Abnormal Psychology: Anxiety, OCD, and Stress/Trauma Disorders

Alexander Street Video: 1:07:00
Join keynote speaker Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., NY Times bestselling author of The Body Keeps the Score, for this session. Dr. van der Kolk is world-renowned for his skill and effectiveness in connecting the two worlds of research and clinical practice. In the words of Peter A. Levine, PhD, developer of Somatic Experiencing and author of In an Unspoken Voice: "Dr. van der Kolk’s work unites the evolving neuroscience of trauma research with an emergent wave of body-oriented therapies and traditional mind/body practices that go beyond symptom relief and connect us with our vital energy and here-and-now presence."

Films on Demand - 1:35
About one in 50 people suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a disease that turns intrusive thoughts into compulsive behaviors. Anti-depressants help with OCD, but investigators in Texas are trying new medications targeting different brain messengers.

Alexander Street Video - 2:03:00
Dr. Burns will illustrate the ultra-rapid treatment of four cases of incapacitating and intractable anxiety disorders, including a woman with ten years of failed therapy for extreme depression and panic attacks, a woman with twenty years of failed psychoanalysis for the fear of elevators and hallways, a man with more than a decade of incapacitating social anxiety / fear of sweating in public, and a woman with more than twenty years of OCD / germ phobia (the same disorder that haunted the late billionaire, Howard Hughes.) These patients all recovered in a single therapy session, and the actual recovery for each required less than ten minutes.

Alexander Street Video - 36:00
In “Trauma, PTSD, and Trauma-Informed Care”, Renee Bradford Garcia, LCSW, offers multiple definitions of trauma, including the subjective nature of trauma, complex trauma, historical trauma, and secondary trauma. She reviews PTSD, the four symptom clusters associated with it, as well as treatment options. Finally, she discusses Trauma-Informed Care and the values associated with it.

(U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) is a mental health problem that can occur in the first month after a traumatic event. The symptoms of ASD are like PTSD symptoms, but you must have them for longer than one month to have PTSD. Learn more about ASD and treatment options.

(MedlinePlus) Adjustment disorder is a group of symptoms, such as stress, feeling sad or hopeless, and physical symptoms that can occur after you go through a stressful life event. The symptoms occur because you are having a hard time coping. Your reaction is stronger than expected for the type of event that occurred.

(Johns Hopkins Medicine) Persistent maladaptive emotional or behavioral reaction within several months of an identifiable stressful event or change in a person’s life.

(Medline Plus) Agoraphobia is an intense fear and anxiety of being in places where it is hard to escape, or where help might not be available. Agoraphobia usually involves fear of crowds, bridges, or being outside alone.

(MedlinePlus) Anxiety disorders are conditions in which you have anxiety that does not go away and can get worse over time. The symptoms can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, schoolwork, and relationships.

(American Psychological Association) Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes like increased blood pressure.
Anxiety is not the same as fear, but they are often used interchangeably. Anxiety is considered a future-oriented, long-acting response broadly focused on a diffuse threat, whereas fear is an appropriate, present-oriented, and short-lived response to a clearly identifiable and specific threat.

(ADAA) ADAA is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention, treatment, and cure of anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, and co-occurring disorders through the alignment of science, treatment, and education.

(National Institute of Mental Health) Occasional anxiety is an expected part of life. You might feel anxious when faced with a problem at work, before taking a test, or before making an important decision. But anxiety disorders involve more than temporary worry or fear.

(Johns Hopkins Medicine) Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a mental health problem. If you have BDD, you may be so upset about the appearance of your body that it gets in the way of your ability to live normally. Many of us have what we think are flaws in our appearance. But if you have BDD, your reaction to this “flaw” may become overwhelming.

(BDD Foundation) The BDD Foundation’s aim is to relieve the suffering for people with BDD, while advancing research, treatments and awareness of the condition.

(National Institute of Mental Health) GAD can make daily life feel like a constant state of worry, fear, and dread. The good news is GAD is treatable. Learn more about the symptoms of GAD and how to find help.

(Anxiety & Depression Association of America) Hoarding Disorder occurs when a person has difficulty discarding items that have no apparent use or value to them. The retaining of these possessions results in excessive clutter and impairs the functioning of the person’s living space and, as a result, can harm relationships with others, especially those in the home or wanting to visit.

(Cleveland Clinic) Hoarding disorder is a mental health condition in which you have a strong need to save a large number of items and experience distress when attempting to get rid of them. Hoarding disorder is treatable with cognitive behavioral therapy.

(American Psychological Association) Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by recurrent intrusive thoughts (obsessions) that prompt the performance of neutralizing rituals (compulsions).

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) For some children, the thoughts and the urges to perform certain actions persist, even if they try to ignore them or make them go away. Children may have an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) when unwanted thoughts, and the behaviors they feel they must do because of the thoughts, happen frequently, take up a lot of time (more than an hour a day), interfere with their activities, or make them very upset. The thoughts are called obsessions. The behaviors are called compulsions.

(National Institute of Mental Health) People with panic disorder have frequent and unexpected panic attacks. These attacks are characterized by a sudden wave of fear or discomfort or a sense of losing control even when there is no clear danger or trigger. Not everyone who experiences a panic attack will develop panic disorder.

(Harvard Health Publishing) A phobia is a persistent, excessive, unrealistic fear of an object, person, animal, activity or situation. It is a type of anxiety disorder. A person with a phobia either tries to avoid the thing that triggers the fear, or endures it with great anxiety and distress.

(MedlinePlus) A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder. It is a strong, irrational fear of something that poses little or no real danger.

(National Institute of Mental Health) Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event.

(American Psychological Association) Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may develop when someone lives through or witnesses an event in which they believe that there is a threat to life or physical integrity and safety and experiences fear, terror, or helplessness.

(U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) We are the world's leading research and educational center of excellence on PTSD and traumatic stress.
PTSD is a mental health problem that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening or traumatic event. If symptoms last more than a few months, it may be PTSD. The good news is that there are effective treatments.

(National Institute of Mental Health) Social anxiety disorder is an intense, persistent fear of being watched and judged by others. This fear can affect work, school, and other daily activities. It can even make it hard to make and keep friends. The good news is social anxiety disorder is treatable. Learn more about the symptoms of social anxiety disorder and how to find help.

(American Psychological Association) Trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, crime, natural disaster, physical or emotional abuse, neglect, experiencing or witnessing violence, death of a loved one, war, and more. Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships, and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea.

(American Psychiatric Association) Anxiety is a normal reaction to stress and can be beneficial in some situations. It can alert us to dangers and help us prepare and pay attention. Anxiety disorders differ from normal feelings of nervousness or anxiousness and involve excessive fear or anxiety. Anxiety disorders are the most common of mental disorders and affect nearly 30% of adults at some point in their lives.

(American Psychiatric Association) Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a disorder in which people have recurring, unwanted thoughts, ideas or sensations (obsessions). To get rid of the thoughts, they feel driven to do something repetitively (compulsions). The repetitive behaviors, such as hand washing/cleaning, checking on things, and mental acts like (counting) or other activities, can significantly interfere with a person’s daily activities and social interactions.

(Johns Hopkins Medicine) If you have repeated, and unexpected panic attacks, you may have panic disorder. Panic disorder causes bouts of overwhelming fear when there is no specific cause for the fear. In between panic attacks, you may worry greatly about when and where the next one may happen.

(American Psychiatric Association) Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, series of events or set of circumstances. An individual may experience this as emotionally or physically harmful or life-threatening and may affect mental, physical, social, and/or spiritual well-being. Examples include natural disasters, serious accidents, terrorist acts, war/combat, rape/sexual assault, historical trauma, intimate partner violence and bullying,