Out-of-control, agitated feelings suggest generalized anxiety disorder, which is marked by the EXCESSIVE and UNCONTROLLABLE worry that persists for 6 MONTHS OR MORE

  • 2/3 woman
  • often jittery ; agitated
  • sleep-deprived
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4
Q

Social Anxiety Disorder

A

Intense fear and avoidance of social situations (formerly called social phobia)

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5
Q

What’re some of the criteria for social anxiety disorder?

A
  • extremely anxious in social settings where others might judge them (parties, class presentation, eating in public)
  • may avoid going out to avoid anxious thoughts and feelings + physical symptoms (sweating & trembling)
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6
Q

What are some characteristics of generalized anxiety disorder?

A

The person usually cannot identify, and therefore relieve or avoid, the tension’s cause.

  • free-floating
  • not linked to a specific stressor or threat)
  • could lead to physical problems (high blood pressure, sleep disturbances,etc.)
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7
Q

Panic Disorder

A

An anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable, minutes-long episodes of intense dread - panic attacks- in which a person may experience terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations; often followed by worrying over a possible next attack

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8
Q

What do people commonly confuse panic attacks feel like?

A

Heart Attack

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9
Q

Agoraphobia

A

Fear or avoidance of public situations from which escape might be difficult

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10
Q

How can panic attacks lead to agoraphobia?

A

After several panic attacks, people may avoid situations where panic might strike. If their fear is intense enough, people may develop agoraphobia

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11
Q

Phobia

A

An anxiety disorder marked by a persistent irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object, activity, or situation

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12
Q

What are some examples of specific phobias?

A
  • animals
  • insects
  • heights
  • blood
  • close spaces
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13
Q

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

A

A disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions), actions (compulsions), or both

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14
Q

What are obsessive thoughts?

A

Unwanted and so repetitive it may seem they will never go away

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15
Q

What are compulsive behaviors?

A

Responses to obsessive thoughts

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16
Q

When does ritual and fussy behavior cross the line of normal to disordered?

A

Rituals and fussy behaviors cross the fine line between normality and disorder when they persistently interfere with everyday living and cause distress

17
Q

What is the difference between normal behavior and one suggesting OCD?

A

normal: Checking that you locked the door
Sign of disorder: Checking 10 times that you locked the door

Normal: Washing your hands thoroughly
Sign of disorder: Washing your hands so often that your skin becomes raw

18
Q

What other disorders are classified as OCD-related disorders in DSM-5?

A
  • hoarding disorder (cluttering one’s space w/ acquired possessions on can’t let go)
  • body dysmorphic disorder (preoccupation w/ perceived body defects)
  • trichotillomania (hair-pulling)
  • excoriation disorder (excessive skin-picking)
19
Q

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

A

A disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, hypervigilance, social withdrawal, jumpy, anxiety, numbness of feeling, and/or insomnia that lingers for Four Weeks or More after a traumatic experience.

20
Q

What are some symptoms of PTSD?

A

Haunting memories & nightmares, laser-focused attention to possible threats, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, and trouble sleeping

21
Q

Treatment for PTSD?

A

Participating in an intensive recovery program using deep breathing, massage, group & individual discussion techniques to treat their PTSD.

22
Q

Why do some develop PTSD after a traumatic event?

A
  • the amount of trauma-related emotional distress
  • the higher the distress the greater the risk for PTSD symptoms.
  • more sensitive emotion-processing limbic system that floods their bodies with stress hormones (explains why PTSD may coexist w/ other disorders)
  • 2x higher for women than men
23
Q

How does conditioning impact anxiety disorders, OCD, and PTSD?

A
  • anxious or traumatized people learn to associate their anxiety with certain cues
  • 58% of those w/ social anxiety disorder developed the disorder following a traumatic event
  • anxiety or related disorders are more likely to develop when bad events happen unpredictably and uncontrollably
24
Q

What is stimulus generalization?

A

The tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses.
*in operant conditioning, stimulus generalization occurs when responses learned in one situation occur in other, similar situations

25
Q

How does stimulus generalization explain anxiety, OCD, and PTSD?

A

Stimulus generalization occurs when a person experiences a fearful event and later develops a fear of similar events

26
Q

What is reinforcement and how does it help explain anxiety, OCD, and PTSD?

A

Reinforcement: any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

  • reinforcement helps maintain learned fears and anxieties. Anything that enables us to avoid or escape a feared situation can reinforce maladaptive behaviors
    ex. fearing a panic attack, we may decide not to leave the house. Reinforced by feeling calmer, we are likely to repeat the behavior in the future.
27
Q

How does cognition impact anxiety?

A

Cognition, our thoughts, memories, interpretations, and expectations influence our feelings of anxiety.
- past experiences shape our expectations and influence our interpretations and reactions

28
Q

What research has been conducted on cognition and anxiety?

A
  • Susan Mineka experimented w/ 6 monkeys
  • parents scared of snakes new offsprings weren’t
  • after repeatedly observing their parents or peers refusing to reach for food in the presence of a snake, the younger monkeys developed a similar fear of snakes - the fear persisted
29
Q

How do genes impact anxiety, OCD, and PTSD?

A
  • 17 gene variations associated with typical anxiety disorder symptoms
  • genes associated specifically with OCD
  • one identical twin has an anxiety disorder - the other at risk
  • even when raised separately, identical twins may develop similar phobias
30
Q

How do genes regulate neurotransmitters that impact anxiety, OCD, and PTSD?

A
  • some genes influence disorders by regulating brain levels of neurotransmitters
  • serotonin - influences sleep, mood, and attention to threats
  • glutamate, heighten activity in the brain’s alarm centers.
31
Q

How do our experiences change our brain?

A
  • our experiences change our brain, paving new pathways
  • traumatic fear-learning experiences can leave tracks in the brain, creating fear circuits within the amygdala
  • easy inroads for more fear experiences
32
Q

How are brain structures involved?

A

Brain scans of people with OCD reveal elevated activity in the anterior cingulate in the anterior cingulate cortex during behaviors such as compulsive hand washing, checking, ordering, or hoarding.

33
Q

What role does the anterior cingulate cortex play in OCD?

A

The anterior cingulate cortex, a brain region that monitors our actions and checks for errors, seems especially likely to be hyperactive

34
Q

How does natural selection underlie our fears?

A
  • we seem biologically prepared to fear threats faced by our ancestors
  • our phobias focus on specific fears such as spiders, snakes, and other animals; enclosed spaces and heights; storms and darkness
  • those fearless about these occasional threats were less likely to survive and leave descendants

Ap Psychology (43 decks)

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