Literature Review On Generalized Anxiety Disorder

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

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 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).

Drug treatment has produced very limited results in treating GAD, and for this reason there is a need for a different approach. CBT or cognitive behavioural therapy has produced a lessening of symptoms in some people, yet there is an alternative treatment that focuses not only on the symptoms, but also on the cause and drivers of those symptoms. And this treatment is transformational hypnotherapy.

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.

During the Enlightenment, philosophers were starting to drift away from religion, and many new truths were beginning to be discovered. When these new ideas, or truths, started to make more sense then the certainty of religion, a state of anxiety began to grow within the human mind. As this state of anxiety grew, many anxiety disorders began to sprout and show themselves within humans. These disorders, such as certain phobias, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) began to take over many people’s lives. For many years, doctors have tried using harmful drugs to change the chemicals within the brain, to help relieve anxiety. As truth continues to be discovered, and anxiety continues to rise, therapeutic interventions will be proven to be more efficient in treating anxiety than its counterpart, the dangerous drugs that humans become dependent on.

Odds are you or someone you know suffers from an anxiety disorder, this comes at no surprise however, because according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America a whopping 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population suffer from these disorders. According to helpguide.org there are six types of anxiety disorders, they consist of generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, social anxiety disorder, phobias, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Within some of these disorders are different more specific disorders that can be diagnosed as well. For the most part all of these disorders come with their own signs, symptoms, caustations, and treatments, leaving a visit to a mental health professional as the best

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.

Anxiety disorders are the most common disorder in the united states. There are six different types of anxiety disorders. There is generalized anxiety disorder, anxiety attack(panic disorder), obsessive compulsive disorder, phobia disorder, social anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

This disorder is one of the most arguably common faced encounters clinicians deal with today. Because of this I choose to focus much of my emphasis on the difficulties one face, that’s diagnosed with GAD and the hard ship of building and maintain a good client relationship. Generalized anxiety disorder begins at the onset of a worry and or tension that carries on into more severe and debilitating symptom (American Psychological Association, 1997). These symptoms are triggered by a multitude of reactions or situation that leads the individual to face uncontrollable panic like attacks. Even when a person feels the onset of an Anxiety attack it is difficult for them to control it because of the inability and impairment state it leaves them in.

Ever since I was little, I’ve found difficulty in the most simple tasks. Talking to the server at any given restaurant, asking the teacher for a bathroom pass, or even getting up to throw something away at lunch. I had a really hard time talking to people or having attention drawn to me. I couldn’t communicate with anyone, and every time I was left alone I always thought something would happen. I would always worry about drawing too much attention, or looking a certain way, or getting the worst possible outcome no matter what I try to do. I thought that all of my fears were dumb and that I was being over dramatic about everything. I was always worrying about something, and it was futile. I got nowhere making myself worry

Generalized Anxiety Disorder is a disorder that I struggle with personally. It is when a person has a tense feeling of stress, and anxiety for long periods of time without any real cause of it. Even though everyone has fears, and has stress from time to time it isn’t harmful unless the anxiety and stress is keeping someone from living their life, and relaxing. Generalized Anxiety Disorder is different from other anxiety disorders because panic attacks rarely occur, and instead an overpowering sense of dread is long lasting.

The most common treatments include psychotherapy, medications, and self help. Psychotherapy for GAD focuses on “individual’s low-level, ever-present anxiety. Such anxiety is often accompanied by poor planning skills, high stress levels, and difficulty in relaxing”(Grohol par. 1). By going to psychotherapy it allows you to go through the tough time with someone else and allows you to learn strategies you may not have heard of in order to help you reduce your symptoms. Medications can also be used in order to help someone suffering from GAD. Medications are used normally for more serious cases. Someone who has serious GAD and attends psychotherapy may not see a big change due to being overwhelmed and can not concentrate while in therapy. Most common medications used are Diazepam (Valium) and lorazepam. Medications are used for short time use to reduce symptoms enough to be able to treat them other ways. Lastly self help is an option. Self-help methods for the treatment of this disorder are often overlooked. One main way of self help includes support groups. There are many support groups in communities and are devoted to helping individuals with this disorder share their commons experiences and feelings of anxiety. Some people reduce their symptoms by feeling empowered by conquering there problem

Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is characterised by pervasive, uncontrollable, and excessive worry (Newman et al., 2011; Marcus, Westra, Angus, & Kertes, 2011; Salzer, Winkelbach, Leweke, Leibing, and Leichsenring, 2011; Rynn et al., 2008; & Mittee, 2005). It is also associated with somatic symptoms (Salzer et al., 2011; Rynn et al., 2008; & Mittee, 2005), and avoidance of emotional processing (Newman et al., 2011). Prevalence is higher in women, particularly women aged 45 to 55 (Burton, Westen, & Kowalski, 2015). The Australian Burro of Statistics reports a 5.9% lifetime prevalence for GAD (as cited in, Burton et al., 2015). It is there for important to evaluate different treatment methods that directly target problem areas associated with GAD. Treatment methods evaluated in this essay include; duloxetine; cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and acceptance-based behaviour therapy (ABBT). It will be argued that CBT is the most effective short and long-term treatment for GAD.