anxiety+based+disorders

Anxiety-Based Disorders

Below are 5 short case studies of individuals suffering from different forms of anxiety. After reading each case, students will offer their "diagnosis" of the disorder described in the case study.


 * Instructions:** Below are 5 case studies of different persons suffering from different forms of mental disorders. Your task in your group is to state or describe what disorder you think each person is suffering from based on the case study.

Zelda is extremely concerned with cleanliness. In fact, before she retires at night, she goes through a cleaning ritual of her clothes and body that sometimes lasts for up to 2 hours. If she misses a step in the ritual or performs part of it imperfectly, she starts the ritual all over again.
 * Case Study 1**

Monica is suffering from a form of amensia. She has deliberately left her home town moved to another city 350 miles away, and has assumed a new identity, a new job, and even new personality characteristics.
 * Case Study 2**

Alex periodically suffers from extremely high levels of anxiety but he cannot pinpoint the source or otherwise say why he is so anxious. He is terrified at times, his heart often races, he feels wobbly, and has difficulty concentrating.
 * Case Study 3**

Karen worries excessively about developing a rare disease. When she meets friends or writes letters to her relatives, she is constantly discussing how she feels and expresses concern that even the most minor irregularities in the functioning of her body are symptoms of underlying diseases. She spents a good deal of time consulting doctors for a second opinion.
 * Case Study 4**

Terry complains that he is experiencing recurrent episodes of lightheadedness, rapid breathing, and dizziness, especially as he attempts to leave his house. The symptoms have become so severe that, in fact, he is leaving his house less and less frequently. He now only goes the grocery store in the company of his sister. Once in the store, he checks immediately for the exits and windows.
 * Case Study 5**

Notes for Anxiety Based Disorders:

Anxiety Disorders Show Clip from As Good as it Gets (3:37 minutes into movie, lasts 97 seconds) Give examples of obsessions (repetitive thoughts) vs. compulsions (repetitive behaviors)
 * 1) __ Generalized anxiety disorder __ – continuous, unexplainable anxiety (video clip)
 * 2) __ Panic disorder __ – Sudden episodes of intense dread (physiological response) (video clip)
 * 3) __ Specific Phobias __ – irrational fear of a specific object or situation
 * 4) // Agoraphobia // – fear of having a panic attack in the wrong place or fear of open spaces (usually stay home)
 * 5) // Social phobia // – fear of being scrutinized by others, avoid speaking up, eating out, going to parties
 * 6) Other phobias – triskaidekaphobia (number 13), uxoriphobia (one’s wife), Santa Clautrophobia (getting stuck in chimneys), panaphobia (everything), phobophobia (fear of fear), anthophobia (flowers), trichophobia (hair), numerophobia (numbers)
 * 7) __ Obsessive-compulsive disorder __ (OCD) – repetitive thoughts or actions
 * 1) __ Post Traumatic Stress Disorder __ (PTSD) –Recurring and intermittent episodes of anxiety following a traumatic stress event; symptoms include: haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, depression

Explanations Behavioralist Perspective
 * 1) Fear is conditioned. We learn to associate certain things with anxiety-causing events from our past.
 * 2) Generalization – we may generalize. (bit by dog so you fear dogs; over time, you generalize and begin to fear cats too)
 * 3) Reinforcement – escaping feared situation makes you feel better; this is reinforcing the fear behavior
 * 4) Observational – we can learn fears from our parents and friends

Biological Perspective
 * 1) People quickly acquire fears of some things (spiders, snakes, heights) and rarely acquire fears of other things (guns, electricity)
 * 2) Compulsions are usually survival skills (grooming, checking locks, etc)
 * 3) Twin studies support biological perspective
 * 4) PET scans support biological perspective (higher activity in frontal lobe in OCD patients)