Transcript Symptoms and Causes

Anxiety Disorders
By: previous AP psychology students
Anxiety Disorders
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When a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of
automatic nervous system arousal.
Person cannot identify the stressor, and therefore cannot avoid it.
2/3 of sufferers are female.
Continually tense and jittery, worried about various bad things will
happen.
Muscle tension, agitation, and sleeplessness, trembling,
perspiration, or fidgeting.
Difficulties concentrating because they are focusing on their worries.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Description & Effects
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It is when an individual is
overcome by chronic
anxiety, exaggerated worry
and tension, even when
there is little or nothing to
provoke it.
The effect of this is crippling
and makes everyday tasks
difficult to complete, mostly
because of fear and
embarrassment.
Symptoms & Causes
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Symptoms include: fatigue,
headaches, muscle tension,
muscle aches, difficulty
swallowing, trembling, twitching,
irritability, sweating, and hot
flashes.
Causes are unique for each
individual, but can include:
concern about health issues,
money, family problems,
difficulties at work or even just
the thought of getting through
the day.
Types of Therapy:
Prevalence & Success
Rate:
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Treated by medication or
cognitive-behavioral therapy.
However, most of the time,
GAD co-occurs with another
disorder, and needs to be
treated accordingly.
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GAD affects about 6.8 million
American adults,1 including
twice as many women as men.
Treatment success rates vary
based on the individual and
severity of disorder, some
people are easily treated with
medication, and for others, their
battle with anxiety is lifelong.
Your Slant:
This disorder is excruciatingly destructive, because the treatment is
not black and white, the disorder usually coexists with other
problems and makes treatment a complex puzzle that must be
solved by both the patient and the physician.
Panic Disorder
Description and Effects
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1/75 people may experience
Panic Disorder, around
Teens/Early adulthood.
Probable connection to major
life transitions such as
marriage, graduation, etc.
Causes panic attacks, sudden
feelings of terror for no reason.
Can happen any time, and is
more common in women than
men.
Symptoms and
Causes
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racing heartbeat
difficulty breathing, feeling as
though you "can't get enough air"
terror that is almost paralyzing
dizziness, light-headed or nausea
trembling, sweating, shaking
choking, chest pains
hot flashes, or sudden chills
tingling in fingers or toes ("pins and
needles")
fear that you're going to go crazy or
are about to die
Types of Therapy
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Best treatment according to most specialists is a combination of
cognitive and behavioral therapies.
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First part is informational, and then leads to help a patient
identify possible triggers for the attacks.
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The behavioral components of therapy are similar to the
cure for phobias, but focuses on exposure to physical
sensations that someone experiences during a panic
attack.
People are more afraid of having a panic attack rather than the
event itself, and can relates to the treatment by helping a patient go
through symptoms of an attack and teach them that these
symptoms wont go into an actual attack.
Prevalence and Success Rate:
1/75 people have a chance of getting panic disorder, and treatment is
very likely to help the patient cope with their disorder.
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YOUR SLANT
To quote people I know who have this disorder, “it sucks.”
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Granted, the disorder is entirely based on their experience of having
panic attacks, and fear of more panic attacks, leading to panic attacks.
It seems like a vicious cycle, but it at least can be treated.
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Phobic Disorder
Description and
Effects
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Focused anxiety on a
specific object, activity, or
situation.
An irrational fear that
disrupts behavior.
Vary in intensity and severity
from mild anxiety to full on
panic attacks
Try to avoid the stressor
Social phobia:
Symptoms and Causes:
Generalized social phobia:
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fears involving other people
or social situations
fears of embarrassment by
scrutiny of others
Specific social phobia:
Anxiety is triggered in
specific situations.
The symptoms may extend
to physical problems.
Often a learned emotional
response due to a
troubling/traumatic experience.
Linked to the Amygdala
Specific phobias:
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More intense than a normal
fear of a single specific thing.
Agoraphobia
Fear of leaving home or a
“safe” area.
May cause panic attacks.
May be caused by various
specific phobias such as fear of
open spaces, social
embarrassment, contamination,
OCD, or PTSD
Prevalence:
40 million people in the US
16.6% of people world wide
Develop before the age of 21
10% reported cases are \
lifelong phobias
High treatment success rate
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Treatment:
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Counter-conditioning
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Modeling, exposure
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Cognitive behavior therapy
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Support groups
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Description and Effects
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When a person’s obsessive thoughts and compulsive actions interfere
with daily life or ultimately control whatever that person does.
No matter what that person does, the compulsive feelings and anxiety
don’t go away.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder
characterized by uncontrollable, unwanted thoughts and repetitive,
ritualized behaviors you feel compelled to perform.
OCD causes the brain to get stuck on a specific thought or action.
Most Common Categories:
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Washers: People are extremely afraid of contamination; like
phobia. Usually have hand-washing compulsion.
Checkers: Repeatedly check things that are associated with
danger: oven turned off, door lock, etc.
Doubters and sinners: Afraid that if everything isn’t done
perfect or done just right something terrible will happen or
they’ll be punished.
Counters and arrangers: Obsessed with order and symmetry.
They may even have superstitions about certain numbers,
colors, or arrangements.
Hoarders: Fear that something bad will happen if they throw
anything away. They obsessively hoard things they don’t need
or use.
Common Compulsive Actions:
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Excessive double-checking of things, such as locks,
appliances, and switches.
Repeatedly checking in on loved ones to make sure they’re
safe.
Counting, tapping, repeating certain words, or doing other
senseless things to reduce anxiety.
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Spending a lot of time washing or cleaning.
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Ordering, evening out, or arranging things “just so.”
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Praying excessively or engaging in rituals triggered by religious
fear.
Accumulating “junk” such as old newspapers, magazines, and
empty food containers, or other things you don’t have a use for.
Causes:
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There is no clear reason for OCD but it’s believed that family
history and a chemical imbalance in the brain is the cause of
this mental disorder.
A specific gene or chromosome has been found that
supposedly doubles the likelihood of getting the illness.
Treatment:
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Treatments include cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, behavioral
therapies, and medications.
Behavioral therapies for OCD include ritual prevention and exposure
therapy.
Ritual prevention involves a mental-health professional helping the
OCD sufferer to endure longer and longer periods of resisting the
urge to engage in compulsive behaviors.
Exposure therapy is the process by which the individual with OCD is
put in touch with situations that tend to increase the OCD sufferer's
urge to engage in compulsions, then helping him or her resist that
urge.
Cognitive/behavioral therapists help patients change the negative
styles of thinking and behaving that are often associated with the
anxiety involved with obsessive compulsive disorder.
Results of Treatment:
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Extremely varied. Depends on the person and how they react
to the treatment.
Prevalence:
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2-3% of people in America have OCD; 5-7 million Americans