Anxiety Disorders

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Anxiety Disorders

• A group of conditions where the primary symptoms
  are anxiety or defenses against anxiety.
• The patient fears something awful will happen to
  them.
• They are in a state of intense apprehension,
  uneasiness, uncertainty, or fear.
• Are they a neurosis or psychosis?

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Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

• Disorder in which a person is continuously tense,
  apprehensive and in a state of autonomic nervous
  system arousal.
• The patient is constantly tense and worried,
  feels inadequate, is oversensitive, cant
  concentrate and suffers from insomnia.
• 2 out of 3 women.

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Panic Disorder

• An anxiety disorder marked by a minutes-long
  episode of intense dread (Panic Attack) in which
  a person experiences terror and accompanying
  chest pain, choking and other frightening
  sensations.
• Can cause secondary disorders like agoraphobia.

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Intense Exposure therapy
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Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale
F T F F T T T T F T T F T T F T T F T F T T T T T T T T F T T F T T T T T F T T T T T T T T T T T F
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Phobias

• A disorder marked by a persistent, irrational
  fear and avoidance of a specific object or
  situation.

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What do we Fear?

• Untimely or early death
• Death of a loved one
• Speaking before a group
• Snakes
• Not being a success
• Being self-conscious
• Illness or injury to a loved one
• Making mistakes
• Looking foolish
• Failing a test
• Suffocating

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Examples of Phobias
Over 700 specific fears have been labeled.
Name of the phobia Fear of
Xenophobia Strangers
Ophidiophobia Snakes
Panaphobia Everything
Santa Claustrophobia Stuck in chimneys
Numerophobia Numbers
Arachnophobia Spiders
Murophobia Mice
Mikrophobia Germs
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Social Phobia

• Range 21-105 higher scores reflecting greater
  social anxiety.
• Mean score 42.3
• Four Factors
• Thoughts of general discomfort and social
  inadequacy
• Concerns with others awareness of distress
• Fear of negative evaluations
• Perception of autonomic arousal and performance
  anxiety

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Dealing with Social Phobias

• In dealing with symptoms of anxiety, respond with
  approach rather than avoidance.
• Greet people with eye contact.
• Create a list of possible topics of conversation
  and listen carefully to others.
• Initiate conversations by asking questions.
• Speak clearly with out mumbling.
• Be willing to tolerate some silence.
• Wait for cues from others.
• Learn to tolerate criticism and be willing to
  introduce a controversial topic at an appropriate
  point.

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Obsessive-compulsive disorder

• Persistent unwanted thoughts (obsessions) cause
  someone to feel the need to engage in a
  particular repetitive action (compulsion) .

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Common Examples of OCD
Common Obsessions Common Compulsions
Contamination fears of germs, dirt, etc. Washing
Imagining having harmed self or others Repeating
Imagining losing control of aggressive urges Checking
Intrusive sexual thoughts or urges Touching
Excessive religious or moral doubt Counting
Forbidden thoughts Ordering/arranging
A need to have things "just so" Hoarding or saving
A need to tell, ask, confess Praying
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The Obsessive-Compulsive Scale

• Score 1 point for true responses on questions
  1, 2, 4, 6, 7 8, 16, 17, 18 and 21.
• Score 1 point for false responses on questions
  5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20 and 22.
• Range 0-20, higher scores reflecting greater
  compulsivity.
• Male mean 11.15
• Female mean 11.24

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Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

• Flashbacks or nightmares following a persons
  involvement in or observation of an extremely
  stressful event.
• Memories of the event cause anxiety.
• Veterans rate of PTSD is 1 in 5.
• Drug abuse is very common.

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Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI)

• Range scores in each subscale 1-7
• Higher scores reflecting greater acceptance of
  each factor.
• Each scale predicts PTSD severity, depression and
  generalized anxiety in traumatized individuals.
• Items 13, 32 and 34 are experimental.

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Explanations for Anxiety Disorders

• You learn them through conditioning
  (reinforcement).

• Evolution or natural selection.

• Genetic predisposition (i.e. twins).

• Physiology/the brain (anterior cingulate cortex
  and OCD).