PSYCH101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Mania, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH101
• Professor: Paul Wehr

Document Summary

Chronic, elevated anxiety tied to no specific threat. Anxiety is often called fear; tied to a specific threat. Gradually increases over time (month); plateaus at an extremely high level. Avoid decisions and brood endlessly; think of potentially negative things. Trembling; muscle tension; due to elevated ans activity. Diarrhea; dizziness; perspiration; heart palpitations (aware heart is beating fast). Most common type of disorder and least problematic. Persistent and irrational fear of an object or situation; imagination is sufficient to provoke anxiety; stimulus will constantly provoke fear response; fear is disproportional to threat; Preparedness: prepared by evolution to acquire some fears more readily than others; most common fears were common in ancestral environments. Snakes & spiders vs. cars & electrical outlets; it is more easy to acquire a fear of snakes and spiders, even though cars and electric outlets are the most common threats now. Do not fear these things because they weren"t present in our ancestral environment.