L6 Abnormal Psychology - Anxiety Disorders

Question	Answer
What is anxiety?	A vague unpleasant emotion that is experienced in anticipation of some future misfortune. • A state of apprehension, uncertainty or fear, resulting from the anticipation of a realistic or imaginary threatening event or situation.
Anxiety as a normal adaptive function Evolutionary viewpoint • Survival • Fight or flight response	Exams, assignments, late for work = bod y preparing yourself with a situation that could be threatening.
What are the positives in anxiety?	Going into an exam as it makes you alert, motivated.
When do you know that anxiety is abnormal?	When anxiety disrupts your day to day functioning it becomes abnormal. E.g. constantly being anxious about everything
Anxiousness is it always controlled?	No it is automatic.
Sympathetic?	Nervous System Releases energy and readies body for action.
Parasympathetic?	Nervous System Restores body to normal state relaxed level of functioning.
When your body detects danger your brain sends messages to a section of the nerves. What is the section of the nerves called?	The autonomic nervous system.
Which two chemicals does the sympathetic nervous system release?	The sympathetic nervous system releases two chemicals: adrenaline and noradrenaline that help the body to fight danger and it’s the work of these that usually gives you that “keyed up” anxious feeling.
What does the parasympathetic nervous system do?	After a while the parasympathetic nervous system will release other chemicals to destroy the adrenaline and noradrenaline and restore a calm and relaxed feeling.
What is the biggest part of the education for anxiety?	Educating people that while the sympathetic system causes them distress, if they stay in the situation that is causing them excessive amounts of anxiety they will eventually be able to feel more relaxed anyway. As the sympathetic system doesn't stay a particular way forever, the parasympathetic system stops this from continuing.
When does anxiety occur?	When the sympathetic response is disregulated and is over-reactive. Small things can result in a large anxiety response or when there is no threat present an anxiety respose willl occur.
What are the types of Anxiety disorders?	Types of Anxiety disorders • Generalised Anxiety Disorder • Panic Disorder • Agoraphobia • Social Anxiety Disorder • Specific Phobia
What is Generalised Anxiety Disorder?	More expectation. Constant level of anxiety about a variety of things. Constant struggle of dealing with worries, person can find it difficult to control their worry. May think anxiety is a good thing as it helps them problem solve but after a while they feel that the anxiety is uncontrollable. - Most destress. WORRY ABOUT WORRY (Meta-worry).
Generalised Anxiety Disorder treatment?	Shifting the ways they worry and getting them to worry in different ways.
What is Panic Disorder anxiety?	Panic attack where there is discrete period of intense fear in the absense of any danger. Sudden, can't breathe everything is going to end, nausea difficulty breathing, intense feeling of imminent danger and an urge to escape. Leads to avoidence to avoid panic attacks. Reduces the places they go to eventually.
What is Agoraphobia?	Panic disorder is with or without agoraphobia. A fear of atleast two of these situations: using public transport, being in open/encloed spaces, standing in a line or in a crowd or leaving the house. Require a campanion to enter someone or else endured with intense anxiety.
What is the key part of Agoraphobia?	The thought that escape may be difficult or help may not easily be available in the event of panic lke symptoms.
What is social anxiety?	• Fear or anxiety about one or more social situations where the individual is exposed to possible scrutiny by others. • The individual fears that they will act in a way that will be negatively evaluated by others. • The social situations are avoided or endured with intense fear or anxiety.
What is the key part of social anxiety?	Concern that others will negatively evaluate you or not like you.
How do people mainly manage their anxiety?	Avoiding the places that make them really anxious. This is negatively reinforcing, negative rein is when the prob of behaviour increases when you remove something that is aversive (anxiety) so this is reinforcing as they are avoiding what will make them anxious.
How do people deal with social anxiety?	May have a few drinks to take the edge off, helps them in short term. Doesn't help in the long term as you may do somehting stupi if you drink too much making you more socially anxious because of your previous actions.
What is specific phobia?	• Anxiety evoked by specific circumstances or situations. • Fear is out of proportion to the situation and is beyond voluntary control. • Avoidance is a characteristic feature and must have some sort of level of impairment to their day to day functioning.
Aetiology of anxiety disorders	Aetiology of anxiety disorders • Genetics • Neurotransmitter abnormalities- overlaps with depression abnormalities with seratonin. • Social factors Life experiences Stressful events (especially those involving threat) Lack of support network • Personality avoidant, perfectionist
What are the 3 different treatments of anxiety disorders?	• Exposure • CBT • Medication
How does Exposure help treat exposure?	Exposure therapy has people stay in the setting that makes them anxious long enough to let their parasympatetic nervous system has a chance to kick in and their sympathetic nervous system will go away. Usually starts with the things that make you less anxious to the more anxious things.
What is the cognitive approach to treating anxiety?	Helping people to notice that they are over emphasising the amount of threat that is occuring.
How can medication help treat anxiety?	Medication will depend on what the anxiety is. If it is something that is persistent, selective serontonin inhibitors can be used.

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L6 Abnormal Psychology - Anxiety Disorders

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	Created by Riya Vaidya over 9 years ago