Term
| What is the difference between fear and anxiety? |
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Definition
| Fear refers to an innate reponse to a dangerous or life-threatening situation, while those with anxiety disorders experience "false alarms" in which harmless stimuli or situations are regarded as dangerous. |
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Term
| What are some of the symptoms of a panic attack? |
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Definition
- Acclerated heart rate
- Sweating
- Pounding heart
- Trembling or shaking
- Sensations of shortness of breath or smothering
- Feeling of choking
- Chest pain or discomfort
- Nausea or abdominal distress
- Dizziness, unsteadiness, lightheadedness
- Feeling of unreality or sensation of being detached from onself
- Fear of losing control or going crazy
- Fear of dying
- Sensation of tingling or numbness
- Chills or hot flushes
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Term
What is the difference between an unexpected (uncued) panic attack and a situationally bound (cued) panic attack? |
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Definition
| An unexpected or uncued panic attack arises "out of the blue" and there is no situational cue or trigger while a situationally bound or cued panic attack arises in anticipation of confronting a particular situation or immediately following exposure to a speific stimulus in the environment. |
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Term
| What is a situationally predisposed panic attack? |
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Definition
| A case in which a person has a tendency to have a panic attack in a situation but does not have one every time. |
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Term
| What percentage of Americans have experienced one or more panic attacks? |
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Definition
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Term
| What percentage of people in the world are diagnosed with panic disorder? |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| A feeling of intense anxiety about being trapped, stranded, or embarassed in a situation without help of a panic attack were to occur. |
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Term
| There are many theories on the causes of panic disorder and agoraphobia. What is one of the theories on panic disorder concering biological factors? |
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Definition
| One set of biological theories focuses on abnormalities in the levels of particular neurotransmitters. This theory suggests that people with panic disorder have an excess of norepinephrine in the brain. This neurotransmitter is activated when an individual is placed under stress or in a dangerous situation. When people with a history of panic attacks are given drugs that increase norepinephrine activity, they are more likely to have a panic attack than those who don't have the panic disorder. |
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Term
| What is the anxiety sensitivity theory? |
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Definition
| A theory that says people with panic disorder tend to interpret cognitive and somatic manifestations of sterss and anxiety in a catastrophic manner. The theory suggests that those with panic disorder have a hypersensitive "suffocation" mechanism so that they feel as though they cannot breathe, even though others would feel nothing unusual in the same situation. This feeling causes them to hyperventilate and throws them into a state of panic. |
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Term
| What are benzodiazepines? |
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Definition
| Medications that bind to receptor sites of GABA neurons, which become activated by this stimulation, leading to the inhibition of the brain sites involved in panic attacks. Benzodiazepines are the most effective antianxiety medications. |
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Term
| What takes place in relaxation training? |
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Definition
| A client learns to systematically alternate tensing and relaxing muscles all over the body. After the training, the client should be able to relax the entire body when confronting a feared situation. |
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Term
| What is Panic Control Therapy and how successful is it compared to anti anxiety medication? |
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Definition
Panic control therapy involves cognitive restructuring, the development of an awareness of bodily cues associated with panic attacks, and breathing retraining. It has been found that those treated with PCT show higher levels of improvement and a higher percentage remain symptom free in comparison to those treated with anti anxiety medication. |
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Term
| What is a specific phobia? |
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Definition
| An irrational and unabating fear of a particular object, activity, or situation that provokes an immediate anxiety response, causes disruption in functioning, and results in avoidance behavior. |
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Term
| What does the primary biological perspective on specific phobias suggest? |
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Definition
| That humans are essentially preprogrammed to fear certain situations or stimuli that could threaten our survival. According to this theory, there is an evolutionary advantage to the fear of death, disaster, or injury and that there might be a biological wiring that causes people to react with fear to threatening situations. |
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Term
| What is the cognitive behavioral theorists view of anxiety disorders, such as specific phobias? |
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Definition
| They suggest that specific phobias are rooted in a maintained by the client's cognitive styles. This view also suggests that phobic individuals have overactive "alarm systems" to danger and perceive things as dangerous becaues they misinterpret stimuli. |
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Term
| What is imaginal flooding? |
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Definition
| A behavioral technique used to confront the target of a client's phobia. The client is exposed to threatening stimuls related to their specific phobia while in a safe context. |
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Term
| What is the difference between imaginal flooding and "in vivo" flooding? |
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Definition
| Imaginal flooding uses imagery while "in vivo" flooding actually exposes the client to the feared object or situation until the client no longer feels anxious. |
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Term
| What is thought stopping? |
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Definition
| a therapeutic technique in which an individual learns to stop anxiety-provoking thoughts. During therapy, a client alerts the therapist when the anxiety provoking thought is present and the therapist then yells "stop!" Outside therapy, the client mentally verbalizes a similar shout each time the anxiety provoking thought comes to mind. |
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Term
| What are some of the diagnostic features of Social Phobia? |
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Definition
- Marked or persistent fear of social or performance situations in which they will encounter unfamiliar people or the scrutiny of othrs.
- When they encounter the feared situation, they experience anxiety, possibly in the form of a panic attack.
- They recognize that the fear is excessive or unreasonable.
- The condition causes distress or disruption in normal routines and functioning, activities, or relationships.
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Term
| What are some risk factors for Social Phobia? |
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Definition
- Lack of close relationship with parents
- Conflict between parents
- Frequent family moves
- Involvement with the juvenile and child welfare systems, physical and sexual abuse in childhood, violent behaviors, school difficulties, and running away from home.
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Term
| What treatments are most effective when attempting to treat those with social phobia? |
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Definition
| Cognitive restructuring and In vivo exposure are often effective. The client must learn more appropriate responses to the situations they fear, develop new ways of thinking about their interactions with others, and gain confidence during social interactions. |
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Term
What are some characteristics of Generalized Anxiety Disorder? |
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Definition
| Consistent uncontrollable anxiety, feeling restless, difficulty concentrating, feeling tense, difficulty staying or falling asleep, feeling fatigued, tense, or irritable. |
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Term
| What does the biological perspective suggest about Generalized Anxiety Disorder? |
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Definition
| People with GAD have a biological abnormality similar to that proposed to account for other anxiety disorders involving abnormalities of GABA, serotonergic, and noradrenergic systems component to Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Also, people who are prone to developing this disorder have an underlying neurotic personality style. |
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Term
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Definition
| A persistent and intrusive idea, thought, or image. |
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Term
| What is the difference between obsessions and compulsions? |
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Definition
| Obsessions cause anxiety while a compulsion is carried out in order to reduce anxiety or distress. |
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Term
What are some characteristics of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? |
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Definition
- Obsessions and compulsions that begin to interfere with every day life such as excessive hand washing, cleaning, counting, etc.
- Hoarding useless items
- Constantly checking things (for example, repeatedly going in the kitchen to make sure the stove is off)
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Term
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Definition
| Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is now being understood as a genetic disorder reflecting abnormalites in the basal ganglia, subcortical areas of brain involved in hte control of motor movements. |
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Term
| What are some characteristics of an acute stress disorder? |
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Definition
- Fear
- Feeling of helplessness
- Dissociative symptoms such as feeling numb, unreal, or detached
- Reexperiencing a traumatic event through flashbacks
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Term
| What is the difference between acute stress disorder and PTSD? |
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Definition
| Symptoms from an acute stress disorder are short term. Once symptoms persist for more than a month, PTSD is diagnosed. |
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