Passage Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) Both

Passage
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) both involve an exaggerated response to everyday stressors and a heightened state of anxiety or arousal that can impede concentration and daily functioning.  Both can be effectively treated with medication, including anxiolytics and antidepressants, and with therapy, the most effective of which is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) .  Psychologists believe that the unpredictable nature of stressors plays a key role in the development and persistence of both disorders.  However, the response to predictable threats is believed to be normal.A study was conducted to investigate how individuals diagnosed with PTSD or GAD respond to predictable and unpredictable threats.  Twenty patients with PTSD, 20 patients with GAD, and 50 control participants took part in the study.  The groups did not differ significantly with respect to age or gender.  The study involved two conditions, each three minutes in duration.  During the first (predictable) condition, participants were shown a cue (red box) at random times while gazing through a viewing apparatus.  The cue signaled the imminent presentation of various loud noises such as thunder or screaming, meant to induce fear.  During the second (unpredictable) condition, the loud noise was presented randomly with no warning.The magnitude of the participants' startle response was measured by an eye blink reflex recorded with electrodes placed under the eyes (measured in microvolts [Table 1]) .Table 1  Mean Startle Response in Microvolts by Group and Condition
After the study, participants were asked to rate their subjective fear on a scale of 0 (no fear) to 10 (most fear) .  The controls reported the least fear under both conditions.  PTSD participants expressed greater fear than GAD participants during the unpredictable condition, but GAD participants reported greater fear than PTSD participants during the predictable condition.
C. Grillon, D. S. Pine, S. Lissek, S. Rabin, and M. Vythilingam ©2009 by Society of Biological Psychiatry.
-What is the main difference between GAD and PTSD?

A) People with PTSD tend to hallucinate, whereas people with GAD do not.
B) PTSD requires a long and consistent history of adjustment problems; GAD does not.
C) PTSD requires a precipitating event to bring about the disorder; GAD does not.
D) People with PTSD worry about a wide range of events; people with GAD worry about specific events.

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