Lesson 1- Anxiety Disorders

LECTURE 2: PSYCHOLOGICAL

DISORDERS

Are psychological disorders where the primary symptom is anxiety, or a feeling of impending doom or disaster from a specific or unknown source.

Anxiety disorders are characterized by mood symptoms of tension or agitation; bodily symptoms of sweating or increased heart rate and blood pressure as well as cognitive symptoms such as worry or rumination (repetitively focusing on the symptoms or causes of distress).

Anxiety disorders include panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

ANXIETY DISORDERS

Panic Disorder

The experience of repeated attacks of intense anxiety accompanied by: severe chest pain

Tightness of muscles

Choking

Sweating

Or other acute symptoms

Symptoms can last anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours

DIAGNOSED AS…

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Symptoms must occur for at least 6 months and include chronic anxiety not associated with any specific situation or object

The individual frequently experiences:

Sleep problems

Difficulty concentrating

Irritability Tenseness Being

hypervigilant

SIMILAR TO PANIC DISORDER HOWEVER,

Phobias Intense,

irrational fear responses to specific stimuli

A fear turns into a phobia when it provokes a compelling, irrational desire to avoid a dreaded situation or object, disrupting the person’s daily life

Nearly 5% of the population suffers from some mild form of phobic disorder

PHOBIAS ARE…

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Compound

disorder of thought and behavior

Characterized by obsessions and compulsions

Obsessions are persistent, intrusive, & unwanted thoughts that a person cannot get out of their mind

Compulsions are ritualistic behaviors performed repeatedly in order to reduce the tension created by the obsession

OCD IS A…

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Some trauma

experienced (natural disaster, war, violent crime) by the victim

Trauma is re-experienced through realistic nightmares and flashbacks

Victims may

experience reduced involvement with the outside world

General arousal is also experienced characterized by hyper alertness, guilt, and difficulty concentrating

PTSD IS A RESULT OF…

Freud assumed that anxiety disorders are symptoms of submerged mental energy that derives from intolerable impulses that were repressed during childhood.

Learning theorists, drawing on research in which rats are given unpredictable shocks, link general anxiety with classical conditioning of fear.

Some fears arise from stimulus generalizations, such as when a person who fears heights after a fall also comes to fear planes.

LEARNING AND BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES OF ANXIETY DISORDERS

DEVELOPMENT

Through observational learning, someone might also learn fear by seeing others display their own fears.

Research suggest humans might be biologically prepared to develop certain fears.

Compulsive acts typically are exaggerations of behaviors that contributed to our species’ evolution.

DEVELOPMENT CONTINUED…

Research shows the anxiety response is genetically influenced

PET scans of individuals with OCD reveal excessive activity in the region of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex.

Some anti-depressant drugs dampen fear-circuit activity in the amygdala, thus reducing OCD behavior.

DEVELOPMENT CONTINUED…

Maitland, L. L. (2003). Psychology: five steps to a 5 on the AP exam. New York: McGraw-Hill.

REFERENCES