PSYC 235 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Panic Attack, Panic Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder
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Anxiety: negative mood state characterized by bodily symptoms of physical tension and apprehension about the future. Subjective sense of unease, behaviours (looking worried, anxious, fidgeting) or physiological response from the brain caused elevated heart rates and muscle tension. Yerkes law: performance increases with moderate levels of anxiety and arousal to a certain point and then decreases (skilled motor movements, complex intellectual tasks, perception of new information) Panic attack: abrupt experience of intense fear or acute discomfort along with physical symptoms (4 or more that peak within 10 minutes) Palpitations, pounding heart, trembling/shaking, shortness of breath or smothering, feeling of choking, chest pain, nausea, feeling dizzy or faint, numbing or tingling sensations, chills or hot flashes, de-realization, depersonalization, dissociation. Common in people suffering from specific phobias: unexpected (uncued) Panic may or may not happen in given setting. Weak contributions from many genes in several different chromosomes. Depleted levels of gaba (associated with increased anxiety)