Anxiety

Question 1

Fear is associated with…

Answer 1

surges in autonomic arousal (needed for fight or flight)

Question 2

Anxiety is associated with…

Answer 2

muscle tension and vigilance in preparation for future danger

Question 3

Anxiety is characterised by

Answer 3

avoidance behaviours

Question 4

Individuals with anxiety disorders typically

Answer 4

overestimate the danger in situations they fear or avoid

Question 5

Anxiety disorders

Answer 5

Specific phobia

Social anxiety disorder (social phobia)

Panic disorder (sometimes + agoraphobia)
Generalised anxiety disorder

Question 6

Genetics of Anxiety

Answer 6

First-degree relatives are most likely to have the same anxiety disorder as the proband (Fyer et al 1995), but first-degree relatives are also at increased risk for other anxiety disorders

Question 7

Gene-environment interactions (PTSD)

Answer 7

Normal brain with normal hippocampus - with or without combat experience low risk of PTSD

Susceptible brain with small hippocampus with combat - high risk of PTSD
without combat - low risk of PTSD

Question 8

Mowrer two-factor theory

Answer 8

Fear to a stimulus is acquired through classical conditioning

Instrumental conditioning (avoidance learning) allows animals to escape shock or postpone encountering the aversive stimulus.

Avoidance is critical in the maintenance of anxiety, because each time subjects encounter the CS, they emit a response to avoid the US (negative reinforcement). When avoidance is high, subjects never experience whether the CS is followed by the US.

Question 9

Amygdala

Answer 9

Involved in fear reaction to a threat

overactive in anxiety states

decreased activation in Pre frontal cortex

Question 9

Increased amygdala activation in…

Answer 9

phobics and GAD

Question 10

Benzodiazepines Advantages

Answer 10

Low toxicity: high safety ratio, unlike the barbiturates which they replaced

Used mainly in GAD and acute stress reactions

Question 11

Benzodiazepines Disadvantages

Answer 11

the induction of dependence and associated withdrawal syndrome (e.g. insomnia, anxiety, loss of appetite, ),
impairment of cognitive performance e.g. anterograde amnesia

Question 12

Different types of anxiety disorders

Answer 12

specific phobia
social anxiety disorder
panic disorder
generalised anxiety disorder - multiple situations trigger anxiety response
OCD
PTSD

Question 13

Lifetime prevalence of generalised anxiety

Answer 13

5%

Question 14

Lifetime prevalence of panic disorder

Answer 14

3%

Question 15

Lifetime prevalence of PTSD

Answer 15

3%

Question 16

Lifetime prevalence of social phobia

Answer 16

13%

Question 17

Lifetime prevalence of specific phobia

Answer 17

11%

Question 18

Lifetime prevalence of OCD

Answer 18

2%

Question 19

what is the population prevalence of all anxiety disorders (Burmeister et al., 2008)

Answer 19

29%

Question 20

are anxiety disorders heritable?

Answer 20

Yes - concordance rate for panic disorder in MZ twins is 23-73%, for DZ is 0-17% - suggests a genetic component

Question 21

describe the diathesis-stress model for the development of an anxiety disorder?

Answer 21

first we need a genetic predisposition for an anxiety disorder
- then an environmental stressor which triggers the disorder

Question 22

what brain structure increases susceptibility for an anxiety disorder?

Answer 22

slightly smaller hippocampus - but only if environmental risk is also there

Question 23

in Gross et al’s (2004) cross-fostering study into the developmental origins of anxiety in rats, which pups had high anxiety?

Answer 23

pups with low licking mother (genetics) and raised by low licking mother (environment)

Question 24

what is the clear implication of Mowrer’s (1951) two-factor theory?

Answer 24

fear = avoidance
no fear = no avoidance

Question 25

describe Whalen et al (2004) study into implicit emotional processing

Answer 25

stimuli presented for 17ms, either fear or happy eye whites - not consciously detected
- happy eye whites show less activation of the amygdala

Question 26

Describe results of Phelps et al (2004) study into the role of the amygdala and vmPFC in extinction learning?

Answer 26

amygdala: activity decreases as extinction progresses

medial prefrontal cortex: activity increases as individuals learn to inhibit fear responses, directly inhibits activity of amygdala

Question 27

describe the results of the avoidance learning condition in Prevost et al’s (2011) study into amygdala activation during avoidance learning?

Answer 27

• lateral amygdala encodes reward part of the task
• central amygdala encodes avoidance part of the task

Question 28

what are phasic fear cues?

Answer 28

a stimulus that triggers a temporary response of fear or anxiety as it is paired with an electric shock

Question 29

describe results of Kolesar et al’s (2019) meta-analysis into the structural and functional differences in GAD and controls

Answer 29

individuals with GAD had amygdala hyperactivation and PFC hypoactivation

Question 30

what did Apergis-Schoute et al (2017) find patients with OCD have a deficit in?

Answer 30

reversal learning - once they learn something, they fail to learn these new contingencies

Question 31

in Apergis-Schoute et al (2017) study into reversal learning, what did an fMRI reveal about OCD patients brain activity in response to the safety signal that was previously fearful?

Answer 31

• over activation of medial prefrontal cortex as have trouble encoding the signal is now safe
• failure to reverse contingencies
• higher PFC activation predicted generalisation during reversal

Question 32

what does SSRI stand for

Answer 32

selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor

Question 33

what does SNRI stand for

Answer 33

selective noradrenaline reactive inhibitor

Question 34

how do SSRIs and SNRIs work

Answer 34

they block the reuptake of serotonin and noradrenaline so that more of the neurochemical ends up in the synaptic cleft, more for the postsynaptic neurone to take up

Question 35

where are high concentrations of the benzodiazepine receptor found in the brain?

Answer 35

medial prefrontal cortex