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CHAPTER 7
ANXIETY DISORDERS
THE EXPERIECE OF ANXIETY
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Worry
Fear
Apprehension
Intrusive thoughts
Physical symptoms
Tension
Experience comes more from individual than
situational factors
Sufferers often not clear as to origins of their
anxiety
ANXIETY DISORDERS
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Generalized anxiety disorder
Panic disorder
Phobias
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
ANXIETY DISORDERS IN THE U.S.
GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER
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Vague, intense concerns and fearfulness
Lasts at least six months
Symptoms
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Duration
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Motor tension
Autonomic reactivity
Apprehension about future
Hypervigilance
Protracted, often 20 years or more
Treatment
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Cognitive, psychodynamic, and behavioral therapy
Anti-anxiety medication
PANIC DISORDER
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Recurrent unexpected panic attacks lasting from
seconds to hours and days
Physiological arousal
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Shortness of breath, chest pains
Trembling, sweating, dizziness
Feelings of helplessness
Fear of recurrent attacks
Biological, psychological, and psychosocial factors
play a role
Cognitive-behavioral therapy and antidepressant
medication are sometimes effective
PHOBIC DISORDERS
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Specific Phobias – Fears related to specific
objects, people, or situations
Social Phobias – Intense, incapacitating fear
and embarrassment when dealing with others
Agoraphobia – Fear of leaving home
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With panic attacks
Without panic attacks
Treatment for Phobic Disorders
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Exposure therapy helpful in treatment of phobias
Agoraphobia with panic attacks sometimes treated
with antidepressant medication
FIVE CATEGORIES OF PHOBIAS
Type of Fear
Examples of Fears
Separation fears
Crowds, traveling alone, being at
home alone
Social fears
Eating with strangers, being
watched while writing or working
Animal fears
Mice, rats, and insects
Nature fears
Mountains, the ocean, heights
COGNITIVE INTERPRETATION OF SOCIAL PHOBIA
SYMPTOMS ASSOCIATED WITH PANIC
DISORDER AND GENERALIZED ANXIETY
DISORDER
PANIC DISORDER COMPARED WITH
GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER COMPARED
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Clinical onset of panic disorder is later.
The role of heredity appears to be greater in
panic disorder.
The ratio of women to men is greater in
panic disorder.
Alcoholism is more common in people
suffering from panic disorder.
Depression is more common in panic
disorder.
OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER
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Preoccupation with specific ideas or thoughts
(obsessive) and unable to resist repeated
behaviors (compulsive)
Obsessions
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Compulsions
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Doubt, hesitation, fear of contamination, fear of
one’s own aggression
Counting, ordering, checking, touching, and washing
Begins before adulthood, more common in
women
Exposure and response prevention therapies
and serotonin-related drugs are helpful.
POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER
(PTSD)
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Occurs after extreme stress
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Symptoms
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Natural disaster, serious accident, war-related
situations
Flashbacks, recurrent dreams, impaired
concentration, emotional numbing lasting more
than one month
Treatment
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Insight psychotherapy
Behavior therapy
INTERPRETING AND TREATING
ANXIETY DISORDERS
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Psychodynamic perspective
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Behavioral perspective
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Therapeutic interventions to change behavior include
exposure therapy, systematic desensitization,
implosive therapy, in vivo exposure, flooding, and
modeling
Cognitive perspective
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Therapy aimed at gaining insight into unconscious
roots of loss and abandonment
Therapy aimed at changing maladaptive thoughts
include cognitive restructuring, thought stopping,
and cognitive rehearsal
Biological perspective
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Genetic and environmental factors
Anti-anxiety medications