Disorders and Emotion: The Clear-cut Connection

In lecture, we talked about emotion. Specifically we talked about treating disorders associated with negative emotions such as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (ptsd) and phobias. Some of these treatments include exposure therapy for phobias. I will also briefly go over those same negative emotions that are involved in drug addiction and withdrawal.
The first disorder or group of disorders to look at are phobias. Phobias are any type of fear that generally causes avoidance and/or panic. They are a common type of anxiety disorder. Another common feature of phobias is that they are stimuli-specific. This means that one could be afraid of certain animals, a perfect example is arachnephobia or the fear of spiders. Others are afraid of being in certain situations, an example of this would be agoraphobia or fear of open spaces. Fortunately, such fears can be treated.
http://www.helpguide.org/mental/phobia_symptoms_types_treatment.htm
One effective form of treatment for phobias is exposure therapy. It combines the aspects of behavioral and cognitive psychology in order to successfully treat phobics or those afflicted by phobias. The therapist tries to get the client to retrain their brain by exposing them to the triggers that cause their anxiety. These triggers can be photos of the stimulus or any items related to it. Let's say you had a phobia to cats. The therapist will start out by presenting pictures of catsto try to get you to realize that there s nothing to be afraid of, that they do not cause any danger. Then next is the virtual reality simulation, where they place the clients in that situation where they encounter the source of their irrational fear. So this means, you would be meet face to face with a virtual cat, the expression"face your fears" is taken literally here. When faced with the cat, your brain would have made the association that cats are harmless and you would no longer look at them with dread. Gradually, with the use of Pavlovian conditioning, they learn not to be so anxious and fearful of that stimulus, in the case of the above example it would be cats. Though the fear is diminished, it is not forgotten. Self-help therapies and strategies may work, it all depends on the individual.
http://www.anxietycoach.com/exposuretherapy.html
Another disorder we will look at is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a mental condition caused by a traumatic event. Such events may include: the breakup of a relationship, but the most common is soldiers who take part in combat missions. This disorder is also associated with severe depression and abuse of harmful substances like drugs and alcohol. Symptoms include flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety and constant thoughts about the particular event. PTSD can be debilitating, it can prevent one from going about their everyday life. These flashbacks form what are called flashbulb memories, they keep occurring because they strengthen episodic memories due to a high state of arousal in the brain.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/DS00246
Treatment for PTSD involves both medications and psychotherapy. Medications one could take to cope with the symptoms fall into these four categories. Antipsychotics are taken to cope with emotional outbursts and insomnia. Then there are antidepressants, these can help with depression and anxiety. Another benefit is they can assist in improving in concentration and in insomnia as well. Anti-anxiety medications also help with these symptoms. Finally, a drug pracocin helps by blocking a adrenaline-like chemical in the brain called norepinephrine which has an indirect connection with PTSD. It has been found to successfully suppress nightmares.
Out of the many types of therapy one could take to help cope with their PTSD, here are three specific ones. Cognitive therapy is a type of talk therapy that can help you identify any cognitive patterns or ways of thinking that are keeping you stuck. An example would be perceiving everyday situations in an negative or inaccurate way. Exposure therapy uses the similar techniques to treat this disorder and phobias. This even includes those afflicted with PTSD like soldiers, by placing them in a virtual reality program such as a "virtual Vietnam" program. Finally, there is eye movement and desensitization reprocessing (emdr) combines both exposure therapy with a series of guided movements of the eyes that help the subject process traumatic memories. One could also undergo group therapy which helps when you want to converse with others who are going through similar experiences.
Along with these disorders, drug addiction and withdrawal has some negative emotions associated with them. With drug addiction, one builds a dependence to their drug of choice. The cause for this is that drugs and alcohol hijack the reward system in our brains, which makes the rewarding feeling last for a short time, but the negative emotions linger on. Then with the arrival of withdrawals, such negative emotions are felt like depression and anxiety. The sooner we treat these and other disorders, the better off those afflicted will be. In conclusion, these such disorders have a huge impact on our emotional well-being.