ANXIETY DISORDERS

 Anxiety disorders: psychological disorders characterized

by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive
behaviors that reduce anxiety
 There are several types of anxiety disorders, including:
 generalized anxiety disorder
 panic disorder
 phobias
 Former Anxiety disorders given their own separate
classification
 obsessive-compulsive disorder
 PTSD
Generalized Anxiety
Disorder
 An anxiety disorder in which a person is
continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state
of autonomic nervous system arousal
 Tension and apprehension might be observable
through furrowed brows, twitching eyelids,
trembling, perspiration, fidgeting
 Concentration is difficult (worrying all the time)
 2/3 of the sufferers are women
Panic Disorder

 An anxiety disorder marked by minutes-long episodes of

intense dread in which a person experiences terror and
accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening
sensations
 The fear of having a panic attack becomes a problem itself,
possibly leading to agoraphobia (fear or avoidance of
situations in which escape might be difficult or help
unavailable when panic strikes)
Phobia
 An anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and
avoidance of a specific object or situation
 specific phobia: fears that are selective, persistent, out of
proportion (e.g. heights, seeing blood)
 social phobia: an intense fear of being scrutinized by others
 person avoids potentially
embarrassing social
situations
Phobias
Just the ‘A’s.
 Ablutophobia- fear of washing or bathing.
 Acousticophobia- fear of noise.
 Alektorophobia- fear of chickens.
 Alliumphobia- fear of garlic.
 Allodoxaphobia- fear of opinions.
 Amathophobia- fear of dust.
 Ambulophobia- fear of walking.
 Anthrophobia or Anthophobia- fear of flowers.
 Anuptaphobia- fear of staying single.
 Arithmophobia- fear of numbers.
Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder
 An anxiety disorder characterized by
 unwanted repetitive thoughts
(obsessions)
 and/or actions (compulsions)
 Obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors can be
called a disorder when they are so persistent that they
interfere with the way we live or when they cause distress
 For some people with the disorder, obsessions &
compulsions lessen over time
 https://www.ted.com/talks/dr_natascha_m_santo
s_debunking_the_myths_of_ocd/transcript?langu
age=en
 Common Obsessions & Compulsions
Among Children & Adolescents with Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder
Thought or Behavior % Reporting
Symptom
Obsessions (repetitive thoughts)
Concern with dirt, germs, or toxins 40%
Something terrible happening (fire, death, illness) 24
Symmetry, order, or exactness 17

Compulsions (repetitive behaviors)

Excessive hand washing, bathing, tooth brushing, 85
or grooming
Repeating rituals (in/out of a door, up/down from 51
a chair)
Checking doors, locks, appliances, car brake, 46
Explaining Anxiety
Disorders
 Today’s
two contemporary
perspectives:
 Learning
 Biological
Explaining Anxiety Disorders:
Learning Perspective

 Fear conditioning:
 Generalanxiety is linked with classical
conditioning of fear
 In
the laboratory, when rats were given
unpredictable electric shocks, they later
became anxious and apprehensive in their lab
environment
 58% of those with social phobia experienced
their disorder after a traumatic event
Explaining Anxiety Disorders:
Learning Perspective
 Reinforcement:
 After phobias & compulsions develop,
reinforcements help maintain them
 Avoiding or escaping the feared
situation reduces anxiety thus
reinforcing the phobic behavior
 Compulsive behaviors similarly reduce
anxiety
 Observational learning:
 Learn fear by observing others’ fears
Explaining Anxiety Disorder
Biological Perspective

Natural Selection:
 We are biologically prepared to fear threats
that had been faced by our ancestors
 Hence phobias focus on dangers faced by
our ancestors (e.g. snakes, closed spaces,
heights, storms, darkness)
 Compulsive acts typically exaggerate
behaviors that help our survival
 Explaining Anxiety Disorder
Biological Perspective
 Genes:
 Some people seem more genetically
predisposed to particular fears & high
anxiety
 Identicaltwins often develop similar
phobias, sometimes even when raised
separately
 Explaining Anxiety Disorder
Biological Perspective

• Physiology:
– Anxiety disorders are biologically measurable as
an overarousal of brain areas involved in impulse
control and habitual behaviors
– PET scans of people with obsessive-compulsive
disorder reveal unusually high activity in the frontal
lobes
– Fear learning experiences can traumatize the
brain, by affecting the amygdala
PTSD

 https://www.ted.com/talks/joelle_rabow_maletis_
the_psychology_of_post_traumatic_stress_disorder
/transcript