Chapter 7 (Anxiety Disorders)

Question 1

Anxiety Disorder

Answer 1

Group of mental disorders in which fear or anxiety and associated maladaptive behaviors are the core of the disturbance

Question 2

Fear and Anxiety channels

Answer 2

1. Cognitive distress, distortions, and ruminations
2. Physiological arousal
3. Behavioral disruptions and avoidance

Question 3

Fear and Panic definitions

Answer 3

Fear-A set of emotional, behavioral and physical responses to danger
Panic-Fear when no actual danger is present

Question 4

Anxiety

Answer 4

Diffuse or vague sense of apprehension accompanied by fearful behavior and physiological arousal.

Question 5

Phobia

Answer 5

An irrational, excessive fear that causes intense emotional distress and interferes significantly with everyday life

Question 6

Specific phobia

Answer 6

Intense, persistent fear of specific objects or situations that pose little or no actual threat (14% children-20% adults will develop these in their lifetime)

Question 7

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)

Answer 7

Mental disorder that involves intense fear or anxiety of social situations in which the individual may be scrutinized by others

Question 8

Concordance rate

Answer 8

Rate at which a trait or disorder is shared with close relatives, such as a twin

Question 9

Neurobiological factors for genetic vulnerability to phobias?

Answer 9

1. Intense fear originates in the amygdala which is a mass of gray matter in the limbic system which regulates emotions.
2. Gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a neurotransmitter which inhibits post synaptic activity. When GABA is low, neurons fire more rapidly, and thus causing physiological arousal/anxiety. Drugs like benzodiazepines increase GABA activity.

Question 10

Preparedness Theory

Answer 10

The hypothesis that people are biologically prepared to develop fears of certain classes of stimuli, such as snakes and spiders, that were potentially dangerous to our evolutionary ancestors

Question 11

Psychological causes

Answer 11

Psychoanalytic: Freud-SAD resulted from unconscious impulses steming from sexual urges
Behavioral-cognitive: Traumatic events in childhood cause phobias, conditioned to fear

Question 12

Social Causes

Answer 12

Develop phobias by hearing or reading vivid accounts of dangers associated with a certain simuli

Question 13

Treatments for Phobias/SAD

Answer 13

Systematic Desensitization:
Muscle relaxation leading to calmness. Then conducting an anxiety hierarchy (list of fear-provoking stimuli or situations ranked by how threatening they are to the client). In a deep relaxed state, the client is asked to imagine the least frightening item and remain relaxed.
Exposure Procedures:
Graduated exposure (technique to expose the individual to progressively more frightening items from an anxiety hierarchy.
Modeling Procedures:
Observing other people encountering their own fears. Participant modeling (most effective for all phobias, a model demonstrates fearless behavior while a client is given increasingly close contact with the feared stimulation under protected circumstances

Question 14

Panic Disorder

Answer 14

Anxiety disorder marked by panic attacks, coupled with persistent anxiety that another attack will occur

Question 15

Panic Attack

Answer 15

Period of unexpected, intense, terrifying anxiety that leaves victims feeling as if they are going crazy or about to die

Question 16

Agoraphobia

Answer 16

Fear of open spaces or being separated from a safe place

Question 17

Panic/Agoraphobia Biological factors

Answer 17

Panic experience must be a basic, primitive alarm mechanism, which the neurological underpinnings center in a small area of the brain stem called the locus coeruleus (LC)

Question 18

Treatment for Panic Disorders/Agoraphobia

Answer 18

CBT: contain three elements, Breathing retraining (reduce breathing rate), Cognitive restructuring (correct chronic misinterpretations of harmless bodily sensations), Interoceptive exposure to somatic cues (encourage somatic cues in other ways than leading to a panic attack)
Drug Treatments: anxiolytics or antidepresents.

Question 19

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Answer 19

A mental disorder in which anxiety is experienced as “free floating” (not connected to any specific stimulus) and is pervasive enough to interfere with daily functioning)

Question 20

Biological Causes GAD

Answer 20

Abnormal amygdala and prefrontal cortex activation. Can involve frontal lobe circuits more than amygdala which contributes to large portions fear and panic. Increased reactivity of the norepinephrine system and in cortisol secretion

Question 21

GAD Treatment

Answer 21

CBT: cognitive restructuring, train clients to identify and challenge beliefs and replace them with rational beliefs
Drug: Benzodiazepines-good for short term but long-term effects are problematic. Anti-depressants work due to the overlap of depression and GAD.