Topic 9 - Anxiety Flashcards
_______ appears in our lives in a number of ways, some of which are common to most everyone and some of which are clearly manifestations of mental illness.
Anxiety
A type of anxiety that is a common reaction to stressors. It is typically short-lived and situation limited.
Everyday Anxiety
The following stressors may contribute to ________ anxiety:
- Going to the dentist
- Walking down a dark street
- Public speaking
- Test-taking
- Being in new situations
- Concern for a loved one
- Worrisome new health symptom
Everyday
Everyday anxiety is part of the larger state called ____.
Fear
The purpose of situational anxiety is to make the person more _____ or careful. It is an important survival mechanism and can trigger the “_____ or ______” sympathetic nervous system response.
Alert
“Fight or Flight”
_________ anxiety becomes characterized by apprehension, nervousness and worry, as well as by feelings of discomfort that can be both physical and _________.
Prolonged
Emotional
Anxiety can also derive from ________, especially when prolonged, where the person feels stretched beyond capacity for too long.
Overload
Short-term anxiety experienced in relation to a stressful circumstance, such as being in the hospital or having a high-stress exam.
State Anxiety
State anxiety ranges in _________ in individuals circumstance by circumstance, and among individuals in the same circumstance.
Intensity
T/F - State anxiety is not amendable to remedies like talking with a friend or going for a walk.
False - State anxiety is SOMETIMES amendable to remedies like talking with a friend or going for a walk.
Most people have old associations with physical __________ remedies like getting a hug or caress from mom, which can be helpful for _____ anxiety.
Nurturance
State
Having an anxiety-prone personality. Consistently more inclined to be a worrier or to express higher levels of anxiety in everyday situations.
Trait Anxiety
T/F - Trait anxiety tends to intensify state anxiety and make it harder to improve.
True
A validated, commonly used research instrument in the form of a questionnaire that assesses levels of both state and trait anxiety. Frequently incorporated as a measuring tool in studies.
State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)
A type of stress that motivates us and enhances our performance.
Eustress
A type of stress that after a certain point, stress has a negative effect and our performance drops off.
Distress
Common ________ signs and symptoms of anxiety include:
- Muscle tension (e.g. neck)
- Paleness
- Sweating
- Shakiness
- Trembling
- Lightheadedness
- Headache
- Increased heart rate/palpitations
- Pupil dilation
- Stomach pain
- Nausea
- Diarrhea
- Numbness/tingling
- Chills/hot flashes
- Shortness of breath
- Chest constriction
- Increased blood pressure
- Dry mouth
- Choking feelings
- Frequent urination
Physical
Common _______________ symptoms of anxiety include:
- Can’t think/mind goes blank
- Negative thoughts/feelings of dome/failure
- Confusion
- Indecision or hasty/poorly thought out decisions
- Limited concentration
- Irritability
- Panic
- Sense of detachment/unreality (aka. derealization)
- Apathetic
- Loss of confidence
- Struggling to cope
- Easily discouraged/tired
Psychoemotional
Common ___________ symptoms of anxiety include:
- Avoidance of eye contact
- Biting fingernails
- Restlessness activities (e.g. pacing, fidgeting)
- Reliance on smoking/drinking/drugs
- Disinterest in sex
- Under- or overeating
- Clumsy/accident prone
Behavioural
A type of anxiety characterized by nervousness, apprehension and self-doubt that may or may not be associated with real-life stressors.
Problem Anxiety
Anxiety becomes ___________, and may be indicating or heading in the direction of _______, when the feelings of anxiety have some or all of the following characteristics:
- Very prolonged or frequently recurring
- Out of proportion
- Become disconnected from specific circumstances
- Adverse effects on day-to-day function, work, relationships and sense of well-being
- Associated with increasingly low self-esteem and feeling unable to cope
- Frequent unreasonable anger, irritability, lashing out
- Anxiety attacks, panic attacks
Problematic
Illness
Physical health manifestations of _______ anxiety can become more worrisome, and these include:
- Insomnia, sleep disturbance, exhaustion
- Nightmares, flashbacks
- Hypertension
- Poor appetite, digestive upset, poor eating choices/habits, stomach/GI pain, ulcer, irritable bowel
- Chronic/recurring headache
- Chest pain, heart palpitation
- Restricted breathing, hyperventilation, fainting
Problem
T/F - Prolonged anxiety lowers immune resilience and predisposes the individual towards frequent illness.
True
Prolonged, problematic anxiety tends to include an increasing _____________ from its actual causes. The person feels anxious much or all of the time.
Disconnection
T/F - With prolonged, problematic anxiety, it can be more or less intense at different moments with a clear reason why.
False - With prolonged, problematic anxiety, it can be more or less intense at different moments AND THERE IS OFTEN NO clear reason why.
T/F - With prolonged, problematic anxiety, it can be triggered by a range of anxiety triggers and/or everyday events. What was originally involved initiating the anxiety may not be properly remembered.
True
A person with prolonged, problematic anxiety will often develop a pattern of anxiously fixating on one or more aspects of life. What are the 5 most common sources?
1) Money
2) Relationship
3) Job/Boss
4) Health
5) Children
The key themes in problem anxiety and anxiety illness include:
- Pathological worry, ______________
- _________ of everyday people, places, objects and activities
- Anxious _________, obsessive thoughts and behaviours
- Controlling behaviours
- Violent/suicidal ideation
- _______________ behaviours
Hypervigilance
Avoidance
Fixations
Self-Medication
This limbic system centre is a communications hub between the parts of the brain that process incoming signals and the parts that interpret them. It alerts the rest of the brain that a threat is present and can trigger a fear/anxiety response.
Amygdala
Via its close relationship with the hippocampus, the ________ plays a role in the storage of emotional memories and in creating associations between such memories and dysfunctional anxiety reactions.
Amygdala
This brain centre encodes painful or threatening events into memories.
Hippocampus
Studies have found that the ___________ can become smaller in individuals who have experienced child abuse or who have been in military combat. Such physical change is believed to be responsible for memory fragmentation and __________.
Hippocampus
Flashbacks
Prolonged exposure to the stress hormone ________ is known to damage the hippocampus.
Cortisol
Children with higher anxiety levels are found to have ______ amygdalae than those with lower levels. They also have more extensive ___________ networks between their amygdalae and other limbic centres, and with brain areas associated with attention and response regulation.
Larger
Association
T/F - Neurotransmitter homeostasis is not affected in anxiety.
False - Neurotransmitter homeostasis IS CLEARLY affected in anxiety.
What are the 4 neurotransmitters affected in anxiety?
1) Serotonin
2) Dopamine
3) GABA
4) Norepinephrine
A key mediator of “good” mood, well-being and calm thinking.
Serotonin
A key mediator of pleasure/pain and motivation/reward.
Dopamine
A key mediator of relaxation and sleep.
GABA
The brain’s sympathetic neurotransmitter, responsible for mobilizing the brain and body in “fight or flight” action. Also involved in focus, executive function, rapid linking to memory, vigilance, energetic response and initiation of the body’s sympathetic state.
Norepinephrine
_________ and __________ actions may be altered/suppressed in problem anxiety. They can act as mood stabilizers and are important to central modulation.
Endorphin
Enkephalin
Prolonged anxiety is associated with observable neurotransmitter __________. Prolonged stress is know to alter neurotransmitter homeostasis, but also, some people undoubtedly have inherent imbalance or ______________.
Imbalances
Predisposition
Problem anxiety predisposes toward __________. These two are often intertwined in mood disorders, such as _______ illness. This is because many of the causative factors in the person’s circumstances induce both conditions.
Depression
Anxiety
Anxiety is a sympathetic nervous system state involving elements such as _________ release, “fight or flight” responses, increased ____ perception and intensity, suppression of digestion and _____.
Adrenalin
Pain
Sleep
There is difficulty moving into the homeostatic _______________ state with anxiety. When _________, the effects on physical and emotional resilience can help create a transition to depression, and often an anxiety/depression _____.
Parasympathetic
Prolonged
Cycle
Problem anxiety causes over-utilization of specific mood-balancing neurochemicals. Since they are replenished during ___________ sleep, their volumes often become low and this leads into the neurochemistry of __________.
Restorative
Depression
