Unit 7 Anxiety Disorders Flashcards
What is the essential feature of separation anxiety?
Excessive fear or anxiety concerning separation from home or attachment figures.
Name 2 examples of criteria that an individual’s symptoms must meet for separation anxiety disorder.
- Distress when anticipating or experiencing separation from home or major attachment figure.
- Worry about losing major attachment figures or possible harm to them.
- Worry of getting lost, kidnapped, having accident, that causes separation.
- Reluctance to go out, away from home, school, to work
- Reluctance of being alone or without major attachment figure at home or elsewhere.
- Refusal to sleep away from home or go to sleep without being near major attachment figure.
- Repeated nightmares.
- Physical symptoms when separated from major attachment figure it is anticipated.
What is the necessary duration of symptoms for separation anxiety disorder?
The fear, anxiety, or avoidance is persistent, lasting at least 4 weeks in children and adolescents and 6 months or more in adults.
What is involved in a specific phobia (Criterion A and Criterion B)?
Criterion A: The fear or anxiety must be intense or severe.
Criterion B: The fear or anxiety is evoked nearly every time the individual comes into contact with the phobic stimulus.
How may the fear or anxiety in specific phobia disorder be expressed in children?
What is the duration?
The fear or anxiety may be expressed by crying, tantrums, freezing, or clinging.
6 months or more
What are some examples of phobias?
Animal
Natural environment (heights, storm)
Blood-injection-injury
Situational (airplanes, elevators)
Other (situations that may lead to choking or vomiting, in children: loud sounds or costumed characters)
What are the first 2 DSM criteria for social anxiety disorder?
Intense fear or anxiety of social situations in which the individual may be scrutinized by others. In children the fear or anxiety must occur in peer settings and not just with adults.
When exposed to social situations the individuals fear that they will act in a way to show anxiety symptoms such as blushing, sweating, stuttering and that this will be negatively evaluated by others.
What is the “performance only” specifier for social anxiety disorder?
If the fear is restricted to speaking or performing in public.
Are the panic attacks in panic disorder expected or unexpected?
Is one sufficient?
Unexpected.
More than one unexpected full-symptom panic attack is required for the diagnosis of panic disorder.
In addition to panic attacks, what else has to occur for 1 month or more? (Criterion B)
- Persistent worry or concern about additional panic attacks or their consequences (losing control, having a heart attack).
- A significant maladaptive change in behavior related to the attacks (behaviors designed to avoid having panic attacks, such as exercise).
What has to be ruled out to arrive at the diagnosis of panic attack? (Criterion D)
The disturbance is not better explained by another mental disorder.
Social Anxiety Disorder
Specific Phobia
OCD
PTSD
Separation Anxiety Disorder
What are some of the major symptoms of a panic attack?
- Dizziness, light headed
- Shortness of breath
- Choking
- Chest pain
- Pounding heart
- Nausea
- Sweating
- Numb, tingling
- Trembling, shaking
- Chills, hot flashes
- Depersonalization, derealization
- Losing mind?
- Dying?
How many symptoms are required for a panic disorder?
How quickly does it reach its peak?
Four or more symptoms.
Reaches a peak within minutes.
When are panic attacks used as a specifier?
A panic attack is used as a specifier rather than a diagnosis because it is a symptom that can occur in many different mental disorders.
A panic attack is used as a specifier that helps further define the characteristics of an existing mental disorder, rather than a separate diagnosis.
Differentiate expected and unexpected panic attacks.
Unexpected: there is no obvious cue or trigger at the time of occurrence-out of the blue.
Expected: there is an obvious cue or trigger, such as a situation in which panic attacks have typically occurred.
