Week 3 - Stress and Psychological & Cognitive Health Outcomes

Question 1

What emotions are associated with the “flight” component in the fight/flight response? What is the difference between these two emotions?

Answer 1

(1) Fear –> alarm reaction to present danger
(2) Anxiety –> future oriented mood state focused on potential danger

Question 2

What is it called when a person has fear without any apparent reason?

Answer 2

Panic.

Question 3

What two criteria are met when someone is diagnosed with an anxiety disorder?

Answer 3

(1) the fear and anxiety has been happening for a long time and is excessive
(2) other physical illness are ruled out

Question 4

Describe two psychological factors that can play a role in whether one develops an anxiety disorder or not.

Answer 4

(1) Parenting styles –> can lead one to either feel like they have control over their circumstances or not. With a psychological feeling of lack of control, one may be more likely to develop an anxiety disorder.
(2) Personality traits –> having an “anxiety sensitivity” personality trait may have a higher tendency to become distressed when they feel anxiety

Question 5

Describe the triple vulnerability theory to developing an anxiety disorder.

Answer 5

Suggests that one may be more likely to develop an anxiety disorder if they have a generalized biological vulnerability to anxiety + a generalized psychological vulnerability to anxiety + a specific psychological vulnerability to anxiety

Question 6

What are the four cognitive processes that are associated with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)?

Answer 6

(1) intolerance to uncertainty
(2) positive beliefs about worry
(3) poor problem orientation
(4) cognitive avoidance

Question 7

What are two examples of treatments for GAD?

Answer 7

(1) CBT
(2) Medications

Question 8

What phobia are those with panic disorder likely to develop?

Answer 8

Agoraphobia.

Question 9

Why do some people develop panic disorder after experiencing a panic attack while others don’t?

Answer 9

People who don’t develop panic disorder tend to attribute their panic attack to events in the moment, while those who do develop panic disorder have a psychological vulnerability to interpret normal physical sensations as dangerous or harmful.

Question 10

What effective treatment is used as a psychological intervention for those with panic disorder?

Answer 10

Panic Control Treatment (PCT) –> involves being exposed to “mini” panic attacks, which teaches a person to modify their beliefs about fearful situations

Question 11

What are the 5 subtypes of specific phobias?

Answer 11

(1) Animal Phobia
(2) Natural Environment Phobia
(3) Blood injury phobia
(4) situational phobia
(5) Other

Question 12

What are 4 causes of developing a specific phobia? What is absolutely necessary for developing a specific phobia.

Answer 12

(1) true alarm
(2) vicarious experience
(3) informational transmission
(4) false alarm

Feeling anxiety over the possibility of another traumatic event or false alarm is required

Question 13

What are the three things that PTSD is characterized by?

Answer 13

(1) Persistently re-experiencing the traumatic event
(2) avoiding stimuli related to the traumatic event
(3) persistent increased arousal

Question 14

What are four arousal symptoms that are included in PTSD?

Answer 14

(1) hypervigilance
(2) angry outbursts
(3) exaggerated startle responses
(4) insomnia

Question 15

Which part of the brain is the most affected by PTSD? What are the consequences of this?

Answer 15

the limbic system, which plays a huge role in emotion regulation

consequences include a hyper-responsive amygdala and hypo-responsive hippocampus and ACC. Also, the ACC and hippocampus tend to be smaller in those with PTSD.

Question 16

Describe how the hyper-responsive amygdala, hypo-responsive ACC, and hypo-responsive hippocampus relate to the some of the symptoms of PTSD?

Answer 16

hyper-responsive amygdala –> leads to the persistent increased arousal symptoms

hypo-responsive ACC –> ACC retains exaggerated fear responses to trauma, so an underactive ACC in increased fear responses and lack of emotional regulation

hyporesponsive hippocampus –> memory problems

Question 17

What emotion is implicated in the “fight” portion of the fight/flight response?

Answer 17

Anger

Question 18

Describe the diathesis stress model of depression.

Answer 18

suggests that stress leads to depression is specifically vulnerable individuals. Certain vulnerabilities (or diathesis) are inherited (through genetics) and may be activated under specific conditions of stress. In this way, there is an interaction between one’s genes and their environment that causes stress on the individual

Question 19

Differentiate between normal depression and clinical depression.

Answer 19

Normal depression –> feeling depressed as a reaction to stress, especially when it involves loss

Clinical depression –> depression symptoms tend to persist and become worse