1
Q
Anxiety
A
- future oriented negative mood state characterized my physical tension and apprehension
- somatic symptoms of tension (ex. muscle tension, headache, neck pain, etc.)
- feelings that one cannot control or predict upcoming events
- increases the likelihood of panic
2
Q
Affect
A
- conscious, subjective aspect of an emotion that accompanies an action at a given time
3
Q
Emotion
A
- pattern of action elicited by an external event and a feeling state, accompanied by a characteristic physiological response
4
Q
Mood
A
- enduring (long-lasting) period of emotionality
5
Q
why is anxiety good?
A
- we wouldn’t do anything without a little anxiety ex. study for a test
6
Q
panic
A
- sudden overwhelming fright or terror
7
Q
Fear
A
- present-oriented mood state
- immediate alarm reaction to present danger or life-threatening emergencies (fight/flight)
- also helpful in reasonable amounts
- negative affect
- strong sympathetic nervous system arousal (ex. sweating, shaking, etc)
8
Q
panic attack
A
- abrupt experience of intense fear or discomfort accompanied by physical symptoms such as dizziness or heart palpitations
- fear occurring at an inapropriate time
- can be expected or unexpected (cued, uncued)
- happens at an inconvenient time (fear that isn’t adaptive or useful)
- not actually harmful
- catastrophizing makes it last longer (ex. not knowing what is happening)
9
Q
what are the two kinds of panic attacks listed in the DSM-5-TR?
A
- expected and unexpected
- expected (cued) = you know you’re afraid of planes and can anticipate a panic attack will come when you go on one
- unexpected = you don’t know when or where the next one will occur
10
Q
what are some biological contributions to anxiety?
A
- can be inherited (the tendency to be tense or uptight)
- tendency to panic seems to run in families
- contributions from collections of genes in several areas on different chromosomes - makes us more vulnerable when the right psychological and social factors are in place
- associated with specific brain circuits and neurotransmitter systems
11
Q
what area of the brain is most often associated with anxiety?
A
- limbic system
12
Q
Behavioural inhibition system BIS
A
- brain circuit in the limbic system that responds to threat signals by inhibiting activity and causing anxiety
13
Q
fight/flight system FFS
A
- brain circuit in animals that, when stimulated, causes an immediate alarm and escape response resembling human panic
14
Q
what are some psychological contributions to anxiety
A
- learned conditioned responses to certain cues
- experiencing extreme stress during childhood
15
Q
what are some social contributions to anxiety?
A
- environmental factors may cause different forms of hypertension within the body
- the way we react to stress tends to run in the family
16
Q
triple vulnerability theory - an integrated model
- the idea that each of these things alone isn’t really enough to form anxiety but when put together could lead to anxiety
A
- generalized biological vulnerability - tendency to be uptight or high strung may be inherited
- generalized psychological vulnerability - ex. also growing up with helicopter parents who made you feel the world was dangerous
- specific psychological vulnerability - ex. growing up and one of your parents is afriad of dogs, you may develop this fear too
17
Q
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
A
- anxiety disorder characterized by intense, uncontrollable, unfocused, chronic, and continuous worry that is distressing and unproductive accompanied by physical symptoms of tenseness, irritability, and restlessness
- usually chronic
- found most often in older adults
18
Q
What are some causes of GAD?
2
A
- runs in families (the tendency to get anxious rather than GAD directly)
- stressful life events
19
Q
anxiety sensitivity (hereditary trait of GAD)
A
- tendency to become distressed in response to arousal-related symptoms coming from the belief that these anxiety-related sensations may have harmful consequences
20
Q
What’s the difference between GAD and anxiety?
A
- GAD doesn’t have specific cues ex. social anxiety
21
Q
What are the 4 cognitive characteristics of people with GAD?
A
- intolerance of uncertainty
- positive beliefs about worry (ex. it’s helpful in avoiding negative outcomes)
- poor problem orientation (threats to be avoided rather than challenges to be met)
- cognitive avoidance (thinking so hard about upcoming problems that they don’t have the attentional capacity for much else or for physiological responsiveness) - meaning, they’re never truly able to work through things
22
Q
how does CBT work for GAD?
A
- patients evoke the worry process during therapy sessions and confront threatening images and thoughts head-on
- they then learn to use cognitive skills and other coping techniques to counteract and control the worry process
23
Q
panic disorder
A
- recurrent unexpected panic attacks accompanied by concern about future attacks and/or a lifestyle change to avoid future attacks
- often accompanied by agoraphobia (worry about another attack)
24
Q
Agoraphobia
A
- anxiety about being in places or situations from which escape might be difficult or embarrassing
- developed because they don’t know when to predict a panic attack
- is worse the more you fear a panic attack, not by the number of panic attacks you’ve had
25
Introceptive avoidance
- avoidance of internal physical sensations due to a hypersensitivity to changes in the body
- constantly assessing body for changes
26
what percentage of people with panic disorder have experienced nocturnal panic?
- about 60
- causes some people to avoid going to sleep at night
27
when do nocturnal panic attacks typically happen?
- going into delta sleep
28
how might people with a psychological or cognitive vulnerability interpret rapid heartbeat after exercise differently?
- they would see it has dangerous and feel a surge of anxiety with the anxiety then increasing physical sensations due to the sympathetic nervous system and perceiving them as even more dangerous
- this cycle is what could lead to a panic attack
29
what are some medication treatments used for panic disorder?
- benzodiazepines (create dependence) - relapse rate of 90%
- SSRI's (Prozac, Paxil) - sex dysfunction
- SNRI's (Venlafaxine)
30
what are some psychological treatments used for treating panic disorder?
- CBT
- exposure therapy to help with agoraphobic avoidance
31
Panic Control Treatment (PCT)
- CBT treatment for panic attacks involving gradual exposure to feared somatic sensations and modification of perceptions and attitudes about them
- therapist creates "mini" panic attacks by elevating heart rate ex.
32
Specific phobia
- unreasonable fear of a specific object or situation that markedly interferes with daily life functioning
- irrational or disproportionate fear of a specific object or situation
- causes significant distress and or/interferes with someone's ability to function
33
What re the 4 main subtypes of specific phobia?
1. animal
2. natural environment
3. blood-injury
4. situational
34
What makes blood-injury type phobias different from the rest of the subtypes?
- people experiencing other phobias tend to have an increase in heart rate and blood pressure where people with BI type phobias have the opposite and will often faint as a result (which also creates the phobia)
35
Situational phobia
- emerges around the ages of 20-25
- looks like it runs in families
- people don't experience panic attacks outside of exposure to their phobia unlike panic disorder with agoraphobia
36
information transmission - in developing a phobia
- watching the emotions of others
- being told something is dangerous enough times will make you start to believe it
37
Separation anxiety disorder
- excessive enduring fear in some children that harm will come to them or their parents while they are apart
- could lead to nightmares or refusal to go to school
- all kids experience it but when it's ongoing it may be classified as a disorder
- if untreated it could extend into adulthood in approx. 35% of cases
38
Social anxiety disorder (SAD)
- extreme, enduring, irrational fear and avoidance of social or performance situations
- often avoid social situations or endure them with great distress
- typically starts in the lead-up to an event (focusing on negative outcomes only)
39
what are some treatment strategies for SAD
- CBT - role play of socially phobic situations
- antidepressants (high replapse rate)
40
why are fear and anxiety good and when are they bad?
- they can both be adaptive at the right amount
- when it interferes too much with someones life or is happening at inappropriate times, it causes issues
41
Anxiety Disorder
- pervasive and persistent symptoms of anxiety and/or fear
- involves excessive avoidance and escape behaviours, which helps to maintain the disorder
- common, lots of research has been done
42
how did Freud view anxiety disorders?
- conflict between ego and superego
- intrapsychic conflict
43
how are anxiety disorders viewed through a behavioural and cognitive lens?
- it comes from learned responses (ex. phobias being conditioned from negative experiences)
- cognitive distortions - viewing the world in a negative/threatening way
- catastrophizing - only thinking about negative outcomes
44
what are social contributions to how anxiety disorders are viewed?
- stressful life events could trigger vulnerabilities
- seen as being more resilient
45
# early childhood contrinutions to anxiety disorders
what are some issues with helicopter parenting?
- gives the idea they don't think their kid can do things on their own
- kid may develop a dependency and not know how to deal with stress in the future
- may not have self confidence
- may grow up thinking the world is dangerous
46
what is the common comorbidity of anxiety disorders? (3)
- about half will have 2 or more secondary diagnoses
- major depression is the most common
- substance use issues as a coping mechanism
47
# GAD
anxiety must be associated with 3 or more of which 6 items for diagnosis? (1 for kids)
- feeling restless/on edge
- easily fatigued
- difficulty concentrating
- irritability
- muscle tension
- sleep disturbance (typically insomnia) - because it's the time when there aren't any distractions
48
what are the stats of GAD? (6)
- affects about 9% of the population (lifetime)
- about 3% (point)
- more common among women
- onset is often insidious
- very prevalent among the elderly (a lot more to worry about)
- tends to run in families (genetic and learning factors involved)
49
what course does GAD tend to take if left untreated?
chronic
50
what are common treatments for GAD?
- Benzodiazopines
- antidepressants
- CBT
51
what are the problems with benzos for GAD? (4)
- short-term efficacy (meant to be taken as needed)
- phsyical risks especially to the elderly
- dependance forming
- overdose capacity
52
why are antidepressants used for GAD?
| 4
- more effective than benzos
- best when paired with therapy
- some, but imperfect success rates
- fewer risks
53
why is CBT good for GAD?
| 3
- greater long-term efficacy
- identifies problematic belief systems
- target the components of GAD
54
how does stress from a panic attack change behaviour?
- maladaptive change in behaviour related to stress/worry about there being another attack
- ex. maybe they only had 1 25 years ago but the anxiety has stayed
55
what are some common things people with agoraphobia may avoid?
- places/situations in which they had a panic attack before
- situations they feel would be embarassing or difficult to get out of if they had a panic attack (crowds)
- situations/activities that may also involve physical symptoms similar to a panic attack
56
what are some stats for panic disorder?
| 7
- 3.5% (lifetime)
- 5.3% agoraphobia
- 1 year prevalence = 2% women, 1% men
- women over men
- often acute onset
- mean age of 25-29
- smoking cigarettes increases panic attacks and teh risk of panic disorder (actual ingredients and people who are already stressed may become smokers)
57
what are some gender differences in panic disorder?
- women have higher levels of agoraphobia
- men are more likely to self-medicate (alcohol decreases agoraphobia) - it's avoidance in a different way
- people with PD are more sensitive to the anxiety reducing effects of alcohol (they feel like it works better)
58
what is the common medication used for PD?
- typically antidepressants
- could also use benzos
- SSRI's (prozac, paxil)
- relapse rates are high after discontinuation (50%)
- people who are hypervigilant may not want to stay on the meds cuz the side effects are too much for them to be comfortable with
59
why is CBT effective for PD?
- exposure therapy works (introceptive exposure)
- chanegs understanding of things ex. why things are happening
- helps limit catastrophizing
- behavioural component = exposure therapy
60
how does exposure therapty work for PD?
- do things that cause similar physical symptoms until someone feels comfortable with them
61
what are some stats for specific phobias?
- over-representation in women
- tends to run a chronic course
- most people don't get treated
- 9% women, 4% men (12 month prevalence)
62
what are some casues of phobias?
| 3
- biological/evolutionary vulnerability - ex. survival advantage
- conditioning (true alarm, false alarm), observational learning, information (ex. learning to fear planes due to media coverage)
- the role of escape/avoidance - escape reinforces avoidance
63
what treatment is used for phobias?
- CBT is highly effective
- systematic desensitization (ex. creating a fear hierarchy)
64
what are some stats for SAD?
| 4
- onset usually during adolescence
- prevalence basically equal between genders (maybe tiny bit higher for women)
- affects about 13% of the population (lifetime)
- 7% (point)
65
what are some causes of SAD?
| 3
- biological and evolutionary vulnerability (ex. highly attentive to reactions of others towards us)
- similar learning pathways as specific phobias (ex. growing up with Nan)
- people think they can read the minds/faces of others
66
selective mutism
- rare childhood disorder characterized by lack of speech in settings where public speech is expected
- strong overlap with social phobia (ex. if you don't talk to anyone, they won't expect you to)
- usually they'll grow out of it
67
separation anxiety
- a child's unrealistic and persistent worry that something bad will happen to caregivers or loved ones
- often causes nightmares
- 35% continues into adulthood
Psychopathology
flashcards
Decks in class (20)
# Cards
-
154
-
364
-
567
-
6 - Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders25
-
6 - Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders35
-
7 - Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders15
-
7 - Dissociative Disorders19
-
8 - Structure of Mood Disorders30
-
8 - Prevalence, Causes, and Treatment of Mood Disorders21
-
9 - Overview of Eating Disorders18
-
9 - Causes of Eating Disorders2
-
9 - Treatment of Eating Disorders1
-
10 - Sleeping47
-
13 - Personality14
-
13 - Cluster A Personality Disorders18
-
13 - Cluster B Personality Disorders39
-
13 - Cluster C Personality Disorders16
-
14 - Psychosis37
-
14 - Prevalence and Causes21
-
14 - Treatment15
