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Anxiety Disorders. And here comes the list. Anxiety Disorders. Anxiety Disorders are psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety. This is not real!.
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Anxiety Disorders And here comes the list
Anxiety Disorders • Anxiety Disorders are psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety. This is not real!
Symptoms: Often jittery, Agitated, Sleep deprived, Difficulty concentrating, Depressed Mood, Twitching eyelids, Trembling, Perspiration, Fideting Generalized Anxiety Disorder • An anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal • Free-Floating-A person cannot identify/avoid the stressor
Panic Disorder • An anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable minutes-long episodes of intense dread in which a person experiences terror, chest pain, chocking, numbness or other frightening sensations • Smokers have double the risk of panic disorder [I remember feeling] hot and as though I couldn’t breathe. My heart was racing and I started to sweat & tremble and I was sure I was going to faint. Then my fingers started to feel numb and tingly & things seemed unreal. It was so bad I wondered if I was dying…
Phobias • Anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object or situation • Specific phobias focus on one thing • People tend to avoid that situation or particular thing • Social Phobias is basically shyness taken to the extreme • Intense fear of being scrutinized by others, avoid potentially embarrassing social situations, or will sweat, tremble, or have diarrhea when doing so • Agoraphobia • Fear or avoidance of situations in which escape might be difficult or help unavailable when panic strikes
Causes of Phobias • Genetics • Martin Seligman concluded that humans seem biologically prepared to acquire fears of certain animals and situations that were important survival threats in evolutionary history. • Specific events • Specific events can trigger a phobia
Felinophobia • Fear of cats
Russophobia • Fear of Russians
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia • Fear of long words
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder • An anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or actions (compulsions). • A person acts out compulsions in response to an obsession to lower the anxiety and release the stress that can build up. • Crosses the line from normality to disorder when thoughts/actions persistently interfere with everyday living and cause the person distress. • Obsessive thoughts and compulsive behavior become so ritualistic that effective functioning becomes impossible. • 2-3% cross the line during their teens or early twenties
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) • Once called shell-shock or battle fatigue • PTSD is an anxiety disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, and/or insomnia that lingers for several weeks or more after a traumatic experience • PTSD is also experienced by survivors of accidents, disasters, and violent/sexual assaults • In a survey of 100,000 veterans of Iraq or Afghanistan, 1in 4 were diagnosed with a psychological disorder, most frequently PTSD • 20% of U.S. suicides are veterans • In 2012 among active duty soldiers, 1 suicide per day. After calling in a helicopter strike on one house where I had seen ammunition crates carried in, I heard the screams of children from within…
Who develops PTSD • Research shows that the greater one’s trauma or distress during the event, the higher percentage of developing PTSD • Also, a sensitive limbic system seems to be correlated as it releases stress hormones again and again as images of the traumatic experience erupt into consciousness
Understanding Anxiety Disorders • Learning perspective • Fear conditioning • Two specific learning processes contribute to anxiety • Stimulus generalization • Reinforcement • Observational Learning • Biological Perspective • Natural Selection: fear threats face by ancestors • Genetics: researchers are examining neurotransmitters that influence an “anxiety gene”
Anxiety Disorders • Some psychologists feel PTSD has been over diagnosed due to the broadening definition of trauma • Debriefing after the traumatic event can actually do more harm than good • Suffering can lead to benefit finding • Post-traumatic growth: positive psychological changes as a result of struggling with extremely challenging circumstances and life crises • Calhoun found that struggling with a crises often leads people to report an increases appreciation for life • This idea is found in many religions