Task 3 Flashcards
With which disorders is social anxiety disorder highly comorbid?
Mood and other anxiety disorders
Why do so many of social anxiety cases become chronic?
Because they are left untreated
Describe the two pathways of how Social Anxiety can lead to post-event rumination.
Direct: The anxiety directly leads to rumination
Indirect: Anxiety leads to a biased self-perception due to cognitive biases, which then leads to rumination
How are pre- and post-event rumination connected?
post-event rumination leads to cognitive processes that lead to pre-event rumination, which then further reinforces post-event rumination
What are central aspects of the cognitive-behavioral model of social anxiety disorder by Rapee and Heimberg?
The way the individual imagines how other people see him/her and the assumption of the audiences standards/expectations.
What is a key process in Clark & Well’s cognitive model of social anxiety?
perceiving social situations as dangerous
How did Hoffman combine the previous models of social anxiety?
High perceived social standards and heightened self-focused attention lead to multiple cognitive “traps”, like negative self-perception, poor perceived social skills, high estimated social cost, which then lead to rumination and avoidance behaviors. This then in turn reinforces the heightened sensitivity for social situations and self-focused attention.
What are key components of most cognitive models of social anxiety disorder?
- Performance appraisal involving self-appraisal
- Self-efficacy - discrepancy between one’s perceived abilities and perceived expectations
- Threat appraisals: overestimation of cost and probability of a negative social outcome
- Self-imagery
- Self-focused attention
- Rumination
What where the findings of Voncken & Bögels when researching the effect of social anxiety on actual performance?
- People with social anxiety rate their own performance much worse than it actually is independently of the task.
- In speech tasks, where they only had to present something, social anxiety patients didn’t differ significantly in performance from controls.
What is the lifetime prevalence of social anxiety disorder?
between 3 and 7 %
How do women differ statistically from men when it comes to social anxiety disorder?
They show a higher prevalence and higher severity.
When do most cases of social anxiety develop?
early adolescence
What is something that many social anxiety patients have experienced during childhood/adolescence?
traumatic social experiences like bullying
What is meant with the term “Public self-referent”?
Assumption of how others see you
How you see yourself is also called…?
Private self-referent
What are two drugs that can be used for suppressing the symptoms of social anxiety?
SSRIs and SNRIs
What happens during a CBT treatment of social anxiety?
- Patients are exposed to increasing levels of intensity of social situations
- The compulsive safety behaviors are identified and eliminated
- Identifying and combating cognitive biases about oneself and social situations
What is the lifetime prevalence of panic disorder?
3 to 5%
What are mental disorders, panic disorder cooccurs with?
substance use disorders and generalized anxiety disorders
Is the tendency to develop a panic disorder connected with genetics?
Yes, heritability around 45%
Which neurotransmitters are involved in panic disorder?
Norepinephrine & Serotonin
What are three cognitive factors that can lead to a panic attack?
1) Interoceptive Awareness: (Overly) close attention to one’s bodily sensations
2) Anxiety sensitivity: Expecting these sensations to have negative consequences
3) Catastrophizing
What is interoceptive conditioning?
When bodily cues, that have predicted a panic attack in the past become the conditioned stimulus for another attack
What is the premise of the integrated model of panic disorders?
- Many people with panic disorders seem to be biologically predisposed for it.
- Catastrophizing reinforces these physiological symptoms
- This results in worry, which actually increases the likelihood of further attacks
Why might a panic disorder lead to Agoraphobia?
When interoceptive conditioning happens, the conditioned associated stimuli are avoided (Conditioned Avoidance Response), which can lead to a vicious circle of avoiding more and more things until agoraphobia is present.
What does it mean, that generalized anxiety patients make maladaptive assumptions?
They expect the worst possible outcome.
Explain the Cognitive Avoidance of GAD.
GAD patients prefer the chronic but familiar state of anxiousness over sudden negative surprises.
What can be a cause of GAD?
unpredictable or uncontrollable life experiences
Name two biases present in social phobia patients, that maintain the anxiety disorder, as confirmed by Voncken et al.
- Interpretation Bias: Ambiguous events are interpreted negatively
- Judgement Bias: Overestimation of cost and probability of being negatively evaluated
Explain what happens according to Clark’s Cognitive Mediation Theory.
Certain activities induce panic because they cause bodily sensations that are misinterpreted by the patient.
(inhalation of CO2, infusion of Sodium Lactate, Voluntary Hyperventilation)
What are most common treatment paradigms for agoraphobia?
Exposure Therapy / Systematic Desensitization
What happens in most cases of SAD?
They are left untreated and become chronic.
What are key factors in maintaining the cycle of social anxiety?
Pre- and post-event rumination.
