Generalized Anxiety
• disruptive levels of persistent unexplained feelings of apprehension and tenseness
The person must have at least 3 of the following:
• Restlessness
• Feeling on edge
• Difficulty concentrating/mind going blank
• irritability
• Muscle tension
• sleep disturbances
Panic Disorder
Panic disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by sudden bouts of intense
unexplained anxiety:
The panic attacks, which may last several minutes, usually involve such Physical symptoms like:
- unexplained terror and fear that something bad is going to happen.
• choking sensations
• shortness of breath
Panic attacks may happen several times a day or
having them without being able to explain why.
Phobias
is an anxiety disorder characterized by disruptive, irational Fears of objects, activities, or situations
• The fear must be both irrational AND disruptive about the specific phobia
• Irrational fear alone is not enough to define a specific phobia-the fear must also be disruptive.
Phobias are considered anxiety disorders because they Focus general feelings of anxiety onto a feared object, activity, or situation.
Fear of spiders, for example, is called arachnophobia.
Social Anxiety
Phobia produced in social situations-
Some people have extreme difficulty:
• speaking in public
•even to the extent of being unable to respond
• Eating in the presence of others
• Using public restrooms.
Learning Factors: THREE MAIN
Classical conditioning: people may associate fear with an object
Operant conditioning: fear of an object may be reinforced by avoiding the feared object
Observational learning: watching
- another experience fearfulness may result in developing tear
• The baby may be biologically predisposed to fear heights, but she may also learn this fear by watching her mother (nature or nurture?)
obsessive compulsive disorder: OCD
is an anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts and/or actions
Obsessions - repetitive thoughts
Compulsions - repetitive actions
• The obsessions/compulsions begin to take control of the person’s life
Obsessions and compulsions-even the normally helpful tendencies can begin to take control with some people and this is when helpful tendencies become OCD.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: PTSD
an anxiety disorder characterized by reliving
a severely upsetting event in unwanted
recurring memories & dreams
PTSD: Intense stress is the trigger, and symptoms include nightmares, persistent difficulty relating normally to others, hypervigilance, self-destructive behavior, and troubling memories of Flash backs to the traumatic event.
• Women are more likely to develop PTSD
Major Depressive Disorder
is a mood disorder in which a person, for no apparent reason experiences at least
TWO weeks of:
• depressed moods
• diminished interests in activities
• other symptoms, such as feelings of worthlessness
Diagnosed when five/nine of the symptoms
_of the following 9 symptoms (including ONE of the first two)
• depressed mood most of the day
• little interest in activities
• changes in appetife
• changes in sleep
• changes in activity level
• Fatique
• feelings of worthlessness
• inability to concentrate
• recurrent thoughts of suicide
Bipolar Disorder
a mood disorder in which the person alternates between the hopelessness of depression and the overexcited & unreasonably optimistic state of manier
• less common than major depressive disorder, but it has a more devastating effect on people’s ability to function
• there are two types of bipolar disorder. The difference lies in the severity of the manic episodes
Bipolar Disorder I is the classic
diagnosis of this disorder.
• Patients experience periods of mania, followed by depressive episodes occurring in cycles.
(7 days or more of mania)
VS
Bipolar Disorder II is a milder form of this disorder in which patients experience major depressive episodes and at least one episode of hypomania
(4 days or more of mania)
not as severe mania
Mania (Bipolar Disorder)
Mania: Period of abnormality high emotion & activity
• Abnormally upbeat, jumpy or wired
• Increased activity, energy or agitation
• Exaggerated sense of well-being and self-confidence (euphoria)
• Decreased need for sleep (or insomnia]
• Unusual talkativeness
• Racing thoughts
• Distractibility
Poor decision-making
Anosognosia
One of the reasons for difficulty in Treating Disorders like Bipolar or any mental illness..
• When someone is unaware of their own mental health condition or that they can’t perceive their condition accurately.
• Self- awareness can vary over time, allowing a person to acknowledge their illness at times and making such knowledge impossible at other times
Causes:
• We constantly update our mental image of ourselves.
• But this updating process is complicated. It requires the brain’s fonta lobe:
• to organize new information
• develop a revised narrative
• remember the new self-image
• Without an update, we’re stuck with our _old self-image from before the illness started.
Since our perceptions feel accurate, we conclude that our loved ones are lying
-ormaking a mistake
• If family & friends insist they’re right, the person with an illness may get frustrated or angry or begin to avoid them.
