Psychology Exam 2- Anxiety & Mood Disorders

Normal vs Abnormal Fear & Anxiety

Fear: present, flight or fight, sympathetic nervous system kicks in

Anxiety: future oriented, symptoms of tension & doesn’t always activate sympathetic nervous system

Panic Attacks

expected or unexpected, lasts roughly around 10 mins, physical & cognitive symptoms

Areas of the brain for anxiety/fear & panic attacks

limbic system & overactive amygladaare key regions involved in processing fear and anxiety responses.

Additive Models for anxiety/fear & panic attacks

Triple vulnerability model

Bio & Psych risk factors for fear/anxiety & panic attacks

Bio: genetic vulnerability, family genetics

Psych: low serotonin, early childhood, stressful life events

Categories of Anxiety Disorders

Generalized Anxiety DO

Panic DO

Agoraphobia

Social Anxiety DO

Specific Phobia

Selective Mutism

Seperation Anxiety

PTSD

OCD

Trich

Derm

Body Dysmorphia

Generalized Anxiety DO

a disorder that consists of chronic worry (GAD), excessive & uncontrollable, can last about 6+ months.

• 3.1 % of the general population have it

• the onset is early adulthood, slow moving with cognitive behaviors

• Treatments include: medication, pharmacotherapy, benzodiazapines & anti depressants

Agoraphobia

a disorder that makes you feel like you cannot escape, combotic/independent

• onset is young adult

• risks are emotional reactivity, physical alarm reaction & catastrophic thinking

  • Treatment includes: medication & different therapys

Specific Phobia

extreme irrational fears, avoidance, unreasonableness

• eg: animals, bugs, heights, storms & situational

Selective Mutism

• rare childhood disorders where a child is mute in different situations including: school & home.

• This condition often emerges in early childhood and can lead to significant challenges in social interactions and academic settings.

• Treatments include: therapies with speech

Seperation Anxiety

a disorder that consists of unrealistic/persistant worry, worry about physical danger to others close to & abandonment

• treatments include: different therapies

• outcomes include: nightmares, refusing to go to school, work etc

PTSD

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that can develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event

OCD

Obsessive compulsory disorder

• consists of obsessive cleaning/contamination, forbidden thoughts, symmetry or exactness

• causes include early life, different thoughts, biological aspects or antibodies (strep)

• treatment include: medication, exposure response (ERP)

Trichotillomania

a chronic disorder that consists of obsessive hair pulling, most with scalp & eyebrows

Derm

a chronic disorder that consists of skin picking

• caused by anxiety & fear of infections

• treatment includes: behavioral habit reversal

Major Depressive DO

a disorder that consists of single or recurring episode, depressive mood state, lasting around two or more weeks, with cognitive symptoms

Persistant Depressive DO

a mood disorder characterized by two years or more of depressed or dysthymic mood

Dysthymic DO

• part of persistent depressive disorders

Double Depression

individuals who suffer from both major depressive episodes & persistant depression

Bipolar I

alternation of major depressive DO with full manic episodes

Bipolar II

alternation of major depressive DO with hypomanic episodes (not full manic episodes)

Cyclothymic DO

chronic mood disorder with alternating mood elevatio & depression that isn’t severe

Premenstrual Dysphoric DO

A mood disorder in women during there menstrual cycle

• consists of depressive, anxious, & irritable symptoms

Disruptive Mood Dysregulation DO

a mental disorder in children of recurrent temper outbursts against a background of irritable mood

Biological, Psychological & Sociocultural contributors for mood disorders

Biological: familial & genetic influences

Psychological: stressfull life events, stress & depression

Areas of the brain: endocrine system, hypothalamic-pituitary-aldrenocorital axis, neurotransmitters

Suicide

the intentional act of ending ones life

Suicide is the ___ leading cause of death

11th!

Causes of Suicide

• stressful life events

• biological aspects

• personality traits

  • other factors include: hopelessness, losses, & different treatments

Culture & Geographical Suicide Facts

• prominently white phenomenon

• high suicide rate for native americans

Psychological Autopsy

• postmorten psychological profile of suicide victim constructed from interviews with people who know the person

Neurobiology

• low levels of serotonin may be associated with suicide & violent suicide attempts

Treatments for Suicide

• different programs

• limit lethal weapons

• watching the individual

co-morbidity in anxiety disorders

Comorbidity: The co-occurrence of two or more distinct disorders

Psychodynamic theory as developed by Freud saw phobias as:

Repressed ID impulses

• Psychodynamic Approaches: Theories which assume that unconscious conflicts develop early in life, and part of the therapy is designed to identify life events that may have caused these unconscious conflicts.

In the famous “Little Albert” study by Watson & Rayner, they attempted to condition in him, a fear of his pet white rat. This was done by

Pairing the rat - the conditioned stimulus (CS) with the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) which produced the unconditioned response (UCR) and subsequently conditioned response (CR).