Anxiety and Fear-related Disorders

Flashcards covering key terms related to anxiety and fear-related disorders for exam preparation.

Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Characterized by intense, persistent, and unreasonable anxiety about everyday things, diagnosed if symptoms occur almost every day for several months.

Sympathetic Branch of the Autonomic Nervous System

Part of the autonomic nervous system that increases arousal and prepares the body for 'fight or flight' responses during stress.

GAD-7

A seven-item questionnaire used to assess anxiety-related symptoms and gauge the severity of Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

Agoraphobia

An anxiety disorder characterized by intense fear of being in situations where escape might be difficult, often leading to avoidance of public places.

Blood-injection-injury Phobia

A specific phobia characterized by an irrational fear associated with blood, injections, or injuries, often leading to fainting.

Validity

The extent to which a research method or test measures what it claims to measure.

Reliability

The consistency of a research method, indicating that the same results would be obtained under similar conditions.

Cognitive Fear Structures

Mental networks of stored information about threatening stimuli, which inform an individual's fears and phobias.

Applied Tension Technique

A method used in treating blood-injection-injury phobia involving tensing and relaxing muscles to prevent fainting during exposure to feared stimuli.

Systematic Desensitization (SD)

A behavioral therapy technique that gradually exposes patients to feared stimuli while teaching them relaxation techniques to counteract anxiety.

Psychometric Tests

Standardized instruments used to assess psychological variables like anxiety, depression, and personality.

Fainting (Vasovagal Syncope)

Loss of consciousness due to a sudden drop in blood pressure, often triggered by fear or emotional distress.

Animal Reminder Disgust

A specific type of disgust linked to reminders of human animal nature, associated with aversive stimuli like blood that may predict fainting.

Fear Hierarchy

A graduated list of feared situations or objects, ranked from least to most anxiety-provoking, used in therapeutic exposure treatments.

Behavioural Therapy

A treatment approach that focuses on changing maladaptive behaviors through conditioning principles.

Case Study Method

A qualitative research approach that involves an in-depth analysis of a single or small number of cases.

Psychodynamic Theory

A psychological perspective that emphasizes unconscious processes and childhood experiences as key factors in the development of anxiety disorders.

Longitudinal Study

A research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables over a extended period of time.

Isolation

A defense mechanism described by Freud, where individuals may redirect their anxieties towards phobic objects instead of confronting deeper issues.

Self-report Questionnaire

A method that involves participants reporting their own symptoms or experiences, often used in assessing anxiety and phobia.