Lesson Structure – Anxiety Management

There are 9 lessons in this course:

1. Scope and Nature of Anxiety and Panic
   • Introduction
   • Normal Anxiety
   • The Autonomic Nervous System
   • Anxiety Today
   • Types of Anxiety Disorders
2. Defining Anxiety and Panic Disorders
   • What are Anxiety Disorders?
   • Physical Affects of Anxiety
   • Mental Symptoms of Anxiety
   • Anxiety Symptoms in Children
   • Recognising Anxiety
   • What is Panic?
   • Panic Symptoms in Children
   • The Difference Between Anxiety and Panic
3. Managing Anxiety: Anxiety Management Plans
   • Methods of Managing Anxiety – Developing an Anxiety Management Plan
   • Anxiety Spirals
   • Understanding Triggers
   • Dealing With Triggers
   • Helping Children Articulate Feelings
   • Medication
   • Making an Anxiety Management Plan
   • Biofeedback
4. Managing Social Anxiety Disorder
   • What is Social Anxiety Disorder?
   • Treating Social Anxiety Disorder
5. Managing Generalised Anxiety Disorder
   • Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
   • A Day in the Life of a Person With GAD
   • Recognising Anxiety Triggers
   • Managing Anxiety
   • Self-Help Ideas for GAD
6. Managing Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia
   • Panic Disorder
   • Treating Panic Attacks
   • Agoraphobia
   • Treating Agoraphobia
7. Managing Environmental Factors that Increase Anxiety and Panic
   • Defining the Term Environment
   • Environmental Management
   • Strategies to Manage the Environment to Reduce Anxiety
8. Alternative Ways to Reduce Anxiety and Panic
   • Pet Therapy
   • Horticultural Therapy
   • Ecotherapy
   • Creative Therapy
   • Play Therapy
9. Research Project – Anxiety Management

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school’s tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Describe anxiety and panic and reasons for the increasing levels of anxiety and panic in the modern world.
• Define anxiety and panic disorder.
• Describe the development of an anxiety management plan.
• Describe appropriate ways to manage symptoms of social anxiety disorder.
• Describe appropriate ways to manage symptoms of generalised anxiety disorder.
• Describe appropriate ways to manage symptoms of panic disorder and agoraphobia.
• Describe methods of managing the environment to reduce anxiety and panic.
• Apply alternative techniques to reduce anxiety and panic.
• Describe treatments for anxiety and/or panic disorder based upon a relevant signs, symptoms, and experiences.
• Explain the nature of anxiety and panic disorders and propose a planned response for management.

NORMAL  ANXIETY

Anxiety is a normal human emotion. Everyone experiences it at some time and another. Anxiety can be helpful at times as it is the body’s way of anticipating and preparing for a negative event. These can be simple things like the first day at school or starting a new job, or larger events, such as getting married or getting divorced.

There are all sorts of potential anxiety-provoking events. Other examples include walking down a dark alley, and hearing a sudden noise in the bushes, or preparing for a skydive.

When a person is anxious, their body prepares for an imminent threat. It does so by triggering what is known as the fight-or-flight response. This response evolved thousands of years ago when humankind lived as hunters and gatherers, when people always had to be alert to possible danger.

For instance, their tribe may get attacked by another tribe, or they may often encounter dangerous animals. They would also have spent more time navigating dangerous landscapes like steep mountainsides and fast-flowing rivers.

On these occasions they would need to either confront the fear-invoking stimulus or escape from it. The fight or flight response is also associated with other intense emotions such as anger and stress.

Although the fight and flight responses were the first to be identified (and are still the best known) research shows that human responses are much broader than this either/or, and can include a variety of other behaviours, including:

• Freeze, which can be classed as a separate response and include feeling stuck, feeling frozen, or feeling unable to move/respond, or included with the fright response.
• Faint, i.e., when the subject faints (syncope), or experiences faintness (also known as pre-syncope)
• Fright, i.e., experiencing fright, which in scientific terms means experiencing tonic immobility, which has been previously known as “playing dead” or “playing possum” in prey mammals). This is sometimes called the “flop” response.

There is some discussion over whether freeze and fright should be considered separate responses; some researchers use the “fight-flight-freeze” response while others use the “fight-flight-fright” terminology.

This is due to the use of “freeze” to describe other responses in psychology. The important part to remember is that the third term is referring to a third state in which the person is immobile and generally frozen and unable to respond, or only able to respond to a minimal level.

A common example of the freeze response is the proverbial deer caught in a car’s headlights. It is separate to the true fright or tonic immobility response. This is why some researchers, psychologists, and social workers refer to “fright” as the “flop” response.

In humans, the freeze response may be an adaptation that allows for data gathering and assessment, such that the individual can process information prior to making a move.

Due to the breadth of other possible reactions to threat, researchers may also refer to a stress response/fight-flight-freeze response as:

• Hyperarousal
  
• Hyper-aroused state
  
• Acute stress response

The Amygdala
The amygdala is a small, almond-shaped area located near the base of the brain.

The amygdala regulates a variety of human responses, but most notably:

• Regulating emotional responses for fear, anger, sadness, anxiety
  
• Regulating/controlling aggressive responses and behaviour
  
• Threat perception
  
• Emotional memory, i.e., the emotions associated with certain memories

Studies show that in animals where the amygdala is damaged or removed, these responses are affected.

One of the amygdala’s most important roles is threat perception. When walking along a dark street late at night, it is the amygdala that gathers information about the surroundings, assesses potential threats, and creates an emotional response and/or physical sensation that helps humans decide on the best course of action.

Consider: Jane walks to her car after finishing the late shift at a city diner. It’s midnight, and she can cut through the park, which is dark and unlit, or walk the longer way around, under the streetlights.

At first, Jane decides she will cut through the park to save time, but as she approaches, the back of her neck begins to prickle, and her palms feel cold and clammy. These physiological responses can be traced back to Jane’s amygdala and how it has perceived threat in the situation: crossing an unlit park at night is a bad idea.

The amygdala is also where the fight-flight-freeze response begins. Remember, this response is how the body reacts to threat, so when the amygdala perceives threat, it starts signalling for the body to respond via the autonomic nervous system. In short, the amygdala helps keep the rest of the body safe.

In most people, the amygdala responds in reasonable ways to everyday situations, using experience to help make determinations for when to kick the fight-flight-freeze response into gear. In one well-known theory of how anxiety works, researchers think that people with anxiety may have an overactive amygdala.

Rather than only responding to true dangers, like the risk of being attacked in an unlit park, the amygdala perceives potential dangers in more every day, non-life-threatening situations. This response can trigger the fight-flight-freeze response, which then brings up an anxiety response in the individual.

In some cases, the amygdala may even begin to adapt to this constant “on” response, such that the person is more likely to feel some level of anxiety all the time.

This theory of anxiety fits well with people who develop anxiety after trauma or other events; in these scenarios, the amygdala response (and other protective responses) is hyper-responsive in the wake of trauma. Understanding this response can help in the management of anxiety disorders.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Here is a list of the most often asked FAQ’s.

General

Q. Why should I enrol with the Academy for Distance Learning?
A. Here at ADL, our students are our priority – we treat everyone as a unique individual.

Q. Do I need to buy text books?
A. No, as each module has been written by highly qualified industry professionals. The content of the material is presented in such a way that text books are not required. However, if you require additional reading your tutor will be able to supply a list.

Q. What happens if I have to stop studying for a while? (eg. become sick, go on holidays, have a baby, move house, etc)
A. It’s OK to take a break and start up your study at a later point in time. Just let us know.

Q. Is there an age limit?
A. There is no maximum age limit. We do however, have a minimum age limit of 18 years. Below that age parental consent would be required.

Q. Are your courses up-to date?
A. Our courses are revised and updated on a rotation system.

Q. Do you have a Cancellation policy?
A. Yes. We have a cancellation policy that is fair and equitable. For further details please click here.

Q. Will I have any opportunity to engage with other students?
A. We have a Student Community group based on facebook! If you don’t have a facebook account already, you could make one just for talking with fellow students on the group.

Enrolment

Q. When can I enrol/start?
A. You may enrol and start at any time of the year – it’s all self- paced.

Q. Can I study from anywhere in the world?
A. Our courses are available to anyone, anywhere in the world from the comfort of your own home. The course content is relevant to any country, culture or economy.

Q. How long do I have to complete the course?
A. You complete the course at any time that is convenient for you.

Q. Completing a 100 hour module – how long will it take?
A. For some students a 100 hour module will take approximately to 3- 6 months to complete. Others take less time and some even longer.

Assessment

Q. Assessment – how does it work?
A. For each 100 hour module you are assessed by assignments (at the end of each lesson) and a final one and a half hour exam (or you may elect to complete a Project, instead of sitting the exam) – the choice is yours – you sit for the exam in your own location.

Q. I don’t cope well with exams – what can I do?
A. You may elect to undertake a Project (set by your tutor) instead of sitting the exam. Projects are completed from your home and can usually take a couple of weeks to complete.

Q. If my assignment is not up to standard is there an opportunity to resubmit my work?
A. Yes –

Q. How many assignments do I need to complete for each module?
A. At the end of each lesson, there is an assignment – so if a course has say, 10 lessons, there would be 10 assignments.

Q. I am having difficulty attending workshops/industry meetings, what can be done?
A. If your course requires attendance at workshops, conferences, or industry meetings; alternative arrangements can be made in your country.

Qualifications

Q. What qualification will I receive?
A. For individual modules, you would be awarded a Certificate endorsed by TQUK (Training Qualifications, UK), providing you complete all assignments and the exam. If you just want to complete only the assignments and not sit for the exam or finish a Project, then a Letter of Achievement would be awarded. For more details on qualifications available please click here.

Q. Can I customize my diploma/higher qualification?
A. Not all educational institution’s certificates /diplomas meet everyone’s needs. The opportunity to Design Your Own Diploma at the Academy (subject to our approval) is an added bonus, not found at other colleges. You choose modules that you think will help you in achieving your goal.

Q. What do I get when I complete the course? Will I receive a transcript?
A. At the completion of all courses and providing all assignments and exam requirements have been met, you will receive your Award and a Transcript.

Tutors

Q. Our tutors – who are they?
A. We appoint Tutors and require that they must be currently active in their industry, with at least 5 years’ experience in their chosen profession.

Q. Can I contact my tutor at any time?
A. Yes – you have unlimited access to your tutor via email through our Online Classroom. You can always leave a message with ADL requesting your tutor to contact you. You decide on how much or how little contact you wish to have.

Q. Practical work – How is this done?
A. To find out more about this part of the course please visit the section on How Our Courses Work here.