PSYCH 9C Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Startle Response, Great Fear, Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Lecture 2
Anxiety Disorders
●Fear (real or imagined imminent threat)
○Fight or flight (autonomic nervous system)
○Escape behaviors (try and get away)
●Anxiety (emotional response to the anticipation of a future
threat)
○Muscle tension and vigilance
○cautious/avoidant behaviors
■Very effective short-term strategy for anxiety is
to distract yourself, however that is NOT good
for the long-term.
●These states can overlap of course
○A lion may cause fear and anxiety because you are
scared you may not be able to escape the room.
●Different Than…
○Developmentally normal fears/anxiety
■It is normal to feel anxious about going to
college for the first time; not excessive.
○Transient fear/anxiety
■We all feel anxiety at some points, won’t last a
long time.
■For anxiety disorders, they are pervasive. Almost
all the time to a stimulus or situation
○Typical responses as determined by a clinician
■Disproportionately excessive; when you need a
clinician to determine the criteria and know if
it is out of the normal range.
○Disorders are highly comorbid (overlap with other
anxiety disorders)
○lifetime prevalence = 30%
●Most anxiety disorders develop in childhood and tend to
persist if they are not well treated
●More women have anxiety disorders than men
Panic Disorder
●Panic attacks common to all anxiety disorders
○Physical sx and thoughts
○Physiological and emotional feelings accompanied with
certain thoughts. It is rapid, can reach peak in a
round ten minutes.
○Physical symptoms include heart racing, hot flashes,
shaking, chest pain, hard to breathe, shallow
breathing, distress, chills, nausea, dizziness,
trembling, sweating, palpitations…
■Panic attacks can be dramatic, but also can be a
lot more subtle.
○Characterized by
■Unexpected panic attacks; not to only one
stimulus or event
■Fear of future attacks
■Poor coping, like avoidant certain situations
○Lifetime prevalence: 2-3%
○Women more than man, 2:1 ratio
Phobias
●Characterized by intense and irrational fear coupled with
great efforts to avoid the fear inducing stimulus
●Specific Phobias
○Fear is directed at particular object
■Animals, natural environment,
blood-injection-injury
○Almost always immediately induced by the phobic
situation
■Great impact on daily life; impair your
functioning in some way because people will go
through great lengths to avoid certain things.
■Irrational
●Specific Phobia
○Blood-injection-injury
■Disgust (rather than fear)
■Body slows down (rather than speeds up)
■Could prevent the use of life-saving medical
interventions
○Life prevalence is 13%
■2:1 (women to men)
●Agoraphobia
Document Summary
Anxiety (emotional response to the anticipation of a future threat) Very effective short-term strategy for anxiety is to distract yourself, however that is not good for the long-term. A lion may cause fear and anxiety because you are scared you may not be able to escape the room. It is normal to feel anxious about going to college for the first time; not excessive. We all feel anxiety at some points, won"t last a long time. Almost all the time to a stimulus or situation. Typical responses as determined by a clinician. Disproportionately excessive; when you need a clinician to determine the criteria and know if it is out of the normal range. Disorders are highly comorbid (overlap with other anxiety disorders) Most anxiety disorders develop in childhood and tend to persist if they are not well treated. More women have anxiety disorders than men. Panic attacks common to all anxiety disorders. Physiological and emotional feelings accompanied with certain thoughts.
