Ch. 5 Anxiety, OCD, and Trauma-Related Disorders Flashcards
Week 3 (79 cards)
What is anxiety?
an affective state whereby a person feels threatened by the potential occurrence of a future negative event
What is fear?
a more primitive emotion that occurs in response to a real or perceived current threat.
What is the fight or flight response?
a behavioural response to fear where a person will either flee or fight. its the body’s method of preparing physiologically to respond to danger. includes hypervent, faster HR, sweating, mm tension, etc. its a response of the SNS.
What is panic?
an exaggerated fear response thats triggered when theres objectively nothing threatening to be afraid of. ie its a false alarm.
How are genetics involved in the etiology of an anxiety disorder?
youre more likely to get anxiety if it runs in the family. also if you inherited certain tempermental or dispositional traits such as behavioural inhibition (the tendency for some children to respond to new situations with heightened arousal) you might have higher genetic risk for anxiety disorders.
What does “The genetic risk associated with anxiety disorders, however, appears to be fairly
nonspecific.” mean?
rather than inheriting a risk for a specific type of anxiety disorder, the genetic risk for anxiety disorders is more likely passed on in terms of broader temperamental and/or dispositional traits such as behavioural inhibition and neuroticism.
How did Mowrer explain the acquisition of fears and maintenance of anxiety?
using the two-factor theory which states that classical conditioning is the cause of the acquisition of fears, and operant conditioning is responsible for the maintenance of these fears bc ppl resort to avoidance which is negative reinforcement, therefore they dont extinguish the conditioning to the stimulus bc they are avoiding it to avoid temporary anxiety.
What is a pro and con of avoiding the thing that we fear?
we temporarily are relieved of the anxiety by avoiding it, however when we do end up encountering the thing that we fear, the anxiety worsens and dies not go away. so avoidance feeds the belief that there is smthn to fear.
Aside from classical conditioning how else can fears develop?
from vicarious learning, nonassociative learning, or biological preparedness.
What is vicarious learning?
learning to fear smthn by watching others fear responses to smthn.
According to Beck, why are ppl afraid?
cognitive factors, meaning that ppl are afraid bc of the biased perceptions they have about the world, the future, and themselves. susceptible to anxiety bc they have core beliefs that they are helpless and vulnerable. and they focus on info that is relevant to their fears, meaning that they think of more negative words when faced with their object of fear rather then more pos or neutral words.
how can interpersonal factors influence the development of anxiety?
anxious parents raising their children with anxious parenting styles. early attachment relationship where children can develop and anxious-ambivalent attachment style and learn to fear being abandoned by loved ones.
Is there only one factor or multiple factors that play a role in the development of anxiety?
there are multiple factors such as, biological (genetic and neurological), psychological (behavioural and cognitive), and interpersonal (parenting behaviours and attachment influences).
What is the most common mental disorder?
anxiety disorders.
What is panic disorder?
results from recurrent and unexpected panic attacks. usu begins late adolescence or early adulthood
What is a panic attack?
a sudden rush of intense fear or discomfort during which an individual experiences a number of physiological and psych symptoms. like a fight or flight response but for no reason.
What is the difference btwn a panic attack experienced by someone with panic disorder versus someone with another anxiety disorder like SAD?
in PD the PAs are occur out of the blue and are not cued to obvious triggers, and can even arise when a person is feeling calm. whereas with other SAD a person can have a PA bc theyre initiating social contact, or if someone had arachnophobia they could have a PA when they confront a spider. so these PAs are cued by specific situations or feared objects.
What is needed for a PD diagnosis?
at least one of the PAs must be followed by persistent concerns lasting at least a month anout having additional attacks or by worry about the ramifications of the attacks. at least one of the PAs has to result in a significant alteration of behaviour. most ppl are diagnosed in late teen yrs or early adulthood.
What is agoraphobia?
anxiety about being in places or situations where a person might find it difficult to escape or in which help would not be readily available should a PA occur.
What is the biological theory about PD and agoraphobia?
these disorders tend to run in families. biological challenges (the presentation of a stim intended to induce physiological changes associated with anxiety (hypervent)) induce PAs in ppl with PDs more frequently than those without.
What are the cognitive theories about PD and agoraphobia?
ppl experience catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations meaning when theres variability in bodily sensations they misinterpret it as a sign that smthns wrong, which then causes an increase in the actual PA. so, subjective threat causes some PA symptoms –> misinterpretation of bodily sensations –> intensification of bodily sensations –> increased anxiety and fear. also having the tendency to be anxiety sensitive which is the belief that somatic symptoms related to anxiety will have neg consequences that extend beyond the panic episode itself. the alarm theory is when the alarm system is activated by emotional cues and get stress response when dont need it.
What is a specific phobia?
an extreme fear over smthn that interferes with daily life, and cause marked distress.
What is required for a diagnosis of a specific phobia?
must be marked and persistent fear of an object of situation. and exposure to the feared thing must invariably produce an anxiety related reaction thats excessive and unreasonable. symptoms must interfere with everyday functioning or cause considerable distress.
What are the 5 specifiers of specific phobias?
- animal type - phobic object is an animal or insect. 2. natural environment type - part of the natural enviro 3. blood injection-injury type - the person fears seeing blood or an injury, or fears an injection or other type of invasive medical procedure. 4. situational type - the person fears spec situations such as bridges, public transportation or enclosed spaces. 5. other type. - used for all other phobias like choking, vomiting, and clowns, as well as illness phobia.
