Abnormal Psychology - Anxiety Disorders
All anxiety disorders share the hallmark symptoms of excessive fear or worry related to behavioral disturbances.
Generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by an underlying excessive worry related to a wide range of events or activities and an inability to control their worry through coping strategies.
Specific phobia is characterized by fear or anxiety specific to an object or a situation and individuals can experience fear of more than one object.
Agoraphobia is characterized by intense fear related to situations in which the individual is in public situations where escape may be difficult and help may not be able to come.
Social anxiety disorder is characterized by fear or anxiety related to social situations, especially when evaluation by others is possible.
Panic disorder is characterized by a series of recurrent, unexpected panic attacks coupled with the fear of future panic attacks.
Prevalence rates for anxiety disorders range from 1.0% for agoraphobia up to 12% for specific phobia.
For most anxiety disorders, females are twice as likely to be diagnosed.
Many anxiety disorders are comorbid with one another.
Other common comorbid disorders include depressive disorders and substance-related disorders.
Agoraphobia has a high comorbidity with PTSD and panic disorder with general medical symptoms.
Most anxiety disorders are associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors, but not always deaths.Biological causes of anxiety disorders include the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR); brain structures to include the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex; and the locus coeruleus and corticostriatal-thalamocortical (CSTC) circuit in relation to panic disorder.
Psychological causes of anxiety disorders include maladaptive assumptions, the linking of events through respondent conditioning, modeling, and stimulus generalization as it relates to generalized anxiety disorder.
Sociocultural causes of anxiety disorders include social pressures leading to a higher rate of diagnosis for women and discrimination and prejudice which affects ethnic minorities and other marginalized groups.
Treatment options for generalized anxiety disorder include benzodiazepines, rational-emotive therapy, CBT, and biofeedback.
Treatment options for specific phobias include exposure treatments such as systematic desensitization, flooding, and modeling.
Treatment options for agoraphobia include exposure and CBT techniques.
Treatment options for social anxiety disorder include exposure treatment, social skills training, and cognitive restructuring.
Treatment options for panic disorder include CBT, psychoeducation, self-monitoring, relaxation training, cognitive restructuring, exposure, and pharmacological interventions.