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Anxiety Disorders. True or False? People who experience a panic attack often think they are having a heart attack. The same drugs used to treat schizophrenia are also used to control panic attacks.
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Anxiety Disorders True or False? • People who experience a panic attack often think they are having a heart attack. • The same drugs used to treat schizophrenia are also used to control panic attacks. • Some people are so fearful of leaving their homes that they are unable to venture outside even to mail a letter. • We may be genetically predisposed to acquire fears of objects that posed a danger to ancestral humans. • Therapists have used virtual reality to help people overcome phobias. • Obsessional thinking helps relieve anxiety. • Exposure to combat is the most common trauma linked to posttraumatic stress disorder.
Classes of Anxiety Disorders: Panic Disorder Phobic Disorders Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Generalized Anxiety Disorder Acute Stress Disorder Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Anxiety: an emotional state characterized by physiological arousal, unpleasant feelings of tension, and a sense of apprehension or foreboding. Anxiety Disorder: a class of psychological disorders characterized by excessive or maladaptive anxiety reactions. Introduction
Generalized Anxiety Disorder • Characterized by general feelings of dread and foreboding and heightened states of bodily arousal that are not triggered by any specific object, situation, or activity. • “Worrying about Worrying” • Emotional distress caused by worrying about everyday, minor things, and about unlikely future events interferes significantly with the person’s daily life. • Treatment: drug therapy** and cognitive-behavioral therapy
Panic Disorders • Characterized by the occurrence of repeated, unexpected panic attacks. • Panic attack: intense anxiety reactions accompanied by physical symptoms such as a pounding heart, rapid respiration, heavy perspiration, numbness, chills, weakness or dizziness. • Patient may experience feelings of strangeness or unreality about their surroundings, fear of losing control, fear of sudden death, or detachment from himself. • Treatment: drug therapy (usually anti-depressants as they normalize neurotransmitter activity) and cognitive-behavioral therapy
An intense and irrational fear of a particular object or situation. Specific phobia: phobia of a specific thing or situation (acrophobia, nyctophobia) Social phobia: fear that one will embarrass oneself in public Agoraphobia: fear of places and situations from which it might be difficult or embarrassing to escape in the event of a panic attack. Treatment: typically involves providing the person opportunities to experience the feared object under conditions in which he or she feels safe and in control. Specific Phobia Examples: Acerophobia: fear of itching or the insects that cause itching Acrophobia: fear of heights Aerophobia: fear of flying Atelophobia: fear of imperfection Catagelophobia: fear of being ridiculed Claustrophobia: fear of closed spaces Entomophobia: fear of insects Felinophobia: fear of cats Heliophobia: fear of the sun Hemophobia: fear of blood Hydrophobia: fear of water Logizomechanophobia: fear of computers Nosocomephobia: fear of hospitals Nyctophobia: fear of darkness Verminophobia: fear of germs Zoophobia: fear of animals Phobic Disorders
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder • A type of anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent obsessions, compulsions, or both. • Obsession: a recurring thought or image that the individual cannot control • Compulsion: a repetitive or ritualistic behavior that the person feels compelled to perform • Treatment: behavior therapy, specifically exposure with response prevention
Adjustment Disorders • Acute Stress Disorder (ASD): a traumatic stress reaction occurring during the month following exposure to a traumatic event. • Walking around “in a fog” for days or weeks after a hurricane. • Forgetting important features of an accident and feeling numb or detached from your environment. • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): a prolonged maladaptive reaction to a traumatic experience. Can persist for months, years, or even decades and may not be immediately apparent. • Treatment: cognitive-behavioral therapy (repeated exposure to cues and emotions associated with the trauma in a safe setting)
