Anxiety Disorders
Course #66183 -
- Participation Instructions
- Review the course material online or in print.
- Complete the course evaluation.
- Review your Transcript to view and print your Certificate of Completion. Your date of completion will be the date (Pacific Time) the course was electronically submitted for credit, with no exceptions. Partial credit is not available.
Anxiety disorders are characterized by states of chronic, excessive dread or fear of everyday situations. The fear and avoidance can be life-impairing and disabling. Anxiety disorders result from the interaction of biopsychosocial factors, whereby genetic vulnerability interacts with situations, stress, or trauma to produce clinically significant syndromes. The influence from hereditary factors and adverse psychosocial experiences on anxiety disorder pathogenesis and pathophysiology is complex, but neuroscience advances have greatly improved the understanding of the underlying factors in the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders.
- INTRODUCTION
- BACKGROUND
- OVERALL PREVALENCE, RISK FACTORS, AND CLINICAL COURSE
- ETIOLOGY AND PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
- CLINICAL AND DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES
- ASSESSMENT
- GENERAL TREATMENT CONSIDERATIONS
- TREATMENT OF GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER
- TREATMENT OF PANIC DISORDER
- TREATMENT OF AGORAPHOBIA
- TREATMENT OF SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER
- TREATMENT OF SPECIFIC PHOBIA
- TREATMENT OF SEPARATION ANXIETY DISORDER
- EMERGING THERAPIES AND NOVEL TREATMENT APPROACHES
- COMPLEMENTARY/ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES
- CONCLUSION
- Works Cited
- Evidence-Based Practice Recommendations Citations
This advanced course is designed for psychologists involved in the identification, treatment, and care of patients with anxiety disorder.
The purpose of this course is to provide psychologists with the knowledge and skills necessary to appropriately identify and treat patients with anxiety disorders, addressing knowledge gaps, enhancing clinical skills, and improving patient outcomes.
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Review basic concepts related to anxiety disorders, including safety behaviors/signals and primary features.
- Outline the epidemiology of anxiety disorders in the United States.
- Describe general risk factors for and comorbidities of anxiety disorders.
- Describe risk factors for and the clinical course of specific anxiety disorders.
- Discuss the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders in relation to contributing genetic, physiologic, and psychologic factors.
- Review the pathophysiology of specific anxiety disorders, including social anxiety disorder, agoraphobia, and specific phobia.
- Apply the clinical and diagnostic criteria for anxiety disorders presented in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
- Analyze key components of screening and select appropriate screening tools for identification of anxiety disorders.
- Conduct an informed clinical evaluation and select laboratory testing, in consideration of the differential diagnosis of anxiety disorders.
- Describe general treatment considerations for anxiety disorders, including predictors of response or nonresponse to therapy.
- Discuss the role and efficacy of psychotherapy approaches in the treatment of anxiety disorders.
- Select a pharmacotherapy option appropriate to a given patient's specific diagnosis, age, and comorbidities.
- Devise a strategy for management and follow-up designed to improve outcomes.
- Provide patient education more effectively, in relation to specific anxiety disorders.
- Address the efficacy, safety and limitations of novel, emerging, and alternative/complementary approaches to the treatment of anxiety disorders.
Mark Rose, BS, MA, LP, is a licensed psychologist in the State of Minnesota with a private consulting practice and a medical research analyst with a biomedical communications firm. Earlier healthcare technology assessment work led to medical device and pharmaceutical sector experience in new product development involving cancer ablative devices and pain therapeutics. Along with substantial experience in addiction research, Mr. Rose has contributed to the authorship of numerous papers on CNS, oncology, and other medical disorders. He is the lead author of papers published in peer-reviewed addiction, psychiatry, and pain medicine journals and has written books on prescription opioids and alcoholism published by the Hazelden Foundation. He also serves as an Expert Advisor and Expert Witness to law firms that represent disability claimants or criminal defendants on cases related to chronic pain, psychiatric/substance use disorders, and acute pharmacologic/toxicologic effects. Mr. Rose is on the Board of Directors of the Minneapolis-based International Institute of Anti-Aging Medicine and is a member of several professional organizations.
Contributing faculty, Mark Rose, BS, MA, LP, has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
Margaret Donohue, PhD
The division planner has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
Sarah Campbell
The Director of Development and Academic Affairs has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
The purpose of NetCE is to provide challenging curricula to assist healthcare professionals to raise their levels of expertise while fulfilling their continuing education requirements, thereby improving the quality of healthcare.
Our contributing faculty members have taken care to ensure that the information and recommendations are accurate and compatible with the standards generally accepted at the time of publication. The publisher disclaims any liability, loss or damage incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents. Participants are cautioned about the potential risk of using limited knowledge when integrating new techniques into practice.
It is the policy of NetCE not to accept commercial support. Furthermore, commercial interests are prohibited from distributing or providing access to this activity to learners.
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The role of implicit biases on healthcare outcomes has become a concern, as there is some evidence that implicit biases contribute to health disparities, professionals' attitudes toward and interactions with patients, quality of care, diagnoses, and treatment decisions. This may produce differences in help-seeking, diagnoses, and ultimately treatments and interventions. Implicit biases may also unwittingly produce professional behaviors, attitudes, and interactions that reduce patients' trust and comfort with their provider, leading to earlier termination of visits and/or reduced adherence and follow-up. Disadvantaged groups are marginalized in the healthcare system and vulnerable on multiple levels; health professionals' implicit biases can further exacerbate these existing disadvantages.
Interventions or strategies designed to reduce implicit bias may be categorized as change-based or control-based. Change-based interventions focus on reducing or changing cognitive associations underlying implicit biases. These interventions might include challenging stereotypes. Conversely, control-based interventions involve reducing the effects of the implicit bias on the individual's behaviors. These strategies include increasing awareness of biased thoughts and responses. The two types of interventions are not mutually exclusive and may be used synergistically.