Anxiety Disorders

1. Abnormal Psych: Anxiety Disorders
• Learning Goals:
– Students should be able to answer the following:
5: What are anxiety disorders, and how do they differ from ordinary worries and
fears?
6: What produces the thoughts and feelings that mark anxiety disorders?
1
Rating Student Evidence
4.0
Expert
I can satisfy all the requirements of level 3.0
and debate the legitimacy of the proposed
causes of anxiety disorders.
★ 3.0 ★
Proficient
I can identify, describe and explain causes of
specific anxiety disorders.
2.0
Developing
I can identify and describe some of the
specific anxiety disorders.
1.0
Beginning
I need more prompting and/or support to
identify the concepts stated in 2.0

2. Anxiety Disorders
• Anxiety: General State of dread or
uneasiness that occurs in response
to a vague or imagined danger.
• Also, nervousness, inability to relax,
concern about losing control
• Physical Symptoms caused by over
active sympathetic nervous
system:
– Trembling, Sweating, Rapid Heart
Rate, Shortness of Breath, Increased
Blood Pressure, Flushed Face,
Feelings of Light-headedness
2

3. • Anxiety Disorders: A mental health
disorder characterized by feelings of
worry, anxiety, or fear that are
strong enough to interfere with
one's daily activities
• (anxiety disorders are characterized by distressing, persistent
anxiety or dysfunctional anxiety-reducing behaviors.)

4. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
• Excessive or unrealistic
worry about life
circumstances lasting for at
least six months
– Financial Issues, Work,
Relationships
• Hard to Treat and Diagnosis
• Effects more Women and
Blacks
4

5. Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia
• Panic Attack: a short period of intense fear or discomfort with
most of the physical symptoms of anxiety present
• Agoraphobia: Fear of being in places or situations in which
escape may be difficult or impossible
– Accounts for 50-80% of phobia clients seeking treatment
• Both panic attacks and agoraphobia lead to avoidance behaviors
• Treatment:
– Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
– Behavioral Therapy with conditioning and relaxation
5

6. Phobias- “Fear Disorder”
• Social Phobia
– Fear of social situations in which one might be exposed to the close scrutiny of
others and might be humiliated or embarrassed
– Examples: Public speaking, eating in public or dating
• Specific Phobia (most common)
– Happens in women 2-1
– Animal, Situational, Injection
– Irrational and persistent fear of a particular object or situation
6

7. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
• Obsessions: Unwanted thoughts, ideas or
mental images that occur over and over again
• Compulsions: Repetitive ritual behaviors
involving checking or cleaning (helps to reduce
anxiety from obsessions)
• 55% of OCD clients obsess over dirt or
contamination
• May be caused by frontal lobe glucose
metabolism or wired into brain
7
A PET scan of the brain of a
person with Obsessive-
Compulsive Disorder
(OCD). High metabolic
activity (red) in the frontal
lobe areas are involved with
directing attention.

8. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
8

9. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Intense, persistent feelings of anxiety that are caused by a traumatic
experience
• Added to the DSM after the Vietnam War
• Previously called “shell shock” and “battle fatigue”
• Events that lead to PTSD:
– Rape, Child Abuse, Assault, Severe Accidents, Natural Disasters, War
– Lower than average cortisol levels may predispose people to PTSD
• Symptoms:
– Flashbacks & Nightmares
– Tension & Aggression
– Avoidance Behavior & Substance Abuse
• Treatments:
– Prolonged CBT
– Virtual Therapy- reliving the event
– EMDR
9

10. What Causes Anxiety Disorders?
• Psychoanalytic Perspective: Repressed unconscious
urges from childhood
• Biological Perspective: Too much or too little of
certain neurotransmitters or brain abnormality;
sensitive amygdala
• Behavioral (Learning) Perspective: Conditioned
through classical conditioning or operant
conditioning to experience anxiety
10

11. 5: What are anxiety disorders, and how do they differ from ordinary worries and
fears?
6: What produces the thoughts and feelings that mark anxiety disorders?
Mr. Burnes 11
Rating Student Evidence
4.0
Expert
I can satisfy all the requirements of level 3.0 and debate
the legitimacy of the proposed causes of anxiety
disorders.
★ 3.0 ★
Proficient
I can identify, describe and explain causes of specific
anxiety disorders.
2.0
Developing
I can identify and describe some of the specific anxiety
disorders.
1.0
Beginning
I need more prompting and/or support to identify the
concepts stated in 2.0