Anxiety Disorders Flashcards
(39 cards)
Fear
An immediate alarm reaction to a situation that is dangerous or life threatening
Yerkes-Dodson Law
Shows we benefit from small amounts of anxiety, best performance at a medium level of arousal
Panic
Sudden, overwhelming fright or terror in the absence of obvious threat or danger
Biological contributions to anxiety
Temperamental differences
Genetic
GABA
Limbic system
Psychological contributors
How we view our level of control
Triggers
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Excessive anxiety occurring more days than not, difficulty controlling worry, restlessness, fatigue, irritability, sleep disturbance
Statistics for GAD
4% meet criteria in a given year
5.7% in their lifetime
Females two thirds
Treatment options for GAD
Benzodiazepines for short use, SSRIs, CBT
Panic attack
Sudden intense fear associated with physical symptoms like sweating, palpitations, feelings of choking, nausea, chills, etc.
Last about 10 minutes
Not panic disorder
Agoraphobia
Fear of being alone in and avoiding certain places or situations where escape would be difficult in the event of a panic attack
Panic disorder may be diagnosed with or without such
Panic disorder
Recurrent unexpected panic attacks and persistent worry about future attacks
May include agoraphobia
Panic disorder statistics
2.8% of pop within a year
4.7% within their lifetime
75% are women
One third in treatment
Nocturnal panic
Occur during the deepest stages of sleep, multiple times a night, awake suddenly and think they are dying or having a heart attack, sometimes expedience isolated sleep paralysis
60% will experience
Panic disorder causes
Neurobiologically over reactive, learned alarms, inherited tendency to be stressed
Treatment for panic disorder
SSRIs, exposure based psychotherapy, combination of both is NOT better
Specific phobia
Marked or persistent fear due to presence of or anticipation or a specific object or situation for at least 6 months
Exposure produces distress, situations avoided, recognition that fear is unfounded
Vasovagal response
Heritable tendency to faint
Often stimulated in blood-injection-injury phobia
Phobia stats
8.7% in a given year
12.5% in a lifetime
Female to male 2:1
Few receive treatment
Phobia causes
Direct traumatic experience
False alarms
Anxiety about the experience happening again
Specific phobia treatment
Exposure therapy that is carefully planned and communicated
Social phobia (social anxiety disorder)
Marked and persistent fear of one or more social or performance situations in which the person is exposed to unfamiliar people or scrutiny by others
Such experiences are avoided and cause excessive anxiety/fear
Social phobia stats
7% pop in a given year
12% lifetime
Onset around 13
Even rates between men and women
Causes of social phobia
Hypervigilance to negative facial expressions, heritability (3x), vulnerability and conditioning
Treatment for social phobia
Group therapy, cognitive therapy, medications (MAOs and SSRIs)0