Week 2 - Anxiety Disorders Flashcards
What is the most common anxiety disorder?
Phobias
What are the main 5 types of anxiety disorders?
- Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
- Specific phobia
- Agoraphobia
- Panic Disorder
- Social Anxiety Disorder (social phobia)
What are the “specifiers” and why are they important
Give examples for anxiety
Extensions to a diagnosis to further clarify a disorder or illness. They allow for a more specific diagnosis.For research and clinical purposes.
- Unspecified (and ‘other specified’) anxiety disorder
- Anxiety due to another medical condition
- Selective mutism & Separation anxiety (children)
- Substance/Medication-induced Anxiety Disorder
What is anxiety?
Negative mood state characterised by bodily symptoms of physical tension and apprehension about the future.
- Characteristic behaviours
- physiological symptoms
- subjective experiences
Describe the DSM-5 clinical features of a panic attack
4 + features
- Sweating
- Chest pain or discomfort
- Dizziness
- Nausea or abdominal discomfort
- Shaking or trembling
- Chills, hot flushes
- Palpatations, accelerated heart rate, pounding heart
- muscle tension?
- Sensations of shortness of breath/ smothering
- Paraesthesia (pins & needles)
- Fear of dying
- Fear of “going crazy” or “losing control”
- Depersonalisation (detached from one’s self) or Derealisation (detached from surroundings)
Describe the DSM-5 clinical features of a panic disorder
2+ panic attacks in a month?
Describe the physiology behind anxiety, fear and panic attacks - note if it is related to a long term or acute response
The release of adrenaline
- autonomic nervous system
- acute fear response/ fight/flight
- Hypothalamic -Pituitary- Adrenal axis (HPA)
- cortisol
- acute response
- longer term stress response
What are the neurobiological risk factors for anxiety disorders
Neurotransmitters Systems
- serotonin (decreased)
- norepinephrine
(noradrenaline) –> increased - GABBA (decreased)
Genetics + interactions with environment
Corticotrophin-releasing factor system
- Activates HPA Axis: over-
activation or breakdown in
negative feedback loop
Structure/function of brain regions
- Hippocampus & Amygdala,
limbic system, locus
coeruleus, prefrontal cortex
What are the personality-related risk factors for anxiety disorders
Behaviour Inhibition –> BIS/BAS
- strong predictor of social
anxiety
Neuroticism - ^ reactions with negative affect - ^ levels = strong predictor for anxiety disorder
What are the psychological risk factors for anxiety disorders
Behavioural
- Classical & operant
conditioning
- Modelling
Perceived control - Can stem from over- protective/ helicopter parents (depends on temperament of child & environment) - past trauma & perceived control over event
Attention to threat
- Negative cues in environment - early trauma = more likely to see negative cues
What are the social factors for anxiety disorders
- Familial
- Stressors (70% report severe stressor before onset)
- Exposure to stressors trigger vulnerabilities to anxiety
What are the four major subtypes of phobias
- Animals & insects (usually begins in childhood)
- situational e.g. flying,
- blood, injection, injury - (runs in families; heart rate slowing and possible fainting when facing feared stimulus)
- Other e.g.
What are the four major subtypes of phobias
- Animals & insects (usually begins in childhood)
- natural environments e.g.
- situational e.g. flying,
- blood, injection, injury - (runs in families; heart rate slowing and possible fainting when facing feared stimulus)
- Other e.g.
What are the four major subtypes of phobias
- Animals & insects (usually begins in childhood)
- natural environments e.g. storms, heights (usually begins in childhood)
- situational e.g. flying, public transport, driving, confined spaces (usually begins in adolescence/
- blood, injection, injury - (runs in families; heart rate slowing and possible fainting when facing feared stimulus)
- Other e.g.
What are the four major subtypes of phobias
- Animals & insects (usually begins in childhood)
- natural environments e.g. storms, heights (usually begins in childhood)
- situational e.g. flying, public transport, driving, confined spaces (usually begins in childhood or mid-20’s)
- blood, injection, injury - (runs in families; heart rate slowing and possible fainting when facing feared stimulus)
- Other e.g.
