Week 5 Flashcards
What is the Yerkes-Dodson curve?
A curve that scales between low and high performance and arousal. Optimal performance happens where there is not too much but not too little arousal
What is fear
Breif with distinct physiological pattern
primitive, basic moetion with behavioral act of fight or flight an instantaneous response necessary for survival
response to imminent threat
How is fear different from anxiety
fear can be induced by non cognitive processing vs anxiety involves cognitive processing
What is a panic attack?
A discrete period of intense fear in which at least four of the following symptoms develop suddenly and reach a peak within 10 minutes
Palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate
Sweating
Trembling or shaking
Sensations of shortness of breath or smothering
A feeling of choking
Chest pain or discomfort
Nausea or abdominal distress
Feeling dizzy
Derealization
Fear of losing control
Fear of dying
Numbness
Chills or hot flashes
What is a phobia
Phobia → fear
Intense fear response to an object or situation
Clinical Description
Extreme and irrational fear of a specific object or situation
Significant impairment
Recognizes fears as unreasonable
Phobic avoidance
Lasts 6 months or more
What are frequently occurring phobias? (8)
Animals
Heights
Blood
Enclosed spaces
Flying
Water
Being alone
Storms
What are behavioral treatments for anxiety disorders?
Cognitive restructuring: the therapist attempts to help clients with social phobia identify their underlying negative, automatic thoughts
Exposure therapy
Interoceptive exposure: deliberate exposure to feared internal sensations
CBT
What disorders are in the Obsessive-Compulsive and related disorders category in the DSM 5?
OCD: occurrence of unwanted and intrusive obsessive thoughts or distressing images
Hoarding disorder
Excoriation (skin picking) disorder
Body dysmorphic disorder
Trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling)
Which anxiety and OCD and related disorders occur more frequently in women? (4)
Social anxiety
Panic Disorder
Agoraphobia
Generalized anxiety disorder
How prevalent are anxiety disorders and which are more prevalent?
GAD is the most prevalent and at least 19% of the population experiences an anxiety disorder
What are obsessions and compulsions
Obsessions:
Recurrent persistent thoughts, burgers or images that are experienced as aversive and cause marked anxiety
Attempts to ignore or suppress such thoughts, urges, or images, or to neutralize them with some other thought or action (performing a compulsion)
Usually multiple
Compulsions:
Repetitive behaviors or mental acts that the individual feels driven to perform in response to an obsession or according to the rules
The behaviors or mental acts are aimed at reducing anxiety/distress, or preventing some dreaded event; however, these behaviors are not connected realistically with what they are designed to neutralize or prevent or are clearly excessive
Usually multiple
How is OCD treated?
Exposure and response prevention may be most effective approach to OCD
Exposure to anxiety-producing obsession, prevention of compulsion typically used
Gradually move through hierarchy of stimuli
50-75% response
Superior to medication and combo not necessarily better
Medication that affect serotonin are helpful
Medications that affect neurotransmitter serotonin
EG Prozac, anafranil
Improvement in 40-60%
High relapse
What is GAD
Generalized anxiety disorder: when people have anxiety and worry about many different aspects of life and becomes chronic, excessive and unreasonable
Excessive anxiety and worry about events or activities for at least 6 months
DIfficult to control worry
Anxiety and worry associated with 3/6 symptoms
Restlessness
Fatigued easily
Difficulty concentrating
Irritability
Muscle tension
Sleep disturbance
How is panic disorder treated?
Panic control treatment:
Exposure to interoceptive cues (breathing through coffee straw)
Exposure to feared internal sensations
Cognitive therapy
Relaxation/breathing (exercise)
Progressive muscle relaxation
Medication
Multiple NT systems implicated
Serotonergic (SSRI)
First line (Prozac and Paxil)
60% panic free as long as they are on the drug
Sexual side effects
High relapse rates (50%)
Noradrenergic
GABA (Benzos)
A short term possibility: Benzodiazepines
Fairly effective short term
Dependence issue, cognitive and motor impairment
90% relapse when taken off the drug
Why are some phobias more common than others
It is an evolutionary thing, phobias that are more common are things that humans were taught to fear to survive (animals, height)
