Generalized Anxiety Disorders: A Case Study

The purpose of this paper is to take the case of Adrian from a DSM-IV perspective and further analyze it from a more current DSM-5 perspective. Adrian is a 39-year-old Caucasian mother of two children, a son, age 12 and a daughter, age 7. The DSM-IV case study format has given Adrian a principle diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder and secondary diagnosis of social phobia. In the following paragraphs, this diagnosis will be discussed using the most recent DSM-5 criteria, other conditions to consider will be explored, the WHODAS and culture formulation interview will be utilized and examined and, lastly, a new DSM-5 diagnosis will be given.

Treanor, Michael, et al. "Generalized Anxiety Disorder." The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science, edited by W. Edward Craighead, and Charles B. Nemeroff, Wiley, 4th edition, 2010. Credo Reference,

“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,

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

1. Client demonstrates excessive and sometimes unrealistic worry that has been occurring more days than not for past seven months. Client has been affected by physical issues due to anxiety; such as, nausea, diarrhea, lack of sleep and trouble falling asleep, excessive crying, discourse at home, and hypervigilance.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder first became an individual disorder in 1980. Woodman stated in her article, “The American Psychiatric Association separated anxiety neurosis into (1) panic disorder, characterized by spontaneous episodes of intense anxiety, and (2) Generalized Anxiety Disorder, a residual category for patients who have chronic, sustained anxiety without panic attacks” (Woodman, 1997). The separation of the two disorders was made at the time because of the responses people had with different medications. According to Woodman, Generalized Anxiety Disorder was finally given an independent status and a set of defined criteria of symptoms in DSM-11-R, with the main symptom of Generalized Anxiety Disorder being excessive worry. It is now known that it is differentiated by more than just different reactions to medicines, but with more systematical studies done, the symptom checklist has been edited to best discriminate between normal and pathological anxiety (Woodman, 1997).

Generalized Anxiety disorder is a highly prevalent, chronic, costly and disabling mental disorder (Tyrer & Baldwin, 2006). This disorder is defined by excessive and persistent worry and anxiety about everyday internal and external events. Other symptoms can be restlessness, fatigue, problems concentrating, irritability, and sleep issues. This journal article describes anxiety disorder and different types of treatments used to help patients with anxiety disorder.This research is primarily on the effects of psychological treatments of GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder). In the trial study, they compared psychotherapy with untreated controls and others psychotherapies they used pharmacotherapy. They did this to see if they could understand the overall effects of psychotherapy in GAD. They also wanted to take a closer look at long term effects. The study also wanted to include something that was not like the face to face studies of the past. They wanted to look at internet-based CBT and pharmacological treatment. They took 41 of the previous studies and examined them between their

Generalized Anxiety disorder (GAD) is a disorder consisting of excessive worrying, tension and nervousness. This condition can occur over and over again and if left untreated can lead to suicidal and violent thoughts in the patient. Even though there are certain triggers to the condition, the person eventually becomes so used to worrying and taking stress that they can't control the feeling. These dreadful feelings and excessive thinking eventually overtakes them and leads them into more and more depression. Consequently, the stress and anxiety interferes with the patient's ability to lead a normal life. The major symptoms of this order are motor tension, violence, autonomic hyperactivity, apprehension, and vigilance. GAD has been defined as a state of worry and anxiety that lasts for at least six months and is accompanied by any of the associative symptoms. Associative symptoms included irritability, insomnia, and fatigability.

The new patient to the clinic is a 27-year-old Native American female who is a mother of two girls, ages 11 and 8 years old. The patient was referred from her primary care doctor after a routine checkup. The notes in the patients chart forward from the doctor stated that the patient is unable to sleep at night due to recurring nightmares. Which is causing the patient to be very irritable, difficultly concentrating, and having high levels of anxiety. The anxiety is causing the patient to be easily overwhelmed, always worried and feeling hopelessness. Also, the patient is noticing memory gaps which are making her have a lack of mental energy throughout the day.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a disorder of shared self-reported symptoms. It goes with tension, uncontrollable worrying, sometimes muscle pain, trouble sleeping, and irritability that all together impair work ability, relations, and leisure activities. It is a common condition and there are psychological and pharmacological treatment options are available for anxiety disorders but not all patients respond to the same treatment as others. Finding a good treatment can take many months or sometimes longer. Patients just have to go through the adequate treatment trials for the right amount of time. There are six major forms of anxiety disorders, each with their own distinct symptom: panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), specific phobias, and the most common generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Most anxiety disorders are treated with behavioral therapy, medication, or some combination of the two. Sometimes complementary or alternative treatments may also be helpful.

About three percent of men and women in the U.S. suffer from Generalized anxiety disorder (APAA). It is one of the most common forms of anxiety and seems to be the most left untreated because people don’t know that it can be treated. GAD, although it affects many, is a disorder that can be detrimental to the quality of life of an individual. With the regard to the quality of life, the level of severity that a person experiences is a great factor in determining more information. The accumulated information is a defining feature in figuring the dissimilarity of the normal fight or flight response and the diagnoses of GAD. The disorder itself is that of excessive worry (AnxietyBC) about everyday things like, financial situations, school, family, or health (APAA). Having three or more symptoms such as nausea, shaking, sweating, hot flashes, headaches, and many others, is what contributes to the diagnosis (Patel).

During the time of assessment the patient was asleep and wakened by TACT. The patient was cooperative and clam when wakened. The patient reports that all his life he has had concerns with controlling his behavior. Patient he was in the army from 2008-2012 and suffers from nightmares. The patient reports self-medicating with Marijuana to cope with "mood swing",

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is an ailment that affects relatively 5% of the general population (Neurobiology and Genetics, 2011). GAD is a mental illness that can be difficult to understand or to describe. It is also very hard to diagnose because most people who are experiencing it believe that it is normal to worry about issues at that level. People with Generalized Anxiety Disorder have extreme fear and concern about even the littlest issues in their lives. They believe that something will always go wrong (NIH). There are times when these fears can keep these people from completing every day activities. There are also many symptoms that come along with this disorder. For instance, people with Generalized Anxiety Disorder have problems sleeping, headaches, fatigue, trembling, lightheadedness, and many other problems (NIH). GAD can make a big impact on a person’s life so it is important for them to get all the information they can about it in order to improve their quality

Hannah, a 25 year old Caucasian female, presented as alert, tense, and oriented 3x. Hannah is well groomed and appropriately dressed. Her affect was blunted flat. While client was cooperative, she presented as guarded, which may be due to her anxiety. She was calm, but displays signs of anxiety by posture, shuffling hands, lip biting, and eye movement.