Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive, Trauma, Stress, and Dissociative Disorders Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key definitions, diagnoses, theoretical models, treatments, and neurobiological terms across Anxiety Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, Stress Responses, PTSD, ASD, and Dissociative Disorders.

Fear

An emotional response to a real or perceived imminent threat, producing surges of autonomic arousal necessary for fight or flight, thoughts of immediate danger, and escape behaviors.

Anxiety

The anticipation of a future threat, producing muscle tension and vigilance in preparation for future danger, along with cautious or avoidant behaviors.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

An anxiety disorder characterized by excessive anxiety and worry about a wide range of events or activities, occurring more days than not for at least $6\,months$.

Type 2 Worries

In Adrian Wells' metacognitive theory, this concept refers to worrying about worry itself, distinguishing it from Type 1 worries about internal or external events.

Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

A short-term therapy developed by Albert Ellis in the mid-1950s that identifies self-defeating thoughts, challenges their rationality, and replaces them with healthier, productive beliefs.

Panic Attack

An abrupt surge of intense fear or discomfort peaking within minutes, accompanied by $4+$ of $13$ physical or cognitive symptoms such as palpitations, sweating, trembling, and derealization.

Anxiety Sensitivity

A key cognitive-behavioral risk factor for panic disorder characterized by the fear of anxiety-related bodily sensations themselves.

Interoceptive Exposure

A CBT technique for panic disorder involving deliberate induction of panic-like physiological sensations, such as dizziness or shortness of breath, to decrease fear of bodily sensations.

Specific Phobia

An anxiety disorder marked by persistent fear or anxiety about a specific object or situation lasting for $6+\,months$, where the fear is out of proportion to actual danger and leads to active avoidance or intense endurance.

Inhibitory Learning Theory

The learning model underlying exposure therapy in which new non-threat learning competes with and suppresses—rather than erases—the original fear association.

Agoraphobia

An anxiety disorder characterized by intense fear or anxiety in $2+$ of five specific situations (public transport, open spaces, enclosed spaces, lines/crowds, outside home alone) due to fear that escape or help will be unavailable.

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)

An anxiety disorder involving marked fear or anxiety about social situations where one may be scrutinized by others, driven by fear of negative evaluation such as humiliation or rejection.

Serotonin Transporter Gene (5-HTTLPR)

A specific gene investigated in early neurobiological research on anxiety disorders as part of gene-environment interactions.

Locus Coeruleus

A brain structure acting as a norepinephrine 'on/off switch' that may be hyperactive in panic disorder.

Minority Stress Model

A sociocultural framework explaining how chronic exposure to stigma, prejudice, and discrimination (such as racism, sexism, homophobia, and ableism) produces hypervigilance and anxiety.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

A disorder characterized by intrusive, unwanted thoughts (obsessions), repetitive behaviors or mental acts (compulsions), or both, which consume $1+\,hour/day$ or cause significant distress or impairment.

Cortico-Striato-Thalamo-Cortical (CSTC) Circuit

The brain network involving the orbitofrontal cortex, caudate nuclei, striatum, anterior cingulate cortex, and thalamus that is implicated in OCD neurobiology.

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

The first-line psychological treatment for OCD that involves gradually confronting anxiety-provoking stimuli while refraining from performing compulsive rituals.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)

A disorder centered on excessive preoccupation with perceived defects or flaws in physical appearance that are unobservable or slight to others, driving repetitive behaviors averaging $3-8\,hours/day$.

Muscle Dysmorphia

A subtype of Body Dysmorphic Disorder occurring predominantly in males, characterized by the belief that one's body build is too small or insufficiently muscular.

Hoarding Disorder

A disorder characterized by persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions regardless of actual value, resulting in excessive accumulation that compromises active living spaces.

Stressor

An event or condition in one's surroundings that increases physical or psychological demands and poses a real or imagined threat, triggering a stress response.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Hans Selye's three-stage model describing the body's nonspecific physiological stress response: Alarm Reaction, Resistance, and Exhaustion.

HPA Axis

The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal pathway regulating long-term stress responses through sequential release of CRH from the hypothalamus, ACTH from the pituitary gland, and cortisol from the adrenal glands.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

A disorder triggered by exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence, characterized by symptoms across four clusters lasting for more than $1\,month$.

Prolonged Exposure (PE)

A short-term CBT approach ($8-15\,sessions$) for PTSD based on emotional processing theory, utilizing in vivo exposure to avoided real-world situations and imaginal exposure to trauma memories.

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

A $12\,session$ manualized cognitive-behavioral treatment for PTSD focused on evaluating and challenging distorted trauma-related cognitions and stuck points.

PRACTICE Acronym

The core components of Trauma-Focused CBT (TF-CBT) for children: Psychoeducation, Relaxation, Affect, Correcting thoughts, Trauma narrative, In vivo exposure, Co-joint family sessions, and Enhancing security.

Psychological First Aid (PFA)

An evidence-based early intervention approach replacing psychological debriefing that promotes safety, addresses immediate practical needs, and fosters social support without forcing trauma discussion.

Acute Stress Disorder (ASD)

A trauma disorder requiring $9+$ symptoms across five categories (intrusion, negative mood, dissociation, avoidance, arousal) lasting from $3\,days$ to $1\,month$ following exposure to a traumatic event.

Dissociative Amnesia

An inability to recall important autobiographical information, usually of a stressful or traumatic nature, that is inconsistent with ordinary forgetting and represents a memory retrieval deficit.

Dissociative Fugue

A specifier of dissociative amnesia characterized by sudden, unexpected travel away from home or work, accompanied by an inability to recall one's past or identity.

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

A dissociative disorder characterized by a disruption of identity involving $2+$ distinct personality states and recurrent gaps in recall of everyday events, personal information, or traumatic events.

Depersonalization

Persistent or recurrent experiences of unreality, detachment, or feeling like an outside observer with respect to one's thoughts, feelings, body, or actions.

Derealization

Persistent or recurrent experiences of unreality or detachment with respect to surroundings, where individuals or objects are experienced as dreamlike, foggy, distant, or visually distorted.