AP Psychology: Anxiety Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (Module 66)

Anxiety Disorders

Psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety.

What are three examples anxiety disorders?

Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Person is unexplainable and continually tense and uneasy

Panic Disorder: Person experiences sudden episodes of intense dread

Phobias: When someone is intentionally and irrationally afraid of object/situation

What two disorders are classified separately by the DSM-5?

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: troubled my repetitive thoughts or actions

Post traumatic Stress Disorder: in which a person has lingering memories, nightmares and other symptoms after a severely threatening, uncontrollable event

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

An anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive and in a state of autonomic Nervous System arousal

2/3 of people with GAD are

Women

The anxiety of GAD is free-floating because

There is usually not an identifiable cause

Panic Disorder

An anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable, minutes-long episodes of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking or other frightening sensations. Often followed by fear over another possible attack.

Panic Attack

Minutes-long episode of intense fear that something horrible is about to happen. Accompanied by heart palpitations, shortness of breath, choking sensations, trembling or dizziness.

Phobias

An anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object, activity or situation.

Specific Phobias

Irrational fears of specific objects or situations

Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia)

Intense fear of social situations, leading to avoidance of such. Formerly called social phobia.

Agoraphobia

Fear or avoidance of situations, such as crowds or wide and open place, when one has felt loss of control and panic.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

A disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or actions (compulsions).

OCD is more common among

Teens and young adults

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

A disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, numbness of feeling and/or insomnia hat lingers for four weeks or more after a traumatic experience.

PTSD is described less with the actual event and more with

The persistence of trauma memory.

The greater one's _____ during the event, the greater the risk for PTSD symptoms

Emotional distress

Biology of PTSD

Sensitive limbus system. Several stress hormones put into body and images come back into consciousness.

Right temporal lobe activity

Some psychologists believe PTSD is overdiagnosed because

Of the broadened definition of trauma.

Survivor Resiliency

A term used for those who have gone through a traumatic experience and yet do not develop PTSD

Posttraumatic Growth

Positive psychological changes as a result of struggling with extremely challenging circumstances and life crises.

What two contemporary perspectives explain the onset of anxiety disorders?

Learning and biological

What are two specific processes of conditioning that relate to the development of anxiety disorders?

Stimulus Generalization—fearing similar stimuli

Reinforcement—helps maintain our phobias and compulsions after they arise.

Observational Learning & Anxiety Disorders

We may learn fears by observing fears of those around us.

The Learning Perspective

Conditioning

Observational Learning

Cognition

Cognition & Anxiety Disorders

Interpretations and irrational beliefs can also cause feelings of anxiety.

Hypervigilant

Overactive awareness of thugs around you.

Biological Perspective

Natural Selection

Genes

The Brain

Natural Selection & Anxiety Disorders

Phobias focus on dangers faced by our ancestors. Compulsions exaggerate behaviors that helped ancestors survive.

Genes & Anxiety Disorders

Temperament and genetic makeup contribute to development of anxiety disorders.

Identical twins more likely to develop disorder if one of them has it.

17 genes appeared to be expressed during anxiety disorders.

How do genes influence anxiety disorders by regulating

Neurotransmitters.

What neurotransmitters are affected by anxiety?

Serotonin: sleep and mood

Glutamate: Alarm centers overactive with too much

Anterior Cingulate Cortex

Brain region monitoring actions and checks for errors.

Fear-Learning experiences that traumatize the brain may

Create fear circuits in amygdala.

Make parts of brain hyperactive.

What do we call an anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object, activity or situation?

Phobia

A person troubled by repetitive thoughts or actions is most likely experiencing which of the following?

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

The key difference between obsessions and compulsions is that compulsions involve repetitive

Behaviors

Obsessions are to ________ as compulsions are to ______

Thoughts

Actions