Term
| What is the difference between fear and anxiety? |
|
Definition
| Anxiety pertains to the anticipation of future events, whereas fear is a reaction to present danger. In general Anxiety is more diffuse and fear more specific. Anxiety can be disproportionate and interfere with life, whereas fear responses are utilitarian. |
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Term
| Common trait across all anxiety disorders (three words) |
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Definition
|
|
Term
| What percentage of Individuals with an anxiety disorder have another anxiety disorder or a mood disorder? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What percentage of individuals with depression also have an anxiety disorder? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What particular attributes distinguish anxiety disorders from other/daily experiences of fear/anxiety? |
|
Definition
1. Anxiety is unrealistic or irrational
2. Anxiety is disabling, interferes with daily life (self or others) |
|
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Term
| What disorders fall under the category of anxiety disorders in the DSM 5? (4 elements) |
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Definition
1. Phobic Disorder (Specific Phobia)
2. Panic Disorder
3. Social Anxiety Disorder
4. Generalized Anxiety Disorder |
|
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Term
| What categories of disorders exist in the DSM 5 which previously all fell under the category of anxiety disorders? (3 elements) |
|
Definition
1. Anxiety Disorders
2. OCD and related Disorders
3. Stress related Disorders |
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Term
| Rank the lifetime prevalence of the following disorders, from highest to lowest: Panic Disorder, Specific Phobia, Social Anxiety Disorder, OCD, Agorophobia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, PTSD |
|
Definition
1. Specific Phobia and Social Anxiety Disorder
3. Generalized Anxiety Disorder
4. Panic Disorder and PTSD
6. OCD and Agorophobia |
|
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Term
| What are the differences between the role of stressful life events in the development of anxiety disorders vs. mood disorders? |
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Definition
| Mood disorders, especially depression, are more often precipitated by stressful events involving loss (such as the death of a loved one), while anxiety disorders are more often precipitated by events involving danger and insecurity. |
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Term
| What social factors contribute to the development of anxiety disorders? |
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Definition
1. Stressful Life Events
2. Childhood Adversity
3. Parental Anxiety (learned behaviors) |
|
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Term
| What biological factors contribute to the development of anxiety disorders? |
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Definition
| Genetic factors that increase likelihood of anxiety disorders are the same across disorder categories (Increased Amygdala and Insula activity among them) |
|
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Term
| What is the significance of eye whites in anxiety disorder research? |
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Definition
| Amount of visible whites of the eye exposed are considered a clear signal of levels of anxiety/fear in another, and therefor levels of danger in environments. Experiments using only eye whites flashed on a screen for miliseconds showed effects on Amygdala activity. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A region of the brain connected to the autonomic nervous system which assigns meaning to physiological responses and is important for bodily perception. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The kind of exposure necessary for panic disorder where physiological states are induced for exposure (i/e shortness of breath or dizziness). |
|
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Term
| Why is the Insula relevant to anxiety disorders? |
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Definition
| Awareness of physiological response to anxiety can precipitate further anxiety. The Insula is especially important is social phobia/SAD and panic disorder, where anxiety is often produced by a fear of fear, or a fear of response to fear. The Insula is less important in, for example, arachnophobia. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Persistent, Irrational, narrowly defined fears that are associated with a specific object or situation.
Avoidance and impact on daily life important for diagnosis. |
|
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Term
| What are the types of Phobic Disorders? |
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Definition
| Specific Phobia, Social Phobia (specific or generalized), and Agoraphobia (which is better categorized alongside Panic disorder) |
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Term
| What are the DSM V criteria for a diagnosis of a Specific Phobia? |
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Definition
Marked and persistent fear that is excessive or unreasonable CUED by the presence or anticipation of a specific stimulus.
Exposure to phobic stimulus produces immediate anxiety response.
Phobic situation is avoided (or endured with intense anxiety or distress)
Fear, anxiety, or avoidance is persistent, typically 6 months +
Avoidance or distress interferes significantly with daily functioning. |
|
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Term
| Explain the Mnemonic: Ferret Robberies Are Pretty Intense |
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Definition
| FRAPI- Fear, Response, Avoidance, Persistence, Interference - the five diagnostic criteria for specific phobia. |
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Term
| What were the DSM IV TR subtypes for specific phobias (Not in the DSM V) |
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Definition
| Animal, Natural Environment, Blood-injection-injury, Situational, Other |
|
|
Term
| What is the prevalence of Specific Phobias between gender categories? |
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Definition
| 3x more common in women than in men |
|
|
Term
| What is the age of onset for specific phobias? |
|
Definition
| Wide variance, no specific age of onset. |
|
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Term
| Explain the evolutionary etiologies of Specific Phobias. |
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Definition
| Phobias of specific threatening elements in environment (Dangerous animals, heights, etc.) discourage risky behavior and preserve life to pass on traits to offspring. Evidence shows slithering and crawling motions reduced down (without other clear animal imagery) induces fear response. Fear of spiders more common that fear of guns suggest evolutionary etiologies rather than social threat in present circumstance. |
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Term
| Explain the relationship between classical conditioning and Phobias |
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Definition
| negative stimuli associated with non-specific stimuli lead to fear responses associated with the non-specific stimuli. Ex: Little Albert, the Kool-Aid chemo experiment. |
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Term
| Explain the activity of the amygdala in response to stimuli in phobic individuals and control groups. |
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Definition
| responses to both generally negative and neutral stimuli were comparable between phobic and control groups, but response to phobic stimuli was MUCH higher in phobic individuals than controls. (i/e- increased amygdala response, but only for specific stimuli, not generally) |
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Term
| What is observational conditioning? |
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Definition
| fear responses that are associated with observing others reacting fearfully to stimuli. This has implications in the content and effects of mass media. |
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Term
| What is the Preparedness Theory of Phobias? |
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Definition
| Despite the fact that fear responses can be learned through conditioning, there are certain biological processes which render humans more prepared for certain phobic reactions and create constraints for what phobic reactions can be learned. Prepared associations can be learned more quickly and are more difficult to extinguish than other associations. |
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Term
| What kind of treatment is most effective for Specific Phobias? |
|
Definition
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|
Term
| What is a Fear-Avoidance Hierarchy? |
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Definition
| A tool for implementing Exposure therapy. Patients rank interactions with stimulus according to level of fear and avoidance associated. Therapists will begin exposure close to middle/beginning and work upwards. |
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Term
| What is the difference between social anxiety disorder and shyness? |
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Definition
| Shyness is a related construct, but not a disorder. SAD involves a level of fear in social situations that leads to impairment. |
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Term
| What is the DSM V Definition of Social Anxiety Disorder |
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Definition
A marked and persistent fear of one or more social situations where the person is exposed to unfamiliar people or possible scrutiny or might humiliate themselves.
Exposure to feared situation leads to anxiety
Recognized as excessive or unreasonable.
Leads to avoidance or endured with distress.
Interferes significantly with the person's daily life, OR there is marked distress about having the phobia |
|
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Term
| Explain the Mnemonic, "Fork Robberies Aren't Extremely Intense" |
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Definition
| FRAEI: Fear, Response, Avoidance, Excessive, Interference - DSM diagnostic requirements for Social Anxiety Disorder |
|
|
Term
| Describe the specific subtype of Social Anxiety Disorders |
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Definition
| Only one to three feared situations cause anxiety response. This form is less intense and more common. The most common form of SAD is in this subtype: fear of public speaking |
|
|
Term
| Describe the Generalized subtype of Social Anxiety Disorder |
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Definition
| Involves a large number of feared situations. Generally more severe and less common than specific social anxiety disorder. |
|
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Term
| Which personality traits account for the genetic risk for Social Anxiety Disorder? |
|
Definition
| Introversion and Neuroticism |
|
|
Term
| What kind of brain reactions to faces occur in individuals with social anxiety compared to control groups? |
|
Definition
| Higher Amygdala and Insula responses. |
|
|
Term
| What are the environmental risk factors for developing Social anxiety disorder? |
|
Definition
| Bullying in childhood, childhood neglect/abuse, overprotective parenting styles. |
|
|
Term
| What is the Evolutionary Theory of Social anxiety Disorder? |
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Definition
| Behaviors of SAD can be understood as responses to competitive social environment by one with low social status (ex: gaze aversion) |
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Term
| What is the Cognitive Behavioral Theory of Social Anxiety Disorder? |
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Definition
| The beliefs that negative evaluation is likely and that being liked is fundamentally important lead to distress, especially due to hyper vigilance to signs of social threat. Often hyper-vigilance actually impairs social functioning, causing negative evaluations by peers and producing a cycle. |
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Term
| Explain the Orphanage Study |
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Definition
| Children reared in a specific orphanage (low caring environment) showed increased amygdala responses and made reduced eye contact as a result. |
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Term
| How do thoughts, feelings, and behaviors interact according to the cognitive behavioral model of Social Anxiety Disorder? |
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Definition
| Negative Cognitions, emotions, and behaviors are all interrelated and produce each other. Reciprocal causation: Negative cognitions produce negative emotions and vice versa, etc. |
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Term
| What kind of Psychiatric treatments are used for Social Anxiety Disorder? |
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Definition
| SSRIs are often prescribed. Benzodiazepines are sometimes used. |
|
|
Term
| What kinds of Psycho-therapeutic treatments are used for Social Anxiety disorder? |
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Definition
| CBT is used, both individually and in groups. Attention Bias Retraining is also an experimental therapy. |
|
|
Term
| What is Attention Bias Retraining? |
|
Definition
| An experimental therapeutic technique that involves retraining the brain not to bias the negative over the positive. |
|
|
Term
| What are elements of CBT for Social Anxiety Disorder? |
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Definition
| Social exposures using the fear hierarchy model. Sometimes with pre-exposure planning. Cognitive restructuring: promoting rational thought about one's negative cognitions. |
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Term
| List some of the symptoms of a Panic Attack (Don't need to know all, but should recognize them and know some) |
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Definition
| Palpitations, Sweating, Trembling or shaking, sensations of shortness of breath, feeling of choking, chest pain, nausea, dizziness, derealization, fear of losing control, numbness, fear of dying, chills, flushes. |
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|
Term
| What is the time limit in order to define symptoms as a panic attack? |
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Definition
| The symptoms must peak within 10 minutes. |
|
|
Term
| What is the difference between a panic attack and panic disorder? |
|
Definition
| Panic attacks are incidents, which may or may not be symptomatic of a disorder. Often, initial panic attack follows a highly stressful life circumstance. MANY people experience panic attacks. Panic disorder, however, involves continued fear of panic attacks, and often later attacks are precipitated by this fear, rather than external distressing events. |
|
|
Term
| What is the DSM V Criteria for Panic Disorder? |
|
Definition
At least one attack followed by 1 month (or more) of 1 (or more) of the following:
Persistenst concern about having additional panic attacks.
Worry about implications of attack.
Significant changes in behavior related to the attacks. |
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|
Term
| Why aren't recurrent unexpected panic attacks necessarily panic disorder? |
|
Definition
| Panic disorder must include some kind of response to the experience of panic attacks (fear of them, changes in behavior as a result of them, etc.) Frequent panic attacks may be a symptom of other anxiety disorders (ex: panic attacks associated with phobia exposure) |
|
|
Term
| What is the DSM V Criteria for Agoraphobia? |
|
Definition
Anxiety about being in situations from which escape might be difficult, or in which help may not be available if panic-like symptoms develop.
Avoidance of such situations |
|
|
Term
| What is the prevalence of Agoraphobia among genders? |
|
Definition
| 80-90% of people with agoraphobia are women. |
|
|
Term
| What are the theories surrounding the high prevalence of Agoraphobia among women as opposed to men? |
|
Definition
Gender roles often force men to confront fears, and exposure outside of clinical therapy may occur because of social pressures.
Gender Roles make restricted access to space, and seclusion in domestic spaces more acceptable for women than men. |
|
|
Term
| What is the average age of onset for Panic Disorder? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What is Catastrophic Misinterpretation? |
|
Definition
| When external stimuli or internal processes cause a physiological stress reaction, a person with Panic Disorder may misinterpret bodily sensations as a catastrophic event, thus increasing physiological stress symptoms and precipitating a panic attack. |
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Term
| What is the basic timeline of Amygdala and Insula activity during a panic attack? |
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Definition
| Increased activity in the Insula (recognition of physiological symptoms) is following by increased activity in the amygdala (recognition of symptoms precipitates fear response) |
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|
Term
| What psycho-therapeutic treatments are used for Panic Disorder? |
|
Definition
| Interoceptive Exposure, Cognitive Therapy, and Psychoeducation. |
|
|
Term
| What kind of pharmaceutical treatments are used for panic disorder? |
|
Definition
| Benzodiazepines are sometimes prescribed, but they actually make relapse more frequent. |
|
|
Term
| What is Interoceptive exposure? |
|
Definition
| deliberate exposure to feared internal stimuli. Treatment for panic disorder. |
|
|
Term
| What is the main target of cognitive therapy for panic disorder? |
|
Definition
| Catastrophic automatic thoughts ("I am going to die") |
|
|
Term
| What are the DSM V Diagnostic Criteria for Generalized Anxiety Disorder? |
|
Definition
Excessive Anxiety and Worry, occurring more days than not for at least 6 months, about a number of events or activities.
The person finds it difficult to control the worry.
The anxiety and worry are associated with three or more of the following symptoms, with at least some symptoms present more days than not for the past six months: Restlessness or feeling on edge, easily fatigued, difficulty concentrating, irritability, muscle tension, sleep disturbance
Must cause clinically significant distress or impairment. |
|
|
Term
| What are the six symptoms associated with GAD? |
|
Definition
| Keyed up, Fatigued, Concentration impairment, Irritability, Muscle tension, and sleep disturbance. |
|
|
Term
| How can GAD be differentiated from MDD when symptoms of both are disorders are present? |
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Definition
| To diagnose GAD, the relevant symptoms MUST be present outside of depressive episodes. If they are only present within the depressive episodes it is just MDD, but if outside, both diagnoses can be applied. (GAD can also be diagnosed without MDD) |
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|
Term
|
Definition
| Negative emotional thoughts, specifically concerning possible future threats or dangers, that are difficult to control. Usually worry is verbal rather than visual. |
|
|
Term
| When does worry become pathological? |
|
Definition
a) very frequent
b) uncontrollable
c) permeates range of life areas
d) Valence (? I don't know what this means) |
|
|
Term
| What is the age of onset of GAD? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Why is there so much controversy over the diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder? |
|
Definition
a) High overlap between depression and other anxiety disorders
b) indistinguishable genotypes
c) low diagnostic reliability (low kappa values) |
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|
Term
| Why is the categorization of GAD in the DSM controversial? |
|
Definition
| The organizing structure of the DSM is supposed to be such that disorders within a category are more related than those from different categories. However, GAD has more in common with MDD than some other Anxiety disorders, which disrupts this. |
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|
Term
| What is the Tri-Partite model of mood and anxiety disorders? |
|
Definition
| Symptoms of disorders can be split into three categories, those shared by both mood and anxiety disorders (negative affect), those specific to mood disorders (anhedonia), and those specific to anxiety disorders (Hyper arousal) |
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|
Term
| What symptoms are specific to GAD (as opposed to MDD)? |
|
Definition
| Worry, intolerance of uncertainty, and GABA/Benzodiazepine receptor dysfunction. |
|
|
Term
| What medications are used to treat GAD? |
|
Definition
| SSRI's, again, benzos are used but not the best. |
|
|
Term
| What is the most common traditional Psychtherapeutic treatment for Generalized Anxiety Disorder? |
|
Definition
| Cognitive Behavioral Therapy |
|
|
Term
| What are some new psychotherapy options to treat GAD? |
|
Definition
| Interpersonal and emotional processing therapy, mindfulness based CBT, emotion regulation therapy |
|
|
Term
| How is CBT applied to the treatment of GAD? |
|
Definition
| Self Monitering is important, especially in terms of preventing avoidant behaviors. Cagnitive Biases must be approached and dealt with (Antecedent Cognitive Reappraisal). |
|
|
Term
| What are the DSM V Diagnostic Criteria for Obsessions? |
|
Definition
Recurrent and persisten thoughts, impulses, or images
a) experienced as intrusive and inappropriate
b) cause marked anxiety or distress
The thoughts are not simply excessive worries about real-life problems
The person attempts to ignore or suppress the thoughts
The person recognizes that the thoughts are a product of their own mind (not imposed from outside) |
|
|
Term
| What are the DSM V Diagnostic Criteria for Compulsions? |
|
Definition
Repetitive behaviors or mental acts that the person feels driven to perform in response to an obsession, or according to rules that must be applied rigidly.
Behaviors are aimed at preventing or reducing distress, or preventing some dreaded event or situation.
Behaviors are not connected in a realistic way with what they are designed to prevent, or are clearly excessive. |
|
|
Term
| What are some examples of Obsessions? |
|
Definition
| Contamination fears, fears of harming oneself or others, concerns about lack of symmetry, pathological doubt, etc. |
|
|
Term
| What are some examples of compulsions? |
|
Definition
| Cleaning, checking, repeating, ordering/arranging, counting, etc. |
|
|
Term
| What is the DSM V Definition of OCD? |
|
Definition
a) presence of obsessions, compulsions, or both.
b) these cause merked distress, are time consuming (1 hour + per day), or interfere with the person's functioning.
c) specify degree of insight |
|
|
Term
| What is the gender prevalence of OCD? |
|
Definition
| Affects men and women equally. |
|
|
Term
| What is the Age of onset of OCD? |
|
Definition
| typically begins in adolescence or early adulthood. |
|
|
Term
| What other disorders are commonly comorbid with OCD? |
|
Definition
| Other mood and anxiety disorders, body dysmorphic disorder, hair pulling and skin picking disorders. |
|
|
Term
| What are the psychological causes of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? |
|
Definition
| Neutral stimuli become associated with frightening thoughts or experiences through classical conditioning, and once an association is made, compulsive behaviors reduce anxiety and are used as coping mechanisms. |
|
|
Term
| What are potential evolutionary etiologies of OCD? |
|
Definition
| Fears of contamination and compulsion to wash may come from these behaviors improving life and reproductive expectancy because of reduced death and disease. |
|
|
Term
| What is the effect of thought suppression in individuals with OCD? |
|
Definition
| Trying to suppress intrusive thoughts intensifies them. |
|
|
Term
| What are some cognitive causal factors of OCD? |
|
Definition
| Cognitive biases include an inflated sense of responsibility ("I have to apologize or you will die"), difficulty blocking out negative information, low self-confidence in memory, and deficits in ability to inhibit motor responses. |
|
|
Term
| What are some genetic causal factors for OCD? |
|
Definition
| OCD is moderately heritable. Neuroticism predisposes individuals to multiple types of anxiety disorder. Some forms of OCD are also associated with chronic motor tics |
|
|
Term
| What have brain scan experiments shown about the neurological processes of people with OCD? |
|
Definition
| OCD patients have increased activity in the amygdala (among other areas of the brain) in response to specific obsession-related stimuli, but not to generally negative stimuli, compared to healthy controls. |
|
|
Term
| What kinds of psycho-pharmaceutical treatments are used for OCD? |
|
Definition
| SSRIs are used. There is some degree of symptom reduction while using SSRIs but they also have high relapse rates. |
|
|
Term
| What kinds of pyscho-therapeutic treatments are used for OCD? |
|
Definition
| Exposure Therapy, WITH RESPONSE PREVENTION. encourage habituation of anxiety without using compulsions to reduce anxiety. The cognitive component is not very important with OCD. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
a) External demands placed on an organism
b) organism's internal biological and psychological responses to such demands |
|
|
Term
| What are the six key characteristics of stress? |
|
Definition
| Severity, Chronicity, Timing, Degree of Impact, Level of expectation, and Controllability |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The adaptation of the body in order to achieve stability. This results in wear and tear on the body. |
|
|
Term
| What are the diagnostic criteria for PTSD? |
|
Definition
a) exposure to a traumatic event
b) re-experiencing cluster symptoms
c)Avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma
d) increased arousal
e) duration of greater than 1 month
f) significant distress or impairment in functioning |
|
|
Term
| What is acute stress disorder? |
|
Definition
| A reaction to trauma which is less intense than PTSD. ASD symptoms are the same as PTSD symptoms, but last between 2 days and 4 weeks |
|
|
Term
| What are the four types of exposure to a traumatic event (in order to diagnose PTSD)? |
|
Definition
1) direct exposure
2) witnessing in person
3) indirectly learning a loved one was exposed to severe/unexpected trauma.
4) repeated indirect exposure to aversive details of trauma (e.g., medical personnel) |
|
|
Term
| What kinds of traumatic events produce the highest levels of PTSD diagnoses? |
|
Definition
1) Rape
2) Violent physical assault
3) Other sexual assault
personal physical and sexual violence have the highest rates, unexpected or sudden traumas also have high rates. |
|
|
Term
| What are the four PTSD symptom clusters? |
|
Definition
| Re-experiencing, Avoidance, Increased Arousal, Negative Alterations in Mood or Cognition |
|
|
Term
| List the symptoms in the Re-experiencing cluster for PTSD (6 elements) |
|
Definition
a) recurrent, involuntary, and intrusive memories
b) traumatic nightmares
c) acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring (e.g., hallucinations, flashbacks)
d) Dissociative reactions (e.g., flashbacks)
e) Intense distress at exposure to cues that resemble some aspect of the traumatic event
f) physiological reactivity on exposure to cues that resemble some aspect of the traumatic event |
|
|
Term
| List the symptoms in the avoidance cluster for PTSD (2 elements) |
|
Definition
Avoidance of or efforts to avoid distressing memories, thoughts, or feelings associated with traumatic event
Avoidance of or efforts to avoid external reminders that arouse distressing memories, thoughts or feelings about the traumatic event. |
|
|
Term
| List the symptoms in the increased arousal cluster for PTSD |
|
Definition
a) difficulty falling or staying asleep
b) irritability or outbursts of anger
c) difficulty concentrating
d) hyper-vigilance
e) exaggerated startle response
f) reckless behavior |
|
|
Term
| List the symptoms in the Negative Alterations in Mood and Cognition Cluster for PTSD |
|
Definition
a) inability to recall important aspects of the trauma
b) persistent negative beliefs/expectations about oneself, others, and the world.
c) persistent distorted cognitions about the cause or consequence of the events that leads to blame of self or others
d) long lasting negative emotional state
e) markedly diminished interest in activities
f) feeling detached or begin estranged from others
g) persistent inability to experience positive emotions |
|
|
Term
| What is the gender prevalence for PTSD diagnosis? |
|
Definition
| There are higher rates of PTSD in women despite men being more likely to be exposed to traumatic events. Potentially related to the high risk for PTSD associated with rape which women are more likely to experience than men. |
|
|
Term
| Why might PTSD rates be higher for soldiers coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan than for soldiers in previous wars? |
|
Definition
a) lower public approval for war effort increases risk
b) people surviving traumatic injury they would have died from in previous wars.
c) higher civilian casualties than previous wars.
d) medical personnel treating both sides of the war causes trauma |
|
|
Term
| What is distinct about PTSD among all other DSM diagnoses? |
|
Definition
| PTSD is the only disorder in the DSM that is etiologically based, or has a concrete known etiology (traumatic event) |
|
|
Term
| What personality traits are associated with increased risk for a traumatic experience? |
|
Definition
| a risk taking predisposition and Extroversion |
|
|
Term
| How is classical conditioning related to the development of PTSD? |
|
Definition
| Terror becomes associated with cues present during the traumatic event. Trauma is re-experienced when those cues are revisited. |
|
|
Term
| How is operant conditioning related to PTSD? |
|
Definition
| Avoidance behaviors alleviate anxiety. Negative reinforcement continues avoidance behavior. |
|
|
Term
| What are some cognitive factors associated with the development of PTSD? |
|
Definition
| Expectations of trauma, sense of fairness (as opposed to guilt), and dedication to a cause all reduce development of PTSD for those who experience trauma. |
|
|
Term
| How is the HPA Axis involved with PTSD? |
|
Definition
| The HPA Axis gets fucked up in a similar but also different way than it does for depression. |
|
|
Term
| Explain the damage (changes made) to the brain as a result of stress. |
|
Definition
| Neurons (volume, reactivity, something?) are decreased in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, but increased in the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex. Thus: the structures of the brain that manage stress reduction and reasoning are decreased, while those that produce fear responses are increased. (This is an adaptive feature of the brain to different levels of stress in the environment) |
|
|
Term
| What is the relationship between hippocampal volume and PTSD? |
|
Definition
| People with PTSD on average have smaller hippocampi. While initially theorized as an effect of PTSD, twin studies suggested instead that a small hippocampus is a predisposition that increases the likelihood of developing PTSD. |
|
|
Term
| What is "Debriefing" Treatment? Does it work? |
|
Definition
| Based on the idea that PTSD represents a failure to process a traumatic event, those who have experienced trauma are encouraged to debrief to prevent PTSD. This only worked in very specific situations involving continual repetitive debriefing. It really doesn't work. |
|
|
Term
| How is CBT applied to PTSD? |
|
Definition
a) establishing a trusting therapeutic relationship
b) psycho-education
c) stress-management training
d) exposure
e) integration of traumatic event |
|
|
Term
| What is prolonged exposure? |
|
Definition
| It is a treatment for PTSD. It involves imagery rehearsal and exposure to feared stimuli. Prolonged exposure can be very difficult, especially considering the nature of many kinds of trauma. |
|
|
Term
| What are NMDA Receptor Agonists? |
|
Definition
| Antibiotics that can be used to promote habituation during PTSD (and OCD and social Phobia) treatment so that it progresses more quickly. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Are NMDA Receptor Agonists a standard treatment for PTSD? |
|
Definition
| No, they are an experimental therapy at the moment (and they are used only in conjunction with psychotherapy) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Drugs that block norepinephrine. A study showed that when given in ER following a car accident, they reduced PTSD development later. Promising study. |
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|
