Week 4: Anxiety and Anxiety Related Disorders Flashcards
What is anxiety?
- Anxiety is a vague feeling of dread or apprehension in response to external or internal stimuli.
- Unavoidable in life and can serve many positive functions such as motivation
- Normal if appropriate for the situation and resolves
What is stress?
- It occurs when a person has difficulty dealing with life situations, problems, and goals
- anxiety as a expected response to stress
- Causes wear and tear that life causes on the body
What are the positive and negative effects of stress?
Positive stress can motivate you and inspire you to work harder.
Negative stress can cause you to feel distracted, overwhelmed, impatient, frustrated, or even angry. It can harm your health.
What are the positive and negative effects of stress?
Positive stress can motivate you and inspire you to work harder.
Negative stress can cause you to feel distracted, overwhelmed, impatient, frustrated, or even angry. It can harm your health.
What are the three stages of stress?
- Alarm
- Resistance
- Exhaustion
What is alarm in the stages of stress?
Your mind and body go on high alert, stimulating messages from the hypothalamus to glands (adrenal) and organs (liver)
What is resistance in the stages of stress?
Digestion system reduces function to shunt blood to areas of need
Lungs take in more air heart beats faster to nourish muscles, fight flight or freeze. If adapts – body relaxes
What is exhaustion in the stages of stress?
If exposure to stress is prolonged, and person has responded negatively to the stress, you begin to tire from continual arousal of physical responses and lose the ability to manage other stressors effectively.
What are the four levels of anxiety?
- mild
- moderate
- severe
- panic
What is the mild level of anxiety?
- Sensation that something is different and warrants special attention;
- sensory stimulation increases;
- attention is focused to learn, solve problems, think, act, feel, and protect self; motivated
- Restless, fidgeting, butterflies, difficulty sleeping, hypersensitive to noise
What is the moderate level of anxiety?
- Feeling that something is definitely wrong; disturbing
- nervousness or agitation
- can still process information, solve problems, and learn new things with assistance from others
- concentration difficult independently but can be redirected..
- Muscle tension, diaphoresis, pounding pulse, headache, dry mouth, higher pitched voice, Gi upset, frequent urination
What is the severe level of anxiety?
- Trouble thinking and reasoning can complete tasks, doesn’t respond to redirection
- muscles tighten, vital signs increase, pacing, restlessness, irritability, and anger;
- use of other emotional–psychomotor means to release tension
- Sever headache, nausea, vomiting, trembling, pale vertigo, chest pain
What is the panic level of anxiety?
- Fight, flight, or freeze responses; cognitive process focus on the person’s defense
- Cannot process environmental stimuli, delusions and hallucinations possible
- Distorted perceptions, does not recognize potential danger, may be suicidal
- May bolt or run Or totally immobile
- Dilated pupils
- Increased BP and pulse
What is the etiologies of anxiety?
Biologic theories
Genetic theories: anxiety may have an inherited component clear genetic susceptibility however other factors need to be present
Neurochemical theories: neurotransmitters may be dysfunctional in persons with anxiety disorders GABA ,NE, Serotonin
*Psychodynamic theories *
Intrapsychic/psychoanalytic theories: overuse of defense mechanisms
Interpersonal theory: results from problems in interpersonal relationships
Behavioral theory: “learned” behavioral response
What are the cultural considerations of anxiety?
Asian: express anxiety through somatic symptoms (headaches, backaches, fatigue)
Hispanics: express anxiety as sadness, agitation, weight loss, weakness, and heart rate changes
- supernatural spirits or bad air from dangerous places and cemeteries invades the body
What is the treatment of anxiety?
- Usually involves a combination of medication (anxiolytics and antidepressants) and therapy
Cognitive–behavioral therapy:
–> Positive reframing (turning negative messages into positive ones – “I can stand this.. This is just anxiety”)
–> Decatastrophizing (making a more realistic appraisal of the situation)
–> Assertiveness training (learn to negotiate interpersonal situations- “I would like 5 mins of your time”)
What is the treatment of choice for elders?
SSRI antidepressants
What is a panic disorder?
-Panic attacks involve 15 -30 minute episodes of intense, Rapid escalating anxiety with emotional fear and physiologic discomfort
Panic disorder is diagnosed when the person has recurrent, unexpected panic attacks followed by at least 1 month of persistent concern or worry about future attacks
What is the symptoms of a panic disorder?
4 or more of these palpitations, sweating, tremors, SOB, sense of suffocation, chest pain, nausea, abd distress dizziness, paresthesia, chills or hot flashes.
What is the treatment of panic disorder?
- Cognitive-behavioural techniques
- Deep breathing and relaxation
- Medications
What are some examples of medication for a panic disorder?
- Benzodiazepines
- SSRI antidepressants
- Tricyclic antidepressants
- Antihypertensives
What is a phobia?
A phobia is an illogical, intense, persistent fear of a specific object or social situation that causes extreme distress and interferes with normal life functioning
What is the three categories of phobias?
- Agoraphobia: fear of being outside
- Specific phobia: an irrational fear of an object or situation
- Social phobia: anxiety provoked by certain social or performance situations
What are the categories for phobia subdivision?
- Natural environmental phobias
- Blood injections phobias
- Situational phobias
- Animal phobias
- Other types of specific phobias
- Social phobias… social anxiety phobia
What is the onset of phobias?
- Specific phobias usually occur in childhood or adolescence; in some cases, merely thinking about or handling a plastic model of the dreaded object can create fear
- Specific phobias that persist into adulthood are lifelong 80% of the time
What is the onset of phobias?
- Specific phobias usually occur in childhood or adolescence; in some cases, merely thinking about or handling a plastic model of the dreaded object can create fear
- Specific phobias that persist into adulthood are lifelong 80% of the time
What is the treatment of phobias?
behavioural therapies
–> systematic desensitization
–> flooding
What is systematic desensitization for behavioural therapy for phobias?
therapist progressively exposes client to threatening object in a safe setting until anxiety decreases
What is flooding for behavioural therapy for phobias?
a form of rapid desensitization in which the therapist confronts the client with the phobic object until it no longer produces anxiety
True or False: The neurotransmitter dopamine is associated with anxiety disorders.
False. The neurotransmitters, GABA and serotonin are thought to play a role in anxiety disorders
What are the interventions of panic disorders?
- Promoting safety and comfort
- Using therapeutic communication
- Managing anxiety
- Providing client and family education
What are the interventions of panic disorders?
- Promoting safety and comfort
- Using therapeutic communication
- Managing anxiety
- Providing client and family education
Which of the following would a nurse expect to assess in a client with a panic disorder?
A. Rational thinking
B. Blaming of others
C. Automatism
D. Organized thoughts
C. A client with panic disorder would demonstrate automatisms, irrational thinking, self-blame and disorganized thoughts
In clients with moderate anxiety, which of the following would be expected upon assessment? SELECT ALL THAT APPLY
A. Inability to complete tasks
B. Inability to connect thoughts
C. Selective attention
D. Increased gestures or use of automatisms
E. Increased motivation
D. increased automatisms or gestures
C. selective attention.
B. inability to connect thoughts independently.
Interventions for a client with a panic disorder include which of the following? Select all that apply.
A. Encourage the client to verbalize feelings
B. Avoid any panic-producing situations
C. When anxiety levels are low, encourage client to practice relaxation
D. Teach client relaxation exercises
E. Tell the client to ignore any anxious feelings
a. encouraging the client to verbalize feelings
c. reminding the client to practice relaxation when anxiety level is low
d. teaching relaxation exercises to the client.
