ipl-logo

Summary: Genetic Role In Phobia

1415 Words6 Pages

Introduction: Genetic Role in Phobia(s): When grouped with generalized phobia and other anxiety disorders, some estimates place the rate of individuals suffering from anxiety at some point in their life as high as 25% (Kessler, 1994). Due to the high rates of anxiety disorders, the genetic link merits consideration and must be thoroughly evaluated. The majority of evidence indicates there is a consistent, albeit modest contribution of genetic factors to the development of specific phobias. This ‘modest contribution’ means that the predisposition for specific phobias can be passed down from parents to children. One unique, apparent exception to this rule that appears time and time again in published studies is a SP known as blood-injection …show more content…

The evidence gathered from these studies shows the strongest genetic correlation for agoraphobia, the weakest for SP, and falls somewhere in between for social phobia. One problem of the twin studies looking for the genetic contribution to specific phobia in particular is that the twins experience a similar, if not identical familial and social environment during their development and upbringing. This calls into question the external validity of these studies. Another limitation is the fact that, specific phobias, social phobia, generalized social phobia, and agoraphobia are sometimes lumped together due to the scarcity of subjects to study in each of the individual categories. The genetic causes, if present, may be common or they may not …show more content…

A condition known as joint hypermobility syndrome, or joint laxity, has been strongly connected to anxiety disorders. At first glance, this information seems hardly intriguing, but after researchers examined the correlation in more detail an alteration to chromosome 15 was discovered involving a duplication at 15q24-26. The researchers then gathered 70 phobic and unrelated patients attempting to look for this duplication. The duplication was found it in 68 of the subjects. These two pieces of data are among the most important gathered to date; yet they are not without a significant drawback. When conducting the research, the researchers did not seem to distinguish between panic disorder and phobic patients. They were grouped together in a single category and a detailed clinical description of the patients was not included. The data is still highly relevant but the possibility that PD and phobia have different genetic causes cannot be discounted. Summary: Youth studies and animal research has provided additional insight in regards to the neurocircuitry of threat assessment, learning about potentially threatening stimuli or situations, and mounting physiologic responses to conditions that provoke these stimuli (Aggelton, 1992, LeDoux

Show More
Related
525 Words | 3 Pages

D1 which approach I believe would be most effective in meeting Mrs D’s Health and social care needs [600]. After learning of Mrs D’s phobia and gaining better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of both psychological approaches, it is to my belief that the behaviourist approach lacks understanding of the human mind and its processes and therefore psychodynamic approach would be best suited to aid her in overcoming her rat phobia, this conclusion has been made based on the basic knowledge that Mrs D has no recollection of what caused her to have a fear of rats, this gives me reason to believe that there is a high possibility Mrs D had an experience which has been repressed into her unconscious and eliminates any ideas of her phobia being the result of observation and repetition. From the information acquired it is to my belief that this approach would give Mrs D the help needed to both learn the origin of her phobia and also overcome it.

Read More
197 Words | 1 Pages

Her genes made her more predisposed to the development of this psychological condition,

Read More
397 Words | 2 Pages

Likewise, GAD has its own unique causes that differ from both OCD and PTSD. Barlow and his colleagues (2014) provide recent twin studies, which express findings concerning GAD and its genetic influences. Observing these genetic impacts were Kendler and his colleagues, they found that the risk for developing GAD was slightly greater for monozygotic twins compared to zygotic twins supporting that notion that GAD has genetic predispositions. Future investigation expressed the tendency to become anxious is in fact be linked to genetic influence. Though GAD has unique causes, it is an anxiety disorder and therefore shares similarities with OCD and PTSD.

Read More
1068 Words | 5 Pages

Depression was the dominant mental illness whereas bipolar disorder was not (Resnick, 2007). The author analyzed that since her immediately family was diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder the expressive gene would be CACNA1C; CACNB2 would not be considered in the discussion since this expressive gene is linked to Autism and

Read More
231 Words | 1 Pages

The patient is also asked to consider the negative consequences they imagine will occur if they confront the feared stimuli and do not perform their compulsive actions. Exposure starts with only moderately distressing stimuli and only when the patient

Read More
691 Words | 3 Pages

Generalized anxiety disorders affect many American adults aging from 18 years of age or older in a given year. The average age is 31 years old. Anxiety disorders belong to different groups with the highest prevalence among all psychiatric disorders while the range of 1-year prevalence of general anxiety disorder, according to data from World Health Organization occurs 2.4% in Shanghai to 18.2% in the United States (Cesir, 2012). GAD affects about 6.8 million American adults, including twice as many to women as men. The disorder develops gradually and can begin at any point in the patient’s life cycle even though the years of highest risk are between childhood and middle age.

Read More
440 Words | 2 Pages

Fear is a primitive human emotion vital for responding to physical and emotional danger. Although fear can be learned, in our evolutionary past, fear was essential as it enabled humans to respond to danger using the fight-or-flight response via the Sympathomedullary Pathway. An important neuroanatomical structure involved in the process of fear is the amygdala (LeDoux, 2003) which is part of the limbic system. Research has shown that the amygdala is implication in recognition of fear (Adolphs et al. 1995) and feelings of fear (e.g. Ketter et al. 1996). Evidence comes from a human case study (SM) by Damasio et al (1994) who used MRI scanning on a patient with Urbach-Wiethe disease which lead total atrophy of her bilateral amygdala.

Read More
1083 Words | 5 Pages

The NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate)-dependent calcium influx in the lateral amygdala leads to the activation of protein kinases and associated transcription factors during memory formation. Neuroimaging studies suggest involvement of a subcortical pathway, via midbrain and thalamus, to the right amygdala in mediating “unseen” visual events of fear. Studies also have found that the amygdala responds not only to fearful facial manifestation, but also to fearful stimuli and events such as accidents, explosions, mutilations,

Read More
1517 Words | 7 Pages

This mindset reduced the amount of blame that the public placed on the diagnosed for their condition; however, at the same it increased their fear of them. By combining the genetic model with the biological, this problem was hopefully thought to slowly dwindle down. This is so because the biological model places emphasis on what is occurring in the brain of someone who is diagnosed (Rusch pg 331). This reduced the fearfulness of the condition as the public was able to understand what was happening and why. The combination of these two models created an effective holistic model that did help reduce the stigma.

Read More
588 Words | 3 Pages

There are various clinician-administered measures for the assessment of OCD. Clinical interviews and various self-report measures are typically used as well as behavioral avoidance tests or observational tasks in which individuals are exposed to feared stimuli while rating their distress level. It is also important to review the etiological considerations when assessing and diagnosing OCD. Being that OCD involves both genetic and environmental factors. Heredity plays a major role in the etiology of OCD, therefore it would be beneficial to examine if any of Lady Macbeth’s family members have OCD or related disorders.

Read More
1385 Words | 6 Pages

The reason behind this was that fathers had control over ones mate choice and did not consider such traits in a potential spouse. The main model used for demonstrating the link between psychopathology and evolutionary theory was the balancing selection model. This model suggests that alleles that influence a disorder might increase fitness. In the gene pool there are alleles that influence dangerous alterations of personality that cannot be changed. The occurrence of these alleles in the gene pool is linked to the strength of the negative selection pressures put on them.

Read More
1221 Words | 5 Pages

Experts wanted to develop specifiers based on the specific domains of feared social situations (Bogels et al., 2010). Three distinct domains were discovered by multiple studies, which included fear of performance, fear of social interactions, and fear of observation situations. As there was a lack of supporting evidence for the generalized subtype, but a discovery of fear of performance as a variant of SAD, a performance anxiety subtype was proposed for the DSM-5. In addition, Bogels et al. (2010) felt it was necessary for the DSM-5 authors to incorporate fear of social situations and fear of observation situations into the SAD

Read More
1374 Words | 6 Pages

Defining OCD B. Thesis II. Causes A. Coexisting anxiety disorders (Eating disorders) B. Anxiety disorder (Depression) C. Hypochondriasis (The fear of having a serious disease) III.

Read More
713 Words | 3 Pages

There has been extensive research done on exploring how genetics contribute to the disorder but no conclusive evidence has been found. Various studies yielded the results that there are people who have a predisposition towards

Read More
3409 Words | 14 Pages

These feelings of danger can stem from feelings of unpredictability and

Read More

More about Summary: Genetic Role In Phobia

Related Topics

Open Document