1. Module 22 Assessment & Anxiety Disorders
Virginia Union University
Introduction to Psychology

2. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Consists of obsessions, which are persistent, recurring irrational thoughts, impulses or images that a person is unable to control and that interfere with normal functioning, and compulsions, which are irresistible impulses to perform over and over some senseless behavior or ritual
Hand washing, check things, counting, putting things in order
Effects about 3% of adults in the US

3. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Symptoms
Obsessions & compulsions (or sometimes obsessions alone) that are very time consuming & performed to reduce anxiety
Ex: cleaning, checking & counting or buying, hoarding & putting things in order
Treatment
After being treated with drugs, given exposure therapy
Exposure therapy involves gradually exposing the person to the actual anxiety-producing situations or objects that her or she is attempting to avoid and continuing the exposure treatments until anxiety decreases

4. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
A disabling condition that results from personally experiencing an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury or from witnessing or hearing of such an event happening to a family member or close friend.
People suffering from PTSD experience a number of psychological symptoms, including recurring and disturbed memories, terrible nightmares and intense fear, anxiety.

5. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Treatment
May involve drugs, but some form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is more effective in the long-term
CBT provides emotional support to replace feelings of fear with a sense of courage
PTSD & Hurricane Katrina Survivors

6. Somatoform Disorders
Marked by recurring, multiple, and significant bodily (somatic) symptoms that extend over several years.
The bodily symptoms (e.g., pain, vomiting, paralysis, blindness) are not under voluntary control, have no known physical causes, and are believed to be caused by psychological factors.
Among the most commons health problems seen in medical practice
2 most common: somatization disorder & conversion disorder

7. Somatization Disorder
Begins before age 30
Last several years
Characterized by multiple symptoms
Pain, gastrointestinal, sexual & neurological symptoms that have no physical causes but are triggered by psychological problems or distress
Disorder especially common among women
Leads to higher than normal health care costs
Family background: cold & unsupportive, abusive
Stress coping mechanism

8. Conversion Disorder
Changing anxiety or emotional distress into real physical, motor, sensory, or neurological symptoms (headaches, nausea, dizziness, loss of sensation, paralysis) for which no physical or organic cause can be identified
Usually associated with psychological factors like depression, concerns about health, or the occurrence of a stressful situation
Emotional areas of brain activated inappropriately, can influence other brain activity/physical symptoms
Physical symptoms removes the person from a threatening or anxiety producing situation

9. Mass Hysteria
Condition experienced by a group of people who, through suggestion, observation, or other psychological process, develop similar fears, delusions, abnormal behaviors, or physical symptoms

10. Taijin Kyofusho (TKS)
Unique anxiety disorder found in Japanese but not Western cultures
Kind of social phobia characterized by a terrible fear of offending others through awkward social or physical behavior
staring, blushing, giving off an offensive odor, having an unpleasant facial expression, or having trembling hands
Is the 3rd most commons psychiatric disorder among Japanese college students & more common in males
Cultural values
Japanese place great emphasis on appropriately conducting oneself in public
Japanese children punished for not displaying appropriate public behaviors

11. Class Announcements
Evaluation/Cross Cultural Project Meeting Schedules
Class Study Groups