Anxiety disorders
Psychological disorders characterized by
distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety.
Generalized anxiety disorder
A person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal.
What can generalized anxiety disorder lead to?
Physical problems
such as high blood pressure.
What is one thing that can cause generalized anxiety disorder?
Abuse during childhood.
What did Freud believe about anxiety?
Believed anxiety is
free floating.
Panic disorder
(Anxiety tornado) Marked by unpredictable minutes-long of
intense dread
, experiencing
extreme terror
and chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations.
-
Strikes suddenly and disappears suddenly.
Phobias
Marked by persistent,
irrational fear and avoidance
of a specific object, activity, or situation.
Agorophobia
Fear/avoidance of situations in which escape might be difficult or help unavailable when panic strikes.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Characterized by unwanted, repetitive thoughts (obsessive) and/or actions (compulsive).
What part of the brain is hyperactive in those with OCD?
The
anterior cingulate cortex.
When does it cross the line between a normality and a disorder?
When they
persistently interfere with everyday living
and cause the person to
distress.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, and/or insomnia that lingers for
4 weeks or more after a traumatic experience.
When are people at a higher risk for PTSD?
-Veterans of war.
-The
greater one's emotional distress
during the trauma, the higher the risk.
-
Sensitive limbic system
(flooding body with more stress hormones).
-
Genetically
predisposed.
What is a therapy for PTSD which is INEFFECTIVE?
Debriefing-
Revisit the experience.
-Sometimes can be harmful.
Survivor resiliency
Those who have suffered often develop a
greater-than-usual sensitivity to suffering and empathy
for others who suffer, increased sense of responsibility, and enlarged capacity for caring.
Post-traumatic growth
Positive psychological changes as a result of struggling with extremely challenging circumstances and life crisis.
What are 2 contemporary perspectives of
modern psychology
?
Learning and biological.
When does anxiety develop?
When bad events happen
unpredictably and uncontrollably.
What are the 2 specific learning processes that can contribute to anxiety?
Generalization and reinforcement.
Example of generalization:
Attacked by a dog and develops a fear of all dogs.
Reinforcement
Helps maintain our phobias and compulsions after they arise.
Example of reinforcement:
Avoiding a situation
reduces anxiety
and
reinforces phobic behavior.
How can observational learning impact our fears/
We may learn fear through observing other's fears.
i.e.
Watching someone get electric shock.
How has
evolution
impacted what we fear today?
We seem biologically prepared to fear threats faced by our ancestors.
How do
genes
influence disorders?
Genes influence disorders by
regulating neurotransmitters in the brain.
What happens in the brain when there is too much
glutamate
?
Too much glutamate=
brain's alarm centers become overactive.
What does serotonin influence?
Sleep and mood.
How are anxiety disorders manifested biologically?
An over-arousal of brain areas involved in impulse control and habitual behaviors.
Anterior cingulate cortex
Brain region that
monitors our actions and checks for errors.
Somatoform disorder
Psychological disorder in which the symptoms take a somatic (bodily) form
without apparent physical cause.
Conversion disorder
A rare somatoform disorder in which a person experiences very specific genuine physical symptoms for which
no psychological basis can be found.
-ANXIETY IS CONVERTED INTO A PHYSICAL SYMPTOM.
Hypochondriasis
A somatoform disorder in which a person interprets normal physical sensations as
symptoms of a disease.
Dissociative disorders
Disorders in which
conscious awareness becomes separated
(dissociated) from pervious memories, thoughts, and feelings.
-Sudden loss of memory or change in identity.
DID
Rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits 2 or more
distinct and alternating personalities.
What was DID formerly known as?
Multiple personality disorder.
How do psychoanalysts see DID?
They see DID symptoms as
defenses against anxiety
caused by the eruption of
unacceptable impulses.
How do learning theorists see DID?
See dissociative disorders as behaviors
reinforced by anxiety reduction.