1. Approximately how many Americans suffer from an anxiety disorder?
Your Answer: d. 50 million
CORRECT ANSWER:
a. 20 million
b. 30 million
c. 40 million – Anxiety disorders as a group make up the most commonly diagnosed mental illness in the US, with 18% of the US population affected each year by anxiety. It is also prominent among children, affecting 25.1% of youth between 13-18 years old.
d. 50 million
2. What treatment modality did Rob find most helpful for his panic attacks?
Your Answer: b. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
CORRECT ANSWER:
a. Couples counseling
b. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) – As discussed in the show, EMDR involves bilateral brain stimulation with guided eye movements while revisiting anxiety-provoking thoughts or stimuli. Research has shown this treatment is as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy for panic disorder, however there is currently no consensus about whether it is superior to CBT.
c. Exposure therapy
d. All of the above
e. None of the above
3. Anxiety disorders, especially in children, can often be misdiagnosed as what?
Your Answer: [192]
CORRECT ANSWER:
a. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, has been the focus of much research for several decades. There is some evidence for co-occurrence and potential comorbidity of these disorders, however the data are mixed. A 2015 review examining the literature on comorbidity of ADHD and OCD proposed that ADHD symptoms may result from underlying OCD, leading to misdiagnosis of ADHD in individuals with a diagnosable anxiety disorder.
b. Bipolar disorder
c. Schizophrenia
d. Depression
4. Once Monica’s insomnia improves, what other behavior does she develop?
Your Answer: b. Skin picking
CORRECT ANSWER:
a. Hair pulling
b. Skin picking – Anxiety can manifest itself in many forms and often resurfaces in a new ways throughout an individual’s life. Monica insightfully relates this experience to playing “whack a mole.” This can make tracking symptoms of anxiety extremely difficult for both patients and providers.
c. Vocal tic
d. Excessive sleeping
5. patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, treatment with medication or therapy led to reduction in activity of what brain region?
Your Answer: b. Cerebellum
CORRECT ANSWER:
a. Thalamus – One study specifically used FDG-PET imaging to look at glucose metabolism in the brains of patients with OCD before and after 4 weeks of intensive cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Treatment led to reduction of activity in the thalamus, as well as a significant increase in right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex activity that correlated strongly with the degree of improvement in OCD symptoms (P=0.02). Reduction of thalamic activity may be a final common pathway for improvement in OCD, but response to intensive CBT may require activation of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, a region involved in reappraisal and suppression of negative emotions.These brain changes can be seen on PET scans after only 4 weeks of intensive CBT.
b. Cerebellum
c. Basal ganglia
d. Pons
