Chapter Ten: Psychological Disorders

Anxiety Disorders

INTRODUCTION

Ordinary fear and anxiety can get out of hand. The result is debilitating.

WHAT'S AHEAD

• What's the difference between ordinary anxiety and an anxiety disorder?
• Why is the most disabling of all phobias known as the "fear of fear?
• When is checking the stove before leaving home a sign of a caution--and when does it signal a disorder?

KEY CONCEPTS

Introduction
Anxiety States
Fears and Phobias
Obsessions and Compulsions

---

Introduction/Overview (p.340)

INTRODUCTION

Fear and anxiety are normally useful, but under some circumstances they can become a mental disorder.

KEY CONCEPTS EXPLAINED

• When facing a threatening situation, it is normal to experience fear (apprehension about a specific threat) or anxiety (general state of apprehension).
  
  
• These emotions are adaptive because they help us cope with the possible danger in the situation.
  
  
• In some people, the fear and anxiety become detached from the danger or don't get turned off when the danger is past.

• The results are the disorders described in this section.

Anxiety States (p.340)

INTRODUCTION

"Anxiety State" is not a popular 4 year university. It covers a number of very unpleasant experiences of anxiety.

KEY CONCEPTS EXPLAINED

..Generalized Anxiety Disorder

• Symptoms:
  
  
  • Continuous, uncontrollable anxiety or worry.
    
    
  • Feelings of foreboding and dread.
    
    
  • Duration of at least 6 months.
    
    
  • Restlessness, difficulty concentrating, irritability, jitteriness.
    
    
• Predisposing factors:
  
  
  • Hereditary predisposition.
    
    
  • Inadequate coping methods.
    
    
  • Having unrealistic goals or unrealistic beliefs.

• Precipitating events may trigger.

..Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

• Occurs as result of uncontrollable and unpredictable danger:
  
  
  • Rape
  • War
  • Natural Disasters
    
    
• Symptoms
  
  
  • Reliving the trauma in thoughts or dreams.
    
    
  • "Psychic numbing".
    
    
  • Increased physiological arousal.
    
    
• Reaction may be immediate or delayed.
  
  
• Relatively common (1 in 12 people).
  
  
• Symptoms can last for 10 years or more.

..Panic Disorder

Characterized by sudden attacks of intense fear, with feelings of impending doom, which may last a few moments to a few hours.

• Symptoms
  
  
  • Heart palpitations, dizziness, and faintness.
    
    
• Culture influences the particular symptoms of a panic attack.
  
  
  • Watch out for "kayak-angst"!
    
    
  • Ever heard of "brain fag"?
    
    
• Often related to stress, emotion, exercise, or traumatic experiences.
  
  
• Panic attacks are actually quite common. Whether they develop into a problem depends on how the bodily symptoms are interpreted by the individual.

GLOSSARY

	generalized anxiety disorder
	posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
	panic disorder

LINKS About Anxiety, PTSD and Panic Disorder

• www.link: The Anxiety Panic Internet Resource.
• www.link: National Center for Research and Education on PTSD
• www.link: David Baldwin's Trauma Information Page.
• www.link: The Anxiety Panic Internet Resource
• www.link: Famous people suffering from anxiety disorders.
• www.link: Amusing panic attack stories.

Fears and Phobias [p341]

INTRODUCTION

An exaggerated fear or a specific situation, activity, or thing.

KEY CONCEPTS EXPLAINED

.
..Sources of Phobias:

• Susceptibility of some phobias based on adaptive behaviors for the species:
  
  
  • Heights - acrophobia.
  • Thunder - brontophobia.
  • Closed spaces - claustrophobia
    
    
• Classical conditioning.
  • rewind to classical conditioning in Chapter 8.
    
    
• Cultural norms.

..Social Phobias:

• Fear of situations in which you are observed by others.
  
  
• Worry that you will say or do something that will humiliate or embarrass you.
  
  
• Types:
  • Fear of public speaking.
  • Fear of performing in public.
  • Fear of using public restrooms.

...Agoraphobia:

• Most disabling and common phobia.
  
  
• Fear of being alone in a public place where help may not be available (or fear of being away from a safe place or person).
  
  
• May begin with a panic attack that is so scary, the person wants to avoid any situation where that might occur again. ---> "the fear of fear."

GLOSSARY

	phobia
	agoraphobia

LINKS About Phobia

• www.link: World's longest list of phobias.
• www.link: The Anxiety Panic Internet Resource.
• www.link: Social phobia.
• www.link: Shyness and social phobia resource page.
• www.link: Agoraphobia

Obsession and Compulsions
..................(Obsessive-compulsive Disorder [OCD]) [p.343]

INTRODUCTION

Recurrent thoughts and repetitive behaviors that trouble the individual and interfere with their life.

KEY CONCEPTS EXPLAINED

...Obsessions:

• Persistent, unwished thoughts or images that are frightening and/or repugnant.
  
  
• Ex: Recurrent image of hitting your three year old son with a hammer.

...Compulsion:

• Ritualized, stereotyped behaviors carried out to avoid a disaster.
  
  
  • Ex: Frequent handwashing, constant checking.
    
    
• Person realizes the behavior is senseless, but feels anxious if they don't perform it.

...Possible Brain Connection:

• Orbital cortex sends out false alarms and brain structures begin to prepare the person to feel afraid and respond to nonexistent threats.
  
  
• The caudate nucleus fails to turn off the erroneous signals.

GLOSSARY

obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

LINKS About Obssesive-Compulsive Disorder

• www.link: A very detailed description of OCD.
• www.link: Obsessive-Compulsive Resource Page.
• www.link: Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation.
• www.link: OCD - Serotonin link.

Next Topic - Mood Disorders............................................ Chapter Contents