1. Anxiety Disorders

2. Exploring Anxiety Disorders People with anxiety disorders… –Feel overwhelming tension, apprehension, or fear when there is no real danger –May take extreme action to avoid the source of their anxiety

3. Types of Anxiety Disorders Panic attacks Agoraphobia Specific phobia Social phobia Generalized anxiety disorder Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

4. Panic Attacks Apprehension leading to intense fear Sensation of “going crazy”, losing control, or of huge looming catastrophe Physical signs include racing heartbeat, rapid breath, dizziness, nausea, feeling like you’re going to have a heart attack or die

5. Why/When panic attacks occur Situationally bound: always occur during the same situation Unexpected: never knowing when one might occur which may lead to avoidance of any situation that may be unsafe

6. Agoraphobia (fear of the market place) Fear/avoidance of situations and people that may be unsafe to have a panic attack In extreme cases, inability to leave house or even room Begins after a panic attack, but can continue for years even if there are no more panic attacks

7. Specific Phobia Fear of specific object that triggers the attack Develops from personal experience of traumatic event with the object, situation, or misinformation

8. Interesting Phobias Fear of spiders: arachnophobia Fear of snakes: ophiodophobia Fear of heights: acrophobia Fear of storms: astraphobia Fear of tight spaces: claustrophobia Fear of the dark: nyctophobia Fear of needles: aichmophobia Fear of clowns: coulrophobia

9. Social Phobia Fear of being in situations that call for some kind of “performance” that may be judged – speaking in public, meeting new people, going to work

10. Generalized Anxiety Disorder Biologically vulnerable Uncontrollable, unproductive worrying about everyday events Inability to stop the worry/anxiety cycle Physical symptoms of muscle tension

11. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Obsessions: unwanted and uncontrollable thoughts Compulsions: repetitious behaviors OCD: fear of obsessions leads to compulsive behavior (the person finds the behavior to be relaxing)

12. Common Examples of OCD Contamination fears of germs: washing Imagine harming self or others: repeating Imaging losing control: checking Forbidden thoughts: arranging/organizing

13. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Fear of reexperiencing a traumatic event (rape, war, life-threatening situation) Nightmares of traumatic event in flashbacks Avoidance of intense feelings through emotional numbing

14. Causes/Treatment Biological Influences Cognitive-Behavioral Psychodynamic Diathesis-Stress

15. Biological Influences Inherited vulnerability to experience anxiety or panic attacks Activation of specific brain circuits and neurotransmitters

16. Biological Treatments XANAX and other anti- anxiety medicine PROZAC and other anti- depressants (SSRI- selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)

17. Cognitive-Behavioral Influences Learned behaviors (usually undesirable behaviors) Feelings that physical symptoms of panic are catastrophic Spiral out of control

18. Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment Cognitive therapy to change irrational thoughts Systematic desensitization Shaping

19. Psychodynamic Influences Unconscious conflicts from past Repressed memories from childhood

20. Psychodynamic Treatments Free Association Hypnosis

21. Diathesis-Stress Potential + Situation Eclectic treatment