Deck 6: Anxiety Disorders

Question 1

David Barlow suggests that anxious apprehension involves which of the following?

A) immediate danger
B) specific negative emotions
C) a preoccupation with others
D) a sense of uncontrollability

Answer 1

a sense of uncontrollability

Question 2

Which of the following is one of the DSM-IV-TR criteria used to identify panic attack?

A) shows gradual build-up over several days
B) reaches peak intensity within 10 minutes
C) involves a blend of several negative emotions
D) involves preoccupation with words rather than images

Answer 2

reaches peak intensity within 10 minutes

Question 3

Compared to anxiety, a panic attack tends to be

A) sudden.
B) longer in duration.
C) less intense.
D) less like a normal fear response.

Answer 3

sudden.

Question 4

People who worry excessively usually report that their worries are not

A) realistic.
B) distressing.
C) excessive.
D) hard to control.

Question 5

The close relationship between symptoms of anxiety and those for depression suggests that

A) anxiety and depression are really the same emotion.
B) these disorders may share common etiological features.
C) psychological testing is needed to tell them apart.
D) anxiety and depression are not true mental disorders.

Question 6

Anxiety is a reaction to

A) avoidance.
B) impaired insight.
C) anticipated future problems.
D) an immediate threat from the environment.

Question 7

Under what circumstances is a panic attack said to be cued?

A) when it occurs only in predictable situations
B) when it occurs without warning or "out of the blue"
C) when it is triggered by real, not imagined, dangers
D) when it is triggered by imagined, not real, dangers

Question 8

The National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R) found the percent of adults who suffer from at least one type of anxiety disorder in a given year to be

A) 6 percent.
B) 18 percent.
C) 24 percent.
D) 36 percent.

Question 9

In what way is fear different from anxiety?

A) Fear is more general.
B) Fear occurs appropriately in the face of real danger.
C) Fear is associated with anticipation of future problems.
D) Fear is out of proportion to threats from the environment.

Question 10

According to the case study of the writer presented in the textbook why would individuals with agoraphobia feel terrified of crowds?

A) They fear people.
B) They are paranoid.
C) They have low self-esteem.
D) They fear not being able to escape.

Question 11

Which of the following statements about panic attacks is true?

A) Panic attacks are always cued.
B) Panic attacks are always unexpected.
C) Panic attacks are sometimes cued, sometimes unexpected.
D) Panic attacks that are cued are less severe than unexpected panic attacks.

Question 12

To say that panic is like a "false alarm" means that panic is

A) a normal fear response triggered at an inappropriate time.
B) a deliberate attempt to seek attention.
C) very different from the normal fear response.
D) easily dismissed as harmless.

Question 13

Which of the following situations is most likely to be associated with the development of a panic attack?

A) Al was out walking his dog when another dog barked loudly.
B) When Al was four years old, he almost drowned at the beach.
C) Al misinterpreted a sudden increase in his heart rate as evidence of a heart attack.
D) Al feels constantly on edge as a result of a long list of worries at work and at home.

Question 14

Which of the following is typically associated with anxious mood?

A) fainting and cramps
B) preoccupation with other people
C) pessimistic thoughts and feelings
D) organization and rehearsal of adaptive responses

Question 15

According to the DSM, which of the following questions would be most useful in distinguishing a panic attack from anxiety?

A) Do you experience a lot of nightmares?
B) Would you describe your symptoms as distressing?
C) Do your symptoms reach peak intensity within 10 minutes?
D) Are your symptoms difficult for you to control?

Question 16

Which of the following statements about anxiety is true?

A) Anxiety is a more severe emotion than depression.
B) Anxiety is a less severe emotion than depression.
C) Anxiety can be adaptive at low levels.
D) Anxiety is always adaptive.

Question 17

Which of the following is NOT appropriately matched?

A) agoraphobia: fear of places from which escape may be difficult
B) claustrophobia: fear of enclosed spaces
C) altaphobia: fear of flying
D) hemophobia: fear of blood

Question 18

In which of these situations would an agoraphobic be most likely to exhibit avoidance or fear?

A) touching an insect
B) swimming in a backyard pool
C) being at the top of a tall building
D) sitting in the middle of a row in a crowded theater

Question 19

Worriers are preoccupied with _______ rather than unpleasant visual images.

A) fears
B) fantasies
C) affects
D) "self talk"

Question 20

Worry is a relatively uncontrollable sequence of negative emotional thoughts and images concerned with

A) immediate danger.
B) physiological hypoarousal.
C) absence of positive affect.
D) possible future threats or dangers.

Question 21

In the case of Ed presented in your text, what motivated him to rush to the mailbox and tear open an envelope containing a form that he had just completed?

A) He decided that he had let down his company because his work was not perfect.
B) He was afraid that his writing contained symbolic representations of hidden sexual desires.
C) He thought his writing of a particular letter would be associated with the strangulation of his wife.
D) He thought the evil voices he heard would punish him for his failure to follow their plan as they had instructed.

Question 22

Repetitive, unwanted, intrusive cognitive events in the form of thoughts, images, or impulses that intrude suddenly into consciousness are called

A) phobias.
B) disorders.
C) obsessions.
D) compulsions.

Question 23

You are starting a research project in which you wish to compare everyday compulsive behavior of individuals not diagnosed with a mental disorder with the most common forms of compulsive behavior found in those diagnosed with OCD. What are the two most common forms of compulsion found in those so diagnosed?

A) eating and dressing
B) escape and avoidance
C) checking and cleaning
D) counting and collecting

Question 24

Amy loves collecting coffee mugs and has been collecting them for years. At the drop of a hat, she will launch into a discussion of her collection, the price of mugs, and her plans for purchasing more mugs. Her friends say she must have obsessive-compulsive disorder. You disagree. What do you say to her friends when they ask why you disagree?

A) Unlike an obsessive-compulsive, Amy derives pleasure from this activity.
B) Although Amy experiences anxiety, it is the result of a deep-seated conflict.
C) Amy is actually suffering from depression, which she hides by engaging in mug collecting.
D) Obsessive-compulsive disorder is an inherited disorder and there is no evidence that other family members have the disorder.

Question 25

What must a person demonstrate in order to be diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder?

A) a history of phobias
B) free-floating anxiety
C) both obsessions and compulsions
D) realization that the obsessions or compulsions are excessive or unreasonable

Question 26

After studying her patients' compulsions, a clinician is most likely to conclude about their effects?

A) reduce anxiety, increase pleasure
B) increase anxiety, increase pleasure
C) reduce anxiety, don't increase pleasure
D) increase anxiety, don't increase pleasure

Question 27

A differential diagnosis between social and specific phobia is a bit tricky. You need to look for the most important difference between social phobia and specific phobia which is that social phobia

A) does not involve avoidance.
B) also involves the element of performance.
C) is much less distressing.
D) also involves the element of panic.

Question 28

During the first half of the twentieth century, psychiatrists tended to adopt a generalized position with regard to anxiety disorder. In other words they

A) lumped together the various anxiety disorders.
B) only defined "generalized anxiety disorder."
C) focused on an integrated and unified definition of anxiety.
D) defined anxiety only in psychotic disorders.

Question 29

How do clinical obsessions differ from normal obsessions?

A) They differ in degree rather than kind.
B) Clinical obsessions are more visually oriented.
C) The content of the reported images is different.
D) Clinical obsessions are more likely to be acted upon.

Question 30

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is one of the most controversial anxiety disorders because

A) the diagnostic reliability of GAD is lower than that of other anxiety disorders.
B) the symptoms of GAD primarily involve depression.
C) the criteria for GAD do not involve any reference to etiology.
D) the symptoms of GAD are no different than normal worrying.

Question 31

Which of the following are the current DSM categories of phobias?

A) linguistic, natural, and symbolic
B) neurotic, physical, and psychotic
C) agoraphobia, social, and specific
D) generalized, social, and specific

Question 32

What are compulsions?

A) a type of obsession
B) normal feelings of drive
C) intrusive, unwanted thoughts
D) irrational, repetitive behaviors

Question 33

Why didn't anxiety disorders play a prominent role in psychiatric classification systems in the 1800s?

A) There were fewer cases then.
B) They were seen as moral problems.
C) They were seen as physiological, not psychological, problems.
D) Few cases were treated in institutions where they would be seen by psychiatrists.

Question 34

In which situation might a person exhibit a social phobia?

A) performing at a concert
B) watching a concert on TV
C) going for a walk
D) having one's name called over the loudspeaker at a concert

Question 35

Tim has been worried about his grades for more than three months. After hearing about the diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder he becomes convinced that this is what he has. After seeing a mental health professional, what is he told?

A) He is actually suffering from the early stages of panic disorder.
B) His concern over grades is more indicative of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
C) He does not meet the criteria for generalized anxiety disorder in terms of length of time and number of worries.
D) The focus of his worry suggests that he is suffering from a phobic reaction rather than a generalized anxiety disorder.

Question 36

Compulsives can sometimes resist their compulsions, but they usually return to their compulsive behavior because

A) not engaging in the compulsive behavior increases distress.
B) they miss the pleasure produced by their compulsions.
C) they do not view their compulsions as a problem.
D) they need the attention that their compulsive behavior attracts.

Question 37

Bill worries about a long list of concerns. He finds himself constantly thinking about these topics at work, when he exercises, and as he tries to sleep. He is easily fatigued, can't concentrate, and is often restless. He has been worrying like this for the past year. Bill seems to meet the criteria for the diagnosis of

A) agoraphobia.
B) social phobia.
C) generalized anxiety disorder.
D) obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Question 38

Fear is not considered phobic unless the person

A) avoids contact with the source of the fear or experiences intense anxiety in the presence of the feared stimulus.
B) the fear is generalized to more than one stimulus.
C) the person has a failed attempt to repress the fear.
D) the person experiences a parasympathetic storm.

Question 39

How do patients typically view their compulsions?

A) as very pleasurable
B) as making sense
C) as senseless and irrational
D) as necessary to their survival

Question 40

DSM-IV-TR approach to classifying anxiety disorders is based primarily on

A) a psychodynamic model of the cause of each disorder.
B) descriptive features of each disorder.
C) specific scores on tests of anxiety.
D) a dimensional approach.

Question 41

Current theories regarding the evolutionary significance of anxiety and fear suggest that

A) anxiety is viewed as often adaptive, but fear is not.
B) fear is viewed as often adaptive, but anxiety is not.
C) both emotional responses are adaptive in some circumstances.
D) neither emotional response is considered to be adaptive under any circumstances.

Question 42

Research on the long-term outcomes for people experiencing anxiety disorders indicates that

A) even with therapy, long-term outcomes are generally poor.
B) long-term outcomes tend to be quite mixed and unpredictable.
C) age of onset predicts long-term outcomes across all disorders.
D) treatment response is primarily positive and long-lasting.

Question 43

Based on the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R), which type of anxiety disorder is the most common?

A) specific phobias
B) generalized anxiety disorder
C) obsessive-compulsive disorder
D) agoraphobia with panic attacks

Question 44

All of the following are true as to the course of anxiety disorders except

A) the long-term outcome of individuals with anxiety disorder is mixed and unpredictable.
B) individuals with agoraphobia avoidance tend to get over their fears with age.
C) the frequency and intensity of anxiety attacks to tends to lessen with age.
D) patients with generalized anxiety disorder may find their worries replaced with physical symptoms.

Question 45

One study found that ___ percent of people who met the criteria for one anxiety disorder also met the criteria for at least one other form of anxiety disorder or mood disorder.

A) 10
B) 25
C) 50
D) 75

Question 46

What is an essential element of the diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder?

A) The obsessions develop in response to the compulsions.
B) The person engages in compulsions, which increase anxiety.
C) The person's sleep is disrupted by nightmares.
D) The person tries to ignore, suppress, or neutralize the unwanted thoughts or impulses.

Question 47

In the theoretical debate around the nature of anxiety disorders, those who suggest that all anxiety disorders should be seen as the same disorder are sometimes referred to as

A) splitters.
B) lumpers.
C) amalgamationists.
D) anxiolytics.

Question 48

In the debate between "lumpers" and "splitters" regarding anxiety disorders, the splitters argue that

A) people with anxiety disorders are split off from reality.
B) people with anxiety disorders show signs of split personality.
C) it is not possible to separate normal from pathological anxiety.
D) there are a number of separate disorders.

Question 49

What is the only anxiety disorder that does not exhibit a significant gender difference?

A) agoraphobia
B) panic disorder
C) generalized anxiety disorder
D) obsessive-compulsive disorder

Question 50

What conclusion was reached by researchers studying the relationship between stressful life events and anxiety/depressive disorders?

A) Stressful life events are much more common precursors of depression.
B) Stressful life events are much more common precursors of anxiety disorders.
C) Stressful events frequently precede the development of both anxiety or depressive disorders.
D) The reported association between life events and these disorders is the result of the tendency to expect such a relationship rather than a true association.

Question 51

Based on research on the development of agoraphobia, which of the following individuals would be at greatest risk for the onset of this disorder?

A) Alice, who has just changed her college major
B) Teresa, who is having difficulty finding a job
C) Sara, who has just moved away from home for her first year in college
D) Christine, who has had an increase in the number of serious arguments with her parents

Question 52

In Western societies anxiety is most frequently associated with work performance whereas in non-Western societies, anxiety is most frequently associated with

A) family or religious concerns.
B) personal appearance.
C) intimate relationships.
D) educational achievement.

Question 53

Studies of the long-term course of obsessive-compulsive disorder indicate that all of the following are true EXCEPT

A) less than 30 percent of patients demonstrate recovery after one year.
B) at a 40-year follow-up approximately 80% show improvement.
C) approximately 50 percent of patients still show symptoms after 30 years.
D) a higher percentage of females than males had not relapsed after 30 years.

Question 54

What type of attachment has been reported to be associated with the development of agoraphobia?

A) secure
B) insecure
C) ambivalent
D) regressive

Question 55

Which of the following best describes the connection between particular forms of adverse environmental events and specific types of mental disorder?

A) Neglect is most closely linked to mood disorders.
B) Abuse is most closely linked to anxiety disorders.
C) There does not seem to be any direct connection.
D) Direct connections have been found for women but not for men.

Question 56

Prospective studies of the relationship between drinking problems and anxiety disorders suggest that

A) anxiety disorders lead to heavy drinking.
B) heavy drinking increases the probability that an anxiety disorder will later develop.
C) anxiety disorders can lead to heavy drinking, and heavy drinking can lead to anxiety disorders.
D) the relationship exists for patterns of alcohol abuse but not for alcohol dependence.

Question 57

How does the prevalence of anxiety disorders among the elderly compare to the prevalence among other age groups?

A) The prevalence rate is lower among the elderly.
B) The highest prevalence rates are found among the elderly.
C) The prevalence rates are virtually identical across the life span.
D) Whether the rates are high or low depends on both age and gender.

Question 58

Cultural anthropologists have recognized many different culture-bound syndromes that, in some cases,

A) appear to be unique to specific cultures.
B) appear to be caused by the presence of outsiders in the culture.
C) look similar but have very different causes than Western disorders.
D) resemble very closely disorders listed in the DSM-IV-TR.

Question 59

What was the major result of the Cross-National Collaborative Panic Study?

A) Panic disorder occurs in all countries studied.
B) Panic disorder does not exist in some of the countries included in the study.
C) Mental health professionals in some countries do not recognize the symptoms of panic disorder as serious problems.
D) Differences in language and conceptualization of symptoms made it impossible to study similarities in the diagnosis of panic.

Question 60

Among those diagnosed with an anxiety disorder

A) the relapse rates are higher for men than for women.
B) the relapse rates are higher for women than for men.
C) the comorbidity rates are higher for women than for men.
D) the comorbidity rates are higher for men than for women.

Question 61

As a cognitive psychologist you hypothesis that many factors can contribute to the cause of an anxiety disorder, but the following are especially important:

A) conditioned stimuli and responses.
B) perceptions, memories and attention.
C) negative reinforcement.
D) neurotransmitter levels.

Question 62

The two different pathways in the brain involved in the detection of danger differ from one another with respect to

A) their roles in panic disorder versus specific phobia.
B) the amount of conscious thinking and reasoning.
C) the detection of reality-based versus unrealistic threats.
D) their presence in humans versus lower animals.

Question 63

Cognitive psychologists believe that people whose threat schemas contain a high proportion of "what-if" questions

A) are more likely to suffer from a conviction that they will fail.
B) usually experience depression along with anxiety.
C) experience a dramatic increase in negative affect.
D) are able to avoid the experience of anxiety by suppressing their anxious thoughts.

Question 64

According to Wegner, what typically happens when people prone to anxiety disorders try to rid their mind of distressing or unwanted thoughts?

A) The thoughts actually become more associated with emotions.
B) They relax because physiological cues are decreased.
C) Physiological changes in the brain attempt to repress the unwanted thoughts.
D) The thoughts are replaced with scenes related to images from previous dreams.

Question 65

The episodic nature of obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms is thought to be related to

A) cycles of activity in neurotransmitters.
B) changing levels of environmental stress.
C) changes in the ability to suppress thoughts.
D) a rebound from attempts to suppress strong emotion.

Question 66

According to cognitive models of anxiety (such as Borkovec et al's model), why do people continue to worry despite the fact that it is unproductive?

A) They have a superstition that worry will lead to symptom reduction.
B) Classical conditioning has led to an association between worry and cognitive stability.
C) The worry is reinforced by a temporary reduction in uncomfortable physiological sensations.
D) The worry results from activation of the superego in order to punish oneself for past misdeeds.

Question 67

While walking along the road, a car drives by and honks right next to you. The car hits your leg, and you are slightly injured. A few weeks later you hear a car horn and become very nervous. What is the horn honking in this scenario?

A) conditioned stimulus
B) conditioned response
C) unconditioned stimulus
D) unconditioned response

Question 68

The preparedness model of phobic acquisition holds that phobias develop in response to

A) stimuli to which the person has had little exposure.
B) objects with symbolic associations to sex and aggression.
C) any neutral stimulus paired with an unconditioned stimulus.
D) objects and situations that humans are biologically "wired" to fear.

Question 69

A person with social phobia can perform a particular task when alone but not in front of an audience; according to Barlow's model of anxious apprehension, this is due to

A) misinterpreting the audience as hostile.
B) insufficient practice of the task.
C) the distraction of self-focused attention.
D) poor interpersonal skills.

Question 70

According to D.M. Clark's research, people with anxiety sensitivity would likely be frightened most by

A) stomach discomfort.
B) heart palpitations.
C) foot pain.
D) insomnia.

Question 71

A patient with panic disorder tends to interpret the rapid beating of his heart as a heart attack; a cognitive psychologist would call this

A) automatic thinking.
B) catastrophic misinterpretation.
C) illusion of predictability.
D) "what-if" thinking.

Question 72

After Harriet was in a bicycle accident, she became fearful of riding bicycles. Which theory of the development of phobias would explain her fearing of riding bicycles?

A) preparedness
B) psychoanalytic
C) operant conditioning
D) classical conditioning

Question 73

What is thought suppression?

A) a symptom of panic attack
B) an attention deficit caused by intrusive images
C) an active attempt to stop thinking about something
D) the absence of rational thinking

Question 74

Research has suggested that a factor contributing to the development of some anxiety reactions is

A) operant conditioning and preparedness work against each other.
B) people apparently learn to avoid certain stimuli if they observe other people showing a strong fear response to those stimuli.
C) some people are more prepared than others for emotional events.
D) people need to experience emotional events themselves in order for it to affect their lives in future.

Question 75

One important element in the development of social phobias may be a biologically-based preparedness to fear

A) large crowds.
B) faces that appear angry or rejecting toward us.
C) the body posture of people seen as important.
D) unrelated persons more than biologically related persons.

Question 76

Research has consistently found evidence that problems with anxiety show up at high rates in people who believe

A) they are in control of a situation.
B) that they are not in control of events.
C) events are their fault.
D) they have been treated badly by important people.

Question 77

Several lines of research have clarified the basic cognitive mechanisms involved in generalized anxiety disorder as well as panic disorder. Experts now believe that a factor that plays a crucial role in the onset of this process is

A) depression.
B) conditioned responses.
C) the hypothalamus.
D) attention.

Question 78

Twin studies of anxiety disorders indicate that they have a heritability of

A) around 20 to 30 percent.
B) less than 5 percent.
C) over 50 percent.
D) almost 100 percent.

Question 79

What have studies of the genetics of panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder found concerning the genetic component in a model of the cause of these disorders?

A) both appear to be moderately heritable
B) neither appears to have a significant heritable component
C) both have a very high heritable component
D) generalized anxiety disorder has a high heritable component, but panic disorders appears to be very low

Question 80

The brain pathway that operates as a "short cut" in the detection of danger

A) provides for quicker conscious processing of threat.
B) is acquired through classical conditioning.
C) interferes with the organism's ability to respond to threat.
D) allows some threats to be responded to very quickly.