FINALS 3 - OCD, GAD, PTSD, Phobias

Obsessions

are persistent thoughts or images that intrude themselves into consciousness

• repetitive, uncontrollable, feel “alien” to the person experiencing them (although they are recognized as coming from within), and cause anxiety

• attempts to dispel them or ignore them fail, and make the sufferer more anxious

Compulsions

are repetitive behaviors or mental acts that a person feels compelled to perform

• failing to perform them, or trying not to perform them leads to anxiety, so they seem to function to reduce anxiety

• Hand-washing

• Checking (e.g. that doors are locked or electric appliances are switched off)

• Counting

Common compulsions include:

• obsession

• compulsion

You get a bad thought (_____) → It makes you anxious → so you do something (_____) to feel better

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)

a diagnosis for people with extreme obsession or compulsions (usually both together)

• the condition can be extremely disabling, as both obsessions and compulsions can make it impossible to pursue a normal life

Orbitofrontal cortex & subcortical areas

a part of the brain of persons with OCD that shows an increase in activity under PET scans

• these areas are linked to decision-making and detecting when something is wrong or needs to be fixed

• Orbitofrontal, lateral frontal, insular & anterior cingulate

• Amygdala

When sufferers were induced to hold apparently ‘contaminated’ items, fMRI shows that their agitation was accompanied by increased activity in various brain regions, including:

• Orbitofrontal, lateral frontal, insular & anterior cingulate

• Amygdala

these areas are part of the fear and emotional response system or fear circuits

Prefrontal area

area of the brain that shows a decrease in activity as the patient goes into recovery after treatment

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

a diagnosis when anxiety is prolonged but is not focused on particular events and is accompanied by difficulty concentrating, fatigue, feelings pf inadequacy, insomnia, or irritability

6 months

GAD prolonged how many months?

Free-floating anxiety

When anxiety is not focused on particular events

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

• not as disabling as other anxiety disorders

• up to 6% of the population may suffer from this in any year

acute anxiety disorders OR depression

most sufferers (GAD) will at some time experience one of the ______________ or sometimes ______

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

little is known of the causality of this disorder, and none of the proposed explanations is satisfactory

Benzodiazepines

effective in treatment for GAD

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Shortly after a traumatic event, such as combat, rape, natural disaster, or serious accident, during which a person has experienced intense fear, most people will experience anxiety, and may have recurrent intrusive thoughts about the event. In some people, these persists long after, and are now considered to constitute _______ ______ _____

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

suferrers experience vivid reliving of the events (flashbacks), may have been recurrent dreams about the event, may feel or act as if the event were recurring, and are distressed by stimuli that remind them of the event

Heightened physiological arousal and its effects on behaviors

what sufferers of PTSD experience during each types of these occurrence

(such example are irritability, lack or concentration, and insomnia)

Hippocampal lesions

have been seen in some war veterans suffering from PTSD

Stein et al

A number of studies demonstrates a genetic component to PTSD:

• have shown that monozygotic twins of people who suffer PTSD are more likely to suffer similar symptoms than a dizygotic twins

Segman st al

found that a gene coding for a molecule concerned with dopamine reuptake is mutated more frequently in PTSD sufferers than in those who do not react in this way to stress

► This gene likely affects how the brain processes stress and emotion, especially involving dopamine, a neurotransmitter linked to mood and reward

Phobias

are intense and irrational fears of specific objects or situations (object could be almost anything)

• the fear is pervasive and debilitating, including symptoms of panic attacks, and may prevent a person leaving the house for fear of encountering the phobic object

Acrophobia

Fear of high places

Arachnophobia

Fear of spiders

Claustrophobia

Fear of enclosed spaces

Agoraphobia

is more complex, with more general fears

Learned associations

is widely believed where specific phobias result from, between the physical sensations of fear and particular objects which become the phobic object

Learned associations

a person makes a connection between two events or stimuli through experience

Fear

Later, the ___ sensation can generalize to other stimuli.

One problem with this view is that phobias for a lot of dangerous objects (e.g. knives, cookers, are extremely rare)

Preparedness Theory

suggests that we have evolved a readiness to respond with fear to certain classes of dangerous natural stimuli, making it more likely that phobias will develop to those

Seligman

Preparedness Theory by?