Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Case Study

Generalized Anxiety Disorder is characterized by the American Psychological Association (APA) as out of proportion worrying (Timothy A. Sisemore, 2012). It is a different type of OCD but still generalized by intrusive thoughts. The difference is General Anxiety Disorder is more about obsessions and an intolerance of uncertainty. It is anxiety over what will happen before the result of something occurs (Timothy A. Sisemore, 2012). Effective treatment for this includes Venlafaxine (XR) (Karl Rickels, 2000). A case study was conducted. “Adult outpatients with generalized anxiety disorder but not major depressive disorder with total scores of 18 or higher on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety and scores of 2 or higher on its anxious mood and

“Anxiety is the signal of danger which mobilizes the human organism’s resources at all levels of functioning in the interests of conservation, defense, and self- preservation.” (Anxiety 1) If a person suffers from anxiety there is a major loss of control and then an attempt to regain that control because of a fear that they have. Anxiety disorders are one of the most frequently occurring mental disorders in the United States. However, anxiety disorders are not only found in the United States. They are found throughout the world. They just happen to be most predominating in the United States. In this paper, I will be discussing the generalized anxiety disorder and how if effects society today.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is an anxiety disorder that is characterized by excessive, uncontrollable and often irrational worry about everyday things that is disproportionate to the actual source of worry. This excessive worry often interferes with daily functioning, as individuals suffering GAD typically anticipate disaster, and are overly concerned about everyday matters such as health issues, money, death, family problems, friend problems, relationship problems or work difficulties.[1] They often exhibit a variety of physical symptoms, including fatigue, fidgeting, headaches, nausea, numbness in hands and feet, muscle tension, muscle aches, difficulty swallowing, bouts of difficulty breathing, trembling, twitching, irritability,

Those with GAD experience lavish amounts of worry, usually anticipating the worst even when there is no reason to. Unlike phobias, the anxiety isn't connected directly to something, it just a worry that is always present. These worries that these individuals experience are what normal people experience, such as reaching to work safely, but taken to the extreme. The difference between normal worrying and GAD is that, is that the worrying involved in GAD is excessive and often unnecessary. For example, after watching a news report about a school shooting, the average person might feel a temporary sense of worry for their kids. If you have GAD, however, the individual might be up all night after it and continue worrying for days about a worst case scenario that could happen, maybe even keeping your kids from going to school. To deal with GAD, individuals are given suggestions such as to practice deep breathing, meditation. In terms of treatment, presciprdtions are often given to them. One of the drugs prescribed to patients is buspirone. This is an anti-anxiety drug and takes the edge off but does not completely eliminate the anxious feeling. Benzodiazepine is also a drug prescribed which calms the body (“Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is characterized by excessive anxiety and worry that is not limited to one subject, situation or activity (Nevid, Rathus & Greene, 2017). People with GAD are known to worry about many things in their lives; their health, their finances, their well-being and that of their children. It is a worry that can be describe as excess and one that impairs one from functioning (Nevid, Rathus & Greene, 2017).

Preferred treatment for GAD includes medication and cognitive behavioral therapy, but more extensive therapy may be called upon in some instances of recurrence or

Anxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric disorder in the United States. Between 15 - 19% of the population suffers from this disorder, which impairs the quality of life and functioning (Stuart 218). What is anxiety? Abnormal Psychology describes anxiety as “an adaptive emotion that helps us plan and prepare for a possible theat.” The text book further states, “worrying about many different aspects of life becomes chronic, excessive, and unreasonable.” This is also known as generalized anxiety disorder or GAD (Butcher 201). DSM IV-TR specifies that GAD is a worry that occurs more days then not for at least 6 months, and that it must be experienced as difficult to control (Butcher 201). 25% of those that suffer from this

This patient is experiencing generalized anxiety disorder. First, let us look at this disorder from

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by persistent, excessive, and unrealistic worry about everyday things. People with the disorder often experience exaggerated fear and expect the worst, even when there is no apparent reason for concern. They anticipate disaster and are overly concerned about money, health, family, work, or other issues. This disorder affects 6.8 million adults, or 3.1% of the U.S. population, in any given year (Van der Heiden, 2011). GAD comes on gradually and can endure across the life cycle, though the risk is highest between childhood and middle age. Women are twice as likely to be affected.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a very common anxiety disorder; symptoms include nervousness, worrying and tension. The anxiety is not linked to one thing and patients can be overwhelmed by a general feeling of dread. A patient with GAD will worry about the same things as any unaffected person, for example, their health, personal relationships or work. What sets them apart is that the degree of worry or tension is higher than normal levels. The worrying can be both persistent and debilitating. Symptoms are moderate but long lasting persisting for longer than one month. Possible treatment methods for GAD include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Psychopharmacological Therapy, and Acceptance Based Behaviour Therapy. It will be argued that CBT is overall a better treatment for GAD and has been found to be effective and tolerable in the treatment of GAD.

CBT stresses on the patient learning to view the triggering, or stressful situations from a different, more manageable perspective, and to use learned methods of relief that attempt to change the thoughts and behaviors that involves training the patient to detect internal and external stimuli that trigger anxiety and to apply newly learned coping skills that target the psychic and somatic symptoms of the disorder. The drawbacks to psychological therapy such as CBT stems from not only its limited availability, since few providers are trained in providing this type of mental health treatment, especially in rural areas, as but also from patient participation in the treatment. Psychotherapy is a gradual process which may take weeks to derive benefit. As such, many patients become unmotivated due to lack of immediate relief of symptoms. Pharmacotherapy via medications such as antidepressants or benzodiazepines is much more effective at relieving immediate symptoms with medications that have few adverse effects and a lower potential for abuse, though is not normally adequate at long term management of GAD. Combining psychotherapy and and pharmacotherapy is the ideal for improvement of symptoms and management of patients with GAD.The benzodiazepine antianxiety drugs relieve anxiety but should only be prescribed for 4 to 6 weeks because of the potential for abuse

Generalized anxiety disorder(GAD) is much more than the normal anxiety people experience everyday. It is a chronic condition that is chracterized by excessive worry and anxiety, even though there aren't any reasonable explanations for the cause. It is diagnosed when a person spends a least 6 months worrying excessively about numerous everyday problems.

The study has a narrow focus on GAD only and cannot provide any information on other anxiety disorders (Kishita & Laidlaw 2017). The age groups included in the studies both included people aged from 55 to 60 because of an overlap in the age group classification (Kishita & Laidlaw 2017) There is also an apparent lack of patients older than 65. The study also only included articles that used "non-active psychological controls," which created a varied group of controls (Kishita & Laidlaw, 2017, p.133).

According to the Mayo Clinic, genetics may play a role as well as other factors, but is not fully known. Some of the risk factors for GAD is personality, genetics, and sex. With personality, a person who is shy, have negative thoughts, or who avoids dangerous situations may be more prone to generalized anxiety disorder than others are. GAD may run in the family, thus being a genetic factor. Also, women are more prone to have GAD than men. The common two treatments for GAD include medication and psychotherapy. Psychotherapy

According to the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5 (2013), Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is classified as having excessive anxiety and worry occurring more often than not for at least 6 months, that is difficult to control and that impairs daily functioning. At least three symptoms must be present and include restlessness, easily fatigue, difficulty concentrating, irritability, muscle tension and sleep disturbance.