ANXIETY DISORDERS Flashcards
Anxiety disorders became three separate categories in the DSM5
- anxiety disorders
- obsessive compose disorders
- traumatic stressed-related disorders
*due to increasing research evidence demonstrating common threads
What is anxiety in the common sense?
When anxiety is out of proportion (problem level) to threat. When it starts to interfere with everyday.
Normal levels = positive purpose
Characteristics of worriers:
- intolerance to uncertainty
- high perfectionism
- feelings of responsibility for negative outcomes
- poor problem solving confidence
Why do those with anxiety go untreated?
- may not disclose symptoms
- initially focus on physical problems
- less than a third actually receive therapy
Generalised anxiety disorder-DSM 5
Excessive anxiety and worrying occurring and difficulty controlling for at least 6 months (considered at 3 months).
3 or more of the following (1 or more for children):
- restlessness
- fatigues
- difficulty concentrating
- irritability
- muscle tension
- sleep problems
occurrence of anxiety
- estimated GAD affects 5% of UK population
- slightly more women affected
- most common 35 to 59
Things to take into account when diagnosing anxiety.
- severity of anxiety
- difficulty in controlling
- significant social and functional impairment
- catastrophising
*excessive worry can become a learnt cycle which becomes a cognitive pattern
Anxiety - Psychodynamic - Theory Treatment
- conflict between the id and ego
- currently thought to original from relationship experiences -unresolved
- those unconscious thoughts perceived as painful, dangerous or unacceptable
=understands the origin and reduces defence mechanisms
Anxiety - Biological - Theory Treatment
- inherited component
- familial component
- prefrontal brain regions
- abnormalities in emotional regulation (basal ganglia)
- serotonin and dopamine differences
*drug therapy:
SSRIs- antidepressants, these take a while to work but are more preferable
SNRIs
Benzodiazepines- addictive
Anxiety - Cognitive - Theory Treatment
- allocate attention to threat
- verbal and visual stimuli
- conscious and unconscious
- attentional and bias modification
- believe worrying is necessary=motivates
- Cogntiive behavioural therapy:
- self monitoring
- relaxation
- cognitive restructuring
- behavioural rehearsal
Phobias general
- exposure leads to immediate disproportionate fear
- most phobias do not cause the sufferer to go and seek treatment
- usually develops avoidance responses
- fear is driven by dysfunctional phobic beliefs
Phobias DSM5 criteria A-G
A. about specific object
B. immediate fear or anxiety
C. avoided or endured with marked fear
D. out of proportion to actual danger
E. persistent, lasting 6 months
F. clinically significant distress or impairment in functioning
G. cannot be accounted for by another mental disorder
Phobia occurrence
- women outnumber men 2:1
- animals most feared in women
- heights most feared in med
Social phobia
- severe, persistent and irrational fear of social or performance situations
- fear of negative evaluation by others
- parties, public speaking
11% of men 15% of women
Agoraphobia
- being in situations where cease might be difficult or help not available
- develops with panic disorder, by placing association
