ECON 546 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Anhedonia, Startle Response, Amygdala
27 Jun 2018
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Lazarus was a cog psychologist believed that all emotional states began with an appraisal of the env. It's
definitely part of what's going on.
ďˇFacing some sort of existential, uncertain threat.
ďˇHow do you define fear? Change btwn certain and uncertain; fear is certain threat.
ďˇAnxiety is when you feel similar to that, but no obvious reason to it.
But anxiety is also about cognitive appraisal.
ďˇFalling toddler. A small child learns to walk. Walking around and falls. There's confusion, then
laughs or cries or goes between them. Tries to figure out how to interpret what happened.
ďˇWe do that too. If you see a psychotherapist for CBT, core idea is that, if you think abt it
differently, you'll feel differently.
ďˇThe way we appraise what's going on affects the cognitive feeling.
ďˇBut there's also unconditioned responses to sensory input (pleasure and pain).
ďˇVarious physiological states too.
ďˇAffect (sbjective feeling of the emotional)
ďˇLearning and memory. Past experiences with certain stim will affect our emotional response to
them.
ďˇMotivational states.
ďˇCoping ability. If you know how to deal with the threat, it'll affect oru emotional response. All
influenced by diff things, diff circuits.
Anxiety disorders
3 main categories.
GAD: a lot of anxiety all of the time.
Panic attacks: phobias, panic disorder.
ďˇEg agoraphobia; often crowds, or in an elevator.
ďˇSocial phobia/social anxiety disorder.
ďˇPanic disorder is diff. The top 3 are specifically linked to some trigger. Eg: phobia of snakes.
ďˇPanic disorder, subjectively, seem to come out of the blue. No obvious trigger.
oMight be triggers that occur hours before without knowing about them immediately.
Then there's OCD.
ďˇUsed to be included into AD group. Although OCD experience anxiety, anxiety per se is not the
core process that's associated with it.
ďˇYou can give someone OCD high levels of tranqs like valium but they'll continue to do their
compulsions.
ďˇThe most recent, DSMV, has been given its own chapter. Some subcats.
GAD
Appraisal that a challenge cannot be coped with.
ďˇCombination of auto, cog and affective components.
ďˇExcessive, unrealistic worry that is uncontrollable.
ďˇMin of >6mo (>5yr typical). We all have bad days, but this is more than that.
ďˇLifetime prevalence is ~5%. Twice as often in women.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
ďˇAge of onset is teens-20s, and high rate of comorbidities.
ďˇTwin studies indicate it at least is partly due to env.
Panic disorders
Discrete bouts of intense terror for no obvious reason.
ďˇShortness of breath, palpitations. Think they're having a heart attack.
ďˇFeeling of choking, fear of growing crazy. Rapid onset.
ďˇRapid onset; usually appear in 0.5-10min.
ďˇAlthough it can ramp up slowly ~45min before.
ďˇLasts for only about 10-45min/episode.
ďˇPrevalence is about 1.5-3.5% range. Also twice as likely in women.
ďˇOnset 15-30s yo.
ďˇHigh comorbidity, at least partly genetic.
Ads tended to be grouped together. Separate from drug addiction etc. First systematic investigation of
this showed that in a large sample of mentally ill, they tended to cluster.
ďˇYou could talk about the "internalizing disorders"; mood and Ads. If you met criteria for one of
these disorders, you'd have a higher risk for others.
ďˇOthers were "externalizing". Alcohol, substance use disorders, Antisocial personality disorder,
etc.
ďˇThese impulsive personality disorders tend to cluster with substance use disorders.
ďˇAlthough he could separate these, if you met criteria for internalizing disorders, you were still at
higher risk to external ones too.
ďˇThere might be a general trait that makes people more susceptible to ANY type of disorder.
Have trouble regulating your beh in some sense or another.
There are also shared env contributions. Study in 20k women on how exp of various life stressors
contribute to disorders. Relatively nonspecific; increase risk to a whole cluster of disorders.
ďˇPhysical abuse causes elevated risk of the entire cluster of int disorders.
ďˇEmotional abuse are elevated risk for int and ext disorders! Same with sexual abuse.
ďˇIn men, its similar. Sexual abuse inc risk for int and ext.
ďˇIf they've experience emo abuse, inc int disorders, but NOT ext disorders.
ďˇPhysical increases ext disorders, but NOT int.
ďˇThus life stressors increase risk of a wide range of disorders.
Overlap in susceptibility of disorders likely includes a genetic component. Twin studies of id and nonid
twins.
But what genes are involved? Very difficult to pin down. Polymorphisms for SERT, low fning version (s)
increases susceptibility for mood disorders only if you've had bad experiences.
ďˇTried to replicate, and some did, some didn't.
ďˇMost recent metaanalysis of this showed that women are more suspectible than men for mood
disorders.
oHaving a stressful life increases chance of dev a MD.
oHowever, there is no change in risk of mood disorder for just having the s allele.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Lazarus was a cog psychologist believed that all emotional states began with an appraisal of the env. Facing some sort of existential, uncertain threat. Change btwn certain and uncertain; fear is certain threat. Anxiety is when you feel similar to that, but no obvious reason to it. There"s confusion, then laughs or cries or goes between them. Tries to figure out how to interpret what happened. If you see a psychotherapist for cbt, core idea is that, if you think abt it differently, you"ll feel differently. The way we appraise what"s going on affects the cognitive feeling. But there"s also unconditioned responses to sensory input (pleasure and pain). Past experiences with certain stim will affect our emotional response to them. If you know how to deal with the threat, it"ll affect oru emotional response. Gad: a lot of anxiety all of the time. Eg agoraphobia; often crowds, or in an elevator. The top 3 are specifically linked to some trigger.
