ANXIETY DISORDER NOTES

Psychological Disorder – a harmful dysfunction in which behavior is judged to be unjustifiable, maladaptive, atypical, and disturbing (UMAD)

Neurosis – a psychological disorder that is distressing but allows one to think rationally and function socially

Psychosis – a psychological disorder in which a person loses contact with reality, experiencing irrational ideas an distorted perceptions

Pros and Cons of Labeling –

-(C) labels affect how others perceive us; may lead to stigmatization (9 of 10 people are not violent) female psychologist called 180 room rentals in Toronto to see if room was available. Nearly all said yes, when she said she was about to be released from a mental hospital, 3 of 4 times the answer was no)

-(C) self-fulfilling prophecy (when teachers are told students have behavioral disorders, they treat them worse, which increases the disorder)

-(P) Help professionals communicate and do research, establish a common vocabulary for therapy

Anxiety Disorders

  1. Generalized anxiety disorder – continuous, unexplainable anxiety (video clip) 2/3rd are women, person cannot id the cause, which means they can’t deal with it
  2. Panic disorder – Sudden episodes of intense dread (physiological response), panic attack (minute or more long episode of intense fear, heart palps, shortness of breath, choking feeling, dizziness, feels like a heart attack (smokers 4 times more likely to have panic attacks)
  3. Specific Phobias – irrational fear of a specific object or situation
  4. Agoraphobia – fear of having a panic attack in the wrong place or fear of open spaces (usually stay home)
  5. Social phobia – fear of being scrutinized by others, avoid speaking up, eating out, going to parties, sweat, diarrhea
  6. Other phobias – triskaidekaphobia (number 13), uxoriphobia (one’s wife), Santa Clautrophobia (getting stuck in chimneys), panaphobia (everything), phobophobia (fear of fear), anthophobia (flowers), trichophobia (hair), numerophobia (numbers)
  7. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) – common in younger people, repetitive thoughts or actions that INTERFERE with everyday life. We all check things, over clean, etc…but it may not interfere.

Show Clip from As Good as it Gets (3:37 minutes into movie, lasts 97 seconds)

Give examples of obsessions (repetitive thoughts: concern with dirt, germs, focus on order and symetry) vs. compulsions (repetitive behaviors: rituals, checking locks, car brakes, locks, hand washing)

Howard Hughes made assistants wear white gloves and wash hands constantly. . Ordered tape around doors and windows, etc.

  1. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) –Recurring and intermittent episodes of anxiety following a traumatic stress event; symptoms include: haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, depression (common in combat veterans, accident survivors, sexual assault victims, 2/3rd of prostitutes)…increases use of alcohol, depression and anxiety

Iraq: 1 in 6 have symptoms, 15% of Vietnam vets, 9% of Manhattan residents had PTSD

Post traumatic growth: more meaningful relationship, increased personal strength, changed priorities, better appreciation for life.

Explanations

Behavioralist Perspective

  1. Fear is conditioned. We learn to associate certain things with anxiety-causing events from our past.
  2. Generalization – we may generalize. (bit by dog so you fear dogs; over time, you generalize and begin to fear cats too)
  3. Reinforcement – escaping feared situation makes you feel better; this is reinforcing the fear behavior
  4. Observational – we can learn fears from our parents and friends

Biological Perspective

  1. People quickly acquire fears of some things (spiders, snakes, heights) and rarely acquire fears of other things (guns, electricity)
  2. Compulsions are usually survival skills (grooming, checking locks, etc)
  3. Twin studies support biological perspective
  4. PET scans support biological perspective (higher activity in frontal lobe in OCD patients)

Trait Perspective ?

Pschoanayltic: