Developmental psychopathology
Lecture 1 – anxiety disorders in children and adolescents
Emotions – 4 basic emotions:
- Happiness
- Fear
- Anger
- Sadness
Sometimes 6: disgust and surprise
SDQ emotional problems:
12 years:
- Boys = 14%
- Girls = 33%
12 – 16 years:
- Boys = 13%
- Girls = 43%
Low emotional being 12 year old 16%, 12-16 years 32%
Fear/fright and anxiety
- Fear/fright: reflex reaction to immediate danger
- Anxiety: reaction to threat of possible danger, including recognition of
dangerous stimulus
- Correlation between strong fright reactions and the development of anxiety
disorders
What is anxiety? – 3 symptoms
- Physical component
- Cognitive component
- Behavioral component
Physical component:
- Increased heartrate, pain chest
- Short of breath, breathless
- Dizzy, weak
- Stomach ache, nausea
- Tremble
- Tingling hands or feet
- Increased msucle tension
- Sweating
- Blushing
- Shivers
- Headache
Cognitive component
Thoughts or images:
- Threat/dangerous event/danger
- Getting hurt
- Negative evaluation
- Unable to cope
, - Near death
- Losing your mind
Behavioral component
- Trembling voice
- Crying
- Screaming
- Nail biting
- Thumb sucking
- Fidgeting
- Close eyes
- Don’t speak
- Seeking proximity
- Anger tantrum
Anxiety =
- Evaluation of a physical or psychological threat against which one thinks to
have no defense, and to which a physical, cognitive and behavioral
component can be distinguished
Social anxiety disorder
Anxiety for situation in which the child:
- Has to interact with others
- Has to present
- Might get a critical comment of
someone else
- Being judged
,Separation anxiety disorder
- Anxiety or worry to be seperated
from home or attachment figures
- Not appropriate for developmental
phase
- Avoidance or excessive anxiety
- Nightmares
- Physical complaints
- Anger tantrums
Gegeneralised anxiety disorder
- Excessieve anxiety of worry about
several topics
- Difficulty to control this worry
Specific phobia
Clear and persistent anxiety that’s being elicit by a specific object or situation
- Animal
- Nature-environment
- Blood-injection-injury
- Situational
Panic disorder
- Recurrent unexpected panic attacks with symptoms like:
, • heart palpitations
• trembling
• perspiration
• short of breath
• paint at chest
• dizzy
→ Fear of losing control or dying
- Worry/anxiety that panic attack will happen
again and that it will have consequences
Panic attack
Lecture 1 – anxiety disorders in children and adolescents
Emotions – 4 basic emotions:
- Happiness
- Fear
- Anger
- Sadness
Sometimes 6: disgust and surprise
SDQ emotional problems:
12 years:
- Boys = 14%
- Girls = 33%
12 – 16 years:
- Boys = 13%
- Girls = 43%
Low emotional being 12 year old 16%, 12-16 years 32%
Fear/fright and anxiety
- Fear/fright: reflex reaction to immediate danger
- Anxiety: reaction to threat of possible danger, including recognition of
dangerous stimulus
- Correlation between strong fright reactions and the development of anxiety
disorders
What is anxiety? – 3 symptoms
- Physical component
- Cognitive component
- Behavioral component
Physical component:
- Increased heartrate, pain chest
- Short of breath, breathless
- Dizzy, weak
- Stomach ache, nausea
- Tremble
- Tingling hands or feet
- Increased msucle tension
- Sweating
- Blushing
- Shivers
- Headache
Cognitive component
Thoughts or images:
- Threat/dangerous event/danger
- Getting hurt
- Negative evaluation
- Unable to cope
, - Near death
- Losing your mind
Behavioral component
- Trembling voice
- Crying
- Screaming
- Nail biting
- Thumb sucking
- Fidgeting
- Close eyes
- Don’t speak
- Seeking proximity
- Anger tantrum
Anxiety =
- Evaluation of a physical or psychological threat against which one thinks to
have no defense, and to which a physical, cognitive and behavioral
component can be distinguished
Social anxiety disorder
Anxiety for situation in which the child:
- Has to interact with others
- Has to present
- Might get a critical comment of
someone else
- Being judged
,Separation anxiety disorder
- Anxiety or worry to be seperated
from home or attachment figures
- Not appropriate for developmental
phase
- Avoidance or excessive anxiety
- Nightmares
- Physical complaints
- Anger tantrums
Gegeneralised anxiety disorder
- Excessieve anxiety of worry about
several topics
- Difficulty to control this worry
Specific phobia
Clear and persistent anxiety that’s being elicit by a specific object or situation
- Animal
- Nature-environment
- Blood-injection-injury
- Situational
Panic disorder
- Recurrent unexpected panic attacks with symptoms like:
, • heart palpitations
• trembling
• perspiration
• short of breath
• paint at chest
• dizzy
→ Fear of losing control or dying
- Worry/anxiety that panic attack will happen
again and that it will have consequences
Panic attack
