mental illness - anxiety disorders Flashcards

1
Q

Anxiety Disorders - what is anxiety? what is AD? includes?

A
  • Anxiety: feeling of doom + physiological reactions
  • class of mental disorder in which anxiety is the predominant feature
  • Includes: GAD, panic disorder, phobic disorders, OCD + PTSD
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2
Q

General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) - def? meaning of generalized?

A
  • chronic and excessive worrying accompanied by 3 or more of the following: restlessness, fatigue, concentration problems, irritability, muscle tension + sleep disturbance
  • generalized: worries aren’t focused on any particular threat, but often exaggerated and irrational
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3
Q

GAD - %? status? gender?

A
  • 5% of north Americans estimated to suffer from GAD at some time in their lives
  • More frequently in lower socioeconomic groups
  • Twice as common in women as in in men
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4
Q

Biological and Psychological Factors - GAD?

A
  • Mild to modes level of heritability (ID twins have slightly higher concordance rates)
  • psychological: anxiety provoking situations, stressful experiences play a role
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5
Q

GAD - treatment? which drugs? suggests?

A
  • Treated with some drugs
  • suggests neurotransmitter imbalance plays a role in the disorder
  • Benzodiazepines: sedative drugs like Valium, Librium
  • Stimulate neurotransmitter GABA =result is sedative =muscle relaxant
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6
Q

Phobia - def? vs fear?

A
  • marked, persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of specific objects or situations or activities
  • Fear becomes a phobia when it makes normal life difficult
  • Person usually recognizes fear is irrational, but can’t prevent it from interfering with life
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7
Q

Agoraphobia

A
  • literal meaning: ‘fear of open spaces’
  • Fear of having a panic attack
  • afraid of something that might trigger a panic attack (e.g. standing in line, parties, open space, crowded places, etc.)
  • fear of losing control (one foot in phobia disorders, one foot in anxiety disorders)
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8
Q

Social Phobia - fear of?

A
  • Fear of social situations : irrational fear of being publicly humiliated or embarrassed
  • Fear of being judged; people are driven away from social situations because they’re afraid of being judged
  • public speaking, eating in public, situations that involve being observed or interacting with unfamiliar people
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9
Q

Social Phobia - emergence? gender? socioeconomic?

A
  • Typically emerges between early adolescence and age 25
  • 11% men and 15% women
  • Higher rates among undereducated and low incomes
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10
Q

Specific Phobia - def? categories? %? gender?

A
  • Umbrella term for phobias of specific things
  • irrational fear of a particular object or situation that markedly interferes with an individual’s ability to function
  • Five categories: animals, natural environments (heights, darkness, water, storms), situations (elevators, enclosed places), blood/injections/injury, and other phobias (including illness and death)
  • 11% US will develop this
  • more common in women than men
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11
Q

Why phobias are so common - preparedness theory?

A
  • Predisposition to be fearful of certain things – some phobias could pose real threat
  • Preparedness theory of phobias: people are instinctively predisposed toward certain fears
  • Quickly conditioned to fear snakes and spiders but not neutral stimuli like flowers, toys
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12
Q

Why phobias are so common - temperament? neurobiological factors? conditioning?

A
  • Temperament: excessive shyness and inhabitation = increased risk
  • Neurobiological factors: abnormalities in neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine
  • Abnormally high levels of activity in the amygdala
  • Can be classical conditioned
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13
Q

Panic Disorders - what? DSM criteria?

A
  • Sudden occurrence of multiple psychological and physiological symptoms that contribute to a feeling of stark terror
  • feelings of extreme fear mixed with hopelessness and helplessness - like you’re going to die
  • illness marked by episodic attacks of acute anxiety
  • DSM-IV-TR criteria: panic disorder only if experiencing recurrent unexpected attacks and reporting significant anxiety about having another attack
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14
Q

Panic Disoder - symptoms, feelings?

A
  • Acute symptoms last a few minutes: shortness of breath, clammy, sweating, irregularities in heartbeat, dizzy, fainting
  • derealisation (external world feels strange/unreal)
  • depersonalization (detached from body)
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15
Q

Common complication of Panic Disorder

A
  • agoraphobia: fear of venturing into public places
  • 3/7 will get it
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16
Q

Panic Disorder - % have vs diagnosed? gender? genetics?

A
  • 22% reports having had at least one, usually during period of intense stress
  • 3.5% with the actual disorder
  • Women twice as likely to get it
  • Strong genetic component; 30% of identical twins have it if their other has it
17
Q

Panic disorder - sodium lactate?

A
  • Chemical produces rapid, shallow breathing and heart palpitations
  • Panic disorder patients acutely sensitive, while others rarely responded to drug
18
Q

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) - def? anxiety’s role?

A

e) Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Repetitive, intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and ritualistic behaviours (compulsions) designed to fend off those thoughts interfere significantly with individual’s functioning
- Anxiety plays a role: obsessive thoughts produce anxiety, compulsive behaviours are performed to reduce it
- Obsessions – thoughts that won’t stop
o E.g. unwanted song stuck in your head  intrusive, what an obsession is like (e.g. I’m dirty or I’m filthy)
o Irrational – fear of losing control
o Involves defence mechanisms; the way you cope with the thoughts is with a ritualistic repetitive behaviour
o Preparedness theory: same evolutionary context as phobias but these fears that may have served an evolutionary purpose now distorted and maladaptive
- Compulsions – behaviours that won’t stop
o Cycle : Obsessions  anxiety  compulsions  relief  obsessions
o Fear of losing control
o Compulsive behaviours occupy the mind (e.g. checking to see if the toaster is still plugged in; or washing hands for 2 hours)
- Most common obsessions: contamination, aggression, death, sex, disease, orderliness, disfigurement
- 4 most common compulsions: counting, checking, cleaning, and avoiding
- Trying to cope with obsessive thoughts by suppressing/ignoring not effective  can actually backfire and increase frequency and intensity of thoughts
- Prevalence:
o 1.3% of people
o Lower rates in Asian cultures
o Women more susceptible than men (but only slightly)
o Moderate genetic component : ID twins higher concordance than fraternal
o Relatives of those with OCD have greater risk of other anxiety disorders
o also common in first-degree relative (e.g. parents)
- Biological hypothesis: heightened neural activity in caudate nucleus of brain, a portion of the basal ganglia involved in initiation of intentional actions
- Drugs that increase activity of NT serotonin inhibits activity of caudate nucleus, relieves symptoms

19
Q

OCD - obsessions?

A
  • Obsessions – thoughts that won’t stop
    o E.g. unwanted song stuck in your head  intrusive, what an obsession is like (e.g. I’m dirty or I’m filthy)
    o Irrational – fear of losing control
    o Involves defence mechanisms; the way you cope with the thoughts is with a ritualistic repetitive behaviour
    o Preparedness theory: same evolutionary context as phobias but these fears that may have served an evolutionary purpose now distorted and maladaptive
  • Compulsions – behaviours that won’t stop
    o Cycle : Obsessions  anxiety  compulsions  relief  obsessions
    o Fear of losing control
    o Compulsive behaviours occupy the mind (e.g. checking to see if the toaster is still plugged in; or washing hands for 2 hours)
  • Most common obsessions: contamination, aggression, death, sex, disease, orderliness, disfigurement
  • 4 most common compulsions: counting, checking, cleaning, and avoiding
  • Trying to cope with obsessive thoughts by suppressing/ignoring not effective  can actually backfire and increase frequency and intensity of thoughts
  • Prevalence:
    o 1.3% of people
    o Lower rates in Asian cultures
    o Women more susceptible than men (but only slightly)
    o Moderate genetic component : ID twins higher concordance than fraternal
    o Relatives of those with OCD have greater risk of other anxiety disorders
    o also common in first-degree relative (e.g. parents)
  • Biological hypothesis: heightened neural activity in caudate nucleus of brain, a portion of the basal ganglia involved in initiation of intentional actions
  • Drugs that increase activity of NT serotonin inhibits activity of caudate nucleus, relieves symptoms
20
Q

OCD - Compulsions? cycle?

A
  • behaviours that won’t stop

o Cycle : Obsessions  anxiety  compulsions  relief  obsessions
o Fear of losing control
o Compulsive behaviours occupy the mind (e.g. checking to see if the toaster is still plugged in; or washing hands for 2 hours)
- Most common obsessions: contamination, aggression, death, sex, disease, orderliness, disfigurement
- 4 most common compulsions: counting, checking, cleaning, and avoiding
- Trying to cope with obsessive thoughts by suppressing/ignoring not effective  can actually backfire and increase frequency and intensity of thoughts
- Prevalence:
o 1.3% of people
o Lower rates in Asian cultures
o Women more susceptible than men (but only slightly)
o Moderate genetic component : ID twins higher concordance than fraternal
o Relatives of those with OCD have greater risk of other anxiety disorders
o also common in first-degree relative (e.g. parents)
- Biological hypothesis: heightened neural activity in caudate nucleus of brain, a portion of the basal ganglia involved in initiation of intentional actions
- Drugs that increase activity of NT serotonin inhibits activity of caudate nucleus, relieves symptoms

21
Q

OCD - most common o? c?

A
  • obsessions: contamination, aggression, death, sex, disease, orderliness, disfigurement
  • compulsions: counting, checking, cleaning, and avoiding
22
Q

OCD - %? race? gender? genetics?

A
  • 1.3% of people
  • Lower rates in Asian cultures
  • Women more susceptible than men (but only slightly)
  • Moderate genetic component : ID twins higher concordance than fraternal
  • Relatives of those with OCD have greater risk of other anxiety disorders
  • common in first-degree relative (e.g. parents)
  • Biological hypothesis: heightened neural activity in caudate nucleus of brain, a portion of the basal ganglia involved in initiation of intentional actions
  • Drugs that increase activity of NT serotonin inhibits activity of caudate nucleus, relieves symptoms
23
Q

OCD - biological hypothesis? drugs?

A
  • heightened neural activity in caudate nucleus of brain, a portion of the basal ganglia involved in initiation of intentional actions
  • Drugs that increase activity of NT serotonin inhibits activity of caudate nucleus, relieves symptoms