Obsession Continuation

1)Agressive
-fear might harm others(
-violent or horrific images
-frar of stealing somehting
2) contamination
-concerns or disgust with dirt or germs
-fear of being contaminated by animals
-fear of touching other peoplen getting them seick after u touch something (like
pitting gas in a car)
-Hoarding/saving obsessions(raddom n useless things)/cant make a pathway through
their house stepping on everyting
-reglious/ scroupuls obessions
-worries abpotu a blasphamous thought
-worries about doing the right thing: "did I lie"
Symmetry an exactness
-wprries about paper n books being alighnd( not that somehting bad is goign to h
appen, but doesnt feel right if not
aligned)
-handwrittingmust be perfect (never satisfied)
-concern with illness or disease (fear about being contaminated)
-compulsions-are the behavior that neutralize the behavior or though
-*hypocondraus (perasive thinking that u have a medical illness n its very speci
fic ex:conviced u have cancer)
is not under OCD, its in symantic form disorder
compulsions must take an hour of ur time throughout the day
-fear of losing things, fear of not saying somehting right way or not right enou
gh
-compulsion are to undue or mute the obssession
ex: germaphobe, complusion is to clean 20-30 times a day, show a pattern
-*something more ritualized
-ex: checking the stove, that u didnt make assignements (checking over n over ag
ain)
-repeating the bahvior over again n will get in the ritual until it feels righ t
-has to be in an orderly fashion otherwise something bad will happe
-there can also be a mental ritual(if u think of bad color (u get bad luck), the
n u think of a lucky number)
- initating event->unacceptable thought-> anxiety->recurring thought->more anxie
ty-> action compulsive behavior
->temporary relief
-comorbidity with diorders
-body dismorphic disorder-believing there is somehting wrong with ur body n its
excessive n its an imparentment
can also resort to plastic surgery, obessional thinking about here being somethi
ng wrong with the way u look
-trichotillomania-pulling of the hair, eye brows, ects n they feel better afterw
ards its a compulsive behavior that
reduces anxiety
-psychological causal explanations-anxiety
slide 27 (the X's represent reseach that support the theory .
-Classical conditioning-specific phobias can be due to having an experience or a
event n it being a tramautic event
being paired up with a neutral stimulus (ex: embarassing momment)
-ex: dating n u fell, so u avoid those situations, humiliations, getting teased,
messsing up in a speech
couldnt talk, faint but because something bad happened it conditioned with
the experience
-vicarious conditioning- u see someone who is anxious (ex: sister freaks out whe
n she sees spider)
we aquire our fear responses through other people, (pare
nt, peers how they respond to stress)
what we watch is important, when kids have anxious paren
ts they encourage an avoidant reponse
what parent n other are modeling can model our anxieties
Evolutionary preperedness- out specific phobias, it was adaptive to have fears(e
volutionary fears), fears of blood or the weather or animal
so at some point it was smart to develop these phobias for survival
-GAD-if ur worried about doing something then u might do it as opposed to not th
inking about it
Perceptions of uncontrallability n unpredictability- phobias->specific phobias
gad->diffused phobias realistic.,
-they attent more images of threat
in odc "thought action fussion"-just by thinking about they are going to act on
that impulse (ex: if u are thinking
of hurting something, then they are scared of producing their action (more cogni
tive bias)
-defense against anxiety stemming from repressed id impulses(phobias represent a
displacemnt of ur fear on a neutral object)
ur afraid of horses because the horse reminds u of someone u dont like
-what does the neutral stimulus mean to u??
psychonalytic-u are trying to identify what the object represents to u
-fxation at psychosexual stage (ex: if u stay in the anal stage, u can have OCD)
-mower theory anxious avoidance-so classical consition (that how u learned it) n
it sticks around because of
negative reinforcememt which ties back to operant conditioning
-BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
-MOST HERITABLE IS GOES FROM OCD, GAD, SOCIAL PHOBIA, SPECIFIC PHOBIA
-also temperament n behavioral inhibition (trying to avoid it, crying) it is pre
dictive of having social phobia,
n spcific phobias
-neurotransmitters such as seretonin n nonrepinephin are responsibel for anxiety
disorders
-in GAD there is not enough gaba n there is too much cortison (CRH)
-there are also nero stuctural difference or circutory deifference- in ppl with
disorders and n ppl who dont
-ex: people with ocd dont have a filter,cant inhibit or control their behaviors
look at updated slide
-anxiety disorders the brain structures involved seem to be different, ur fear c
enter amygdula, hippocampus, prefrontal
context have over sensitivity in those areas or over reactive (these 3 areas are
associated with disorders)
-Panic disorders
-20-30% will have a panic attacks-sudden intense fear, no idea why u got them, i
ts not a phbia, out of the blue
n cant explain what happen
-they tend to be recurrent,have to have a certain to be called a disoders, chang
e in behavior or imperament
-symptms: shorteness of breath, faint, tunnel vision, nasua, tremnbling, sense o
f impending doom or danger,
hyperventillation, tightness in throat
-panic disorder-having repeated panic attacks, cant control them, worry how noti
cible to others, dont enjoy them
-Agoraphobia: fear of wide open spaces, not afriad of the ppl or dont like the s
pace, ur afraid because u wont be
able to get out or help if u are there, anyplace that is outside ur house, most
are housebond, or very controlled
such as having routines n any change is intolerable for them.
-not always housebound
-prevalence are at 4.7% in pop n mostly in women then men n age onset is 23-34
-83% of peple with panic disoder have al least one comorbid disorder
-fist panic attack is triggered by an exagerated or increased stress in ur life
-biological factors (moderatly herability of 33-43%, theres a lot of learned fac
tors n coping with stress
-biochemical -seretonin n nonadrenegic activity (over reactive n sensituve amygd
ula)
-causal factors: belief that there some condiitoning that occurs, u are becomong
afraid of the sensations they
cause, scared of panic attcks,assocation that physical symptoms mean a panic att
ack
people with panic disorders catastrophize symptoms (ex: having an increased hear
t rate raleted to a panic attack,
misinterpreting the symp
tom, feeding into ur fear response
u get caught in a cycle)

-people misinterpret physical symptoms as being harmful, they are over reactive
-safety behaviors allow panic to persist, being in the company of someone n need
someone by ur side, so they can call
for help if somehting happens, not taking hot showers because they might not be
able to breath
-all are contributory factors that influnce panic attacks
-more worried u have the reponse, then u trigger ur fight or flight response, pr
oduce more symptoms, n then more worried u
become, viscious cycle