PSY 3171 Lecture 8: Anxiety disorders
5 Oct 2016
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Fear is immediate alarm reaction: sns activation, protective reaction. Anxiety is future related apprehension: mood state, motivation to do something, somatic symptoms (tense, stomach ache) Panic is an immediate alarm reaction: more intense than fear, false alarm, whereas fear is a true alarm. Yerkes dodson law: perform best at medium levels of anxiety and arousal, maladaptive at low and high levels of arousal. 55% of people with and anxiety disorder fit criteria for another mood or anxiety disorder: 75% over a lifetime prevalence. Why: similar diagnostic criteria, an underlying predisposition to these disorders, share the same cause. Tendency to criticize one"s self: one disorder may contribute to another. High stress (cortisol) may cause something else. Differential diagnosis is important: gather all information and look at similarities/differences to rule out or rule in. Anxiety disorder: specific phobia, social anxiety, panic disorder, panic attack specifier.
