Unit 2 Anxiety Disorders Dissociative Somatoform Disorders Eating Disorders Exam 2 Tuesday March 5 2013 Anxiety Disorders 1 Identify and give examples of the four symptoms that constitute anxiety Psychological or Somatic sweating shaking heart beating Cognitive worry thoughts Behavioral escape avoiding leaving the situation or taking drugs or alcohol Emotional sense of dread or terror 2 What are the processes involved in the flight or fight response Body s natural response to a threatening situation Features of arousal and fear are set in by the hypothalamus Two important systems are activated by the hypotalamus 1 Autonomic Nervous System ANS Sympathetic NS regulates stress Increases heart rate and sweat glands Parasympathetic NS Once danger is gone rest and digest to calm us down 2 Endocrine System suppressed Epinephrine adrenaline Cortical increases blood sugar to give energy because immune system is 3 What are the differences between adaptive fear and maladaptive anxiety Ch 5 class 1 Are concerns realistic given the circumstances Is it a plausible phobia 2 Is the amount of fear in proportion to the threat Persons reaction equal to threat of phobia 3 Does the concern persist in the absence of the threat Ex having a fear of clowns Are you constantly worrying about encountering a clown or is the fear only present when clown is around at the circus Adaptive fear is behavior used to help overcome phobia example going to the circus even though clowns may be there Maladaptive anxiety would be never going outside because there s a constant fear of clowns Having a fear even when the stimulus is not around 4 What is anxiety sensitivity Class Fear of anxiety related physical sensations Example having increased heart rate Due to the belief that these sensations have harmful somatic psychological or social consequences Anxiety sensitivity is a risk factor for anxiety problems and linked to the development of panic disorders It also predicts future occurrence of anxiety symptoms and panic attacks in both adolescents and adults 5 What are the key features of generalized anxiety disorder Ch 5 class Basic anxiety disorder Worrying about things that haven t or wont happen 1 Anxiety and worrying about numerous things occur more days than not for at least 6 months Worrying can t be controlled Must have 3 or more of the following 1 Restlessness or feeling keyed up or on edge 2 Easily fatigued 3 Difficulty concentrating or mind going blank 4 Irritability 5 Muscle tension 6 Sleep disturbance Focus is not confined to features of Axis I disorders Such as worrying about weight how much you eat people looking at you etc doesn t qualify for GAD it s an eating disorder Impairment and or distress Not due to substance abuse GMC or does not occur exclusively during mood psychotic or pervasive developmental disorders 3 5 of the population has GAD about 50 have another disorder ex OCD PTSD 80 worry about family 55 money 50 work 15 illness 6 What cognitive and biological factors appear to play a role in GAD Ch 5 class GABA theory GABA neurotransmitter that prevents neurons from firing Individuals with GAD have deficiency in GABA receptors resulting in excessive firing in the limbic system which increases emotions fear Genetic theory Biological vulnerability to GAD is inherited General trait anxiety may increase risk If grew up with super anxious parent you may develop these traits 7 What are the key features of panic disorder and agoraphobia Ch 5 class People with panic disorders fear that they have a life threatening illness and they are more likely to have a personal or family history of serious chronic illness Even if the chances of the illness are ruled out they will begin to believe they are going to have a heart attack seizure or other physical crisis or that they are going crazy or losing control 3 5 of people will develop a panic disorder at some time usually between late adolescents to mid thirties and more common in women People w PD usually suffer from depression or substance abuse Agoraphobia comes from the Greek for fear of the marketplace People with agoraphobia fear places where they might have trouble escaping or getting help if they become anxious or have a panic attack Also have a fear that they will embarrass themselves if others notice their symptoms or their efforts to escape during the panic attack though it s rarely noticed 2 About one third to one half of people diagnosed with a panic disorder develops agoraphobia 8 What biological and cognitive factors play a role in PD Ch 5 class Biological Role of Genetics Family members are more likely to develop panic disorder Early investigations support a genetic inheritance of vulnerability factors Neuroimaging studies Differences in limbic system Cognitive Safely behaviors Actions to avoid or reduce anxiety provoking situations Maintain fear by false attribution of safety avoidance of disconfirming evidence Slow down breathing sit down grab hold of something distract drink water during panic attack Take a Xanax Avoidance of situations causing panic 9 Define and be able to discuss the role of avoidance and operant conditioning in behavioral theories of anxiety disorders including examples of avoidance safety behaviors for each specific condition Class Avoidance results in decreased anxiety however doesn t help with overcoming phobia because you never face it Operant conditioning learning happens through punishment and reward 10 Describe evolutionary explanations of specific phobias and be able to briefly describe prepared classical conditioning experiments Class Evolutionary explanations of specific phobias like snakes and spiders are because those were things that in the past affected our chances of survival Prepared classical conditioning fear of snakes vs fear of flowers Change a reaction to a stimulus Example pairing a flower with a shock and then with a snake Easier to get rid of the fear of flowers than snakes Example Little Albert experiment No fear of mice until paired with a loud bang after multiple occurrences Albert develops a fear of mice 11 What are the behavioral and cognitive theories of the development of phobias Ch 5 Class Behavioral theories classical conditioning leads to the fear of the phobic object and operant conditioning helps maintain it Cognitive theories focuses primarily on the development of social phobia They believe that everyone should like them They also focus on negative aspects of social interactions and
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