1. Anxiety Disorders

2.  Anxiety disorder- psychological disorders
characterized by distressing, persistent
anxiety or mal-adaptive behaviors that
reduce anxiety
◦ Generalized anxiety disorder
◦ Panic disorders
◦ Phobias
◦ Obsessive compulsive disorder
◦ Post-traumatic stress disorder

3.  Generalized Anxiety Disorder- a person is
continually tense, fearful, and in a state of
autonomic nervous system arousal
◦ 2/3 are women- worry continually, often jittery and
sleep deprived
◦ Usually go hand-in-hand with depression
◦ Could lead to physical symptoms such as ulcers and
high blood pressure

4.  Panic disorders- marked by unpredictable
minutes-long episodes of intense dread in
which a person experiences terror, chest
pain, choking, etc..
◦ Smokers has at least a double risk of this because
nicotine is a stimulant

5.  Phobias- persistent, irrational fear causes a
person to avoid some object, activity or
situation
◦ Social phobia- intense fear of being judged by
others
◦ Agoraphobia- fear or avoidance of situations in
which panic may strike, avoid being outside or in a
crowd

7.  OCD- an anxiety disorder characterized by
unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsession)
and/or actions (compulsion)
 Interferes with everyday living and causes
distress

8. A PET scan of the brain of a
person with Obsessive-
Compulsive Disorder
(OCD). High metabolic
activity (red) in the frontal
lobe areas are involved
with directing attention.

9.  Four or more weeks of the
following symptoms constitute
post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD):
◦ Haunting memories
◦ Nightmares
◦ Social withdrawal
◦ Sleep problems