Generalized Anxiety Disorder

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

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

The purpose of this paper is to examine different ways of using CBT in treating anxiety disorder. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most used approach in treating anxiety and depression. There are different styles of CBT that are used to treat different subtypes of anxieties. However, the main focus of this paper will be about incorporating different intervention programs to CBT to treat Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).

Evaluation for an anxiety disorder often begins with a visit to a primary care provider. Some physical health conditions, such as an overactive thyroid or low blood sugar, as well as taking certain medications, can imitate or worsen an anxiety disorder. A thorough mental health evaluation is also helpful, because anxiety disorders often co-exist with other related conditions, such as depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Given the prevalence of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and associated impairments as well as the significant burden imposed on health care resources, accurate assessment of anxiety is needed. Evaluating GAD and its severity by mental health and primary care clinicians is an increasingly important goal. Reliable

Generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by a continuous state of excessive, uncontrollable, and pointless worry and apprehension. People with generalized anxiety disorder often worry about routine, everyday things, even though their concerns are unjustified.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a DSM-V anxiety disorder characterized by excessive worry and apprehensiveness about a variety of present and future activities and events. 48

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.

The limbic system was first recognized due to Franz Josef Gall (LeDoux, J., 1996). Franz Joseph Gall developed the idea of “phrenology” that focused on the study of the different variations of bumps on the human skull to be related to differences in behavioral and emotional functioning. The limbic system’s main function in the brain is to control emotional behaviors and certain forms of memories that are infused with emotion (amygdala). The amygdala is a part of the brain that forms the tail end of the basal ganglia within the rostral temporal lobe and is located near the hippocampus (Lambert, K.G. & Kinsley, C .H., 2005). The amygdala, as defined by the text, is an almond-shaped structure that functions as a part of the limbic system involved in regulation of emotion and sexual urges (Lambert, K.G. & Kinsley, C .H., 2005). In addition, the amygdala is comprised of a dozen or more sub regions that are not all involved in fear conditioning (LeDoux, J., 1996).

This is the part of your brain responsible for emotions in the brain. It is located at about the very inner section of the brain. The Limbic system is also a simple way to describe the several types of the functionality and anatomically interconnected nuclei and cortical structures that are located in the telencephalon and diencephalon. “It is the ‘thinking brain” said Dartmouth Medical School. The information is sent to the system through the olfactory, viscera and retina as well as internal sensors in your body. The limbic system includes the amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, hypothalamus, basal ganglia, and cingulate

One of the most important parts of our brain is the Limbic System. The Limbic System is responsible for controlling the emotions that you may feel in a situation. For example, if you see a child fall off his bike, you may feel sympathy for him/her since you once fell off of your bike.

This sensory information travels to two areas of the brain. The first is the limbic system that is responsible for more primitive function. The limbic system lies on both sides of the hypothalamus, just under the cerebrum. It is primarily responsible for emotional life and the formation of memories. (Boeree, 2009)

The layer of the brain that covers the Brain stem is the Limbic System, which regulates motivated behaviors, emotional states, memories and is composed of three structures, the Hippocampus, Amygdale, and the Hypothalamus. The important role of acquisitions of memories is part of the largest structure of the Limbic System, the Hippocampus. The Amygdale is controls emotions, aggression, the formation of emotional memory, and has the critical role in the formation and retrieval of memories with emotional context. the smallest structure of the Limbic System is the Hypothalamus, playing a vital role in most daily actions, and regulating motivated behaviors like eating, drinking and the Homeostasis or the Equilibriums of

The limbic system refers to a collection of subcortical structures in the brain that surround the thalamus. Among other structures, this area consists of the amygdala, olfactory cortex, hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus in the medial temporal lobe. Individuals with medial temporal lobe amnesia have shown impairment for learning as well as retrograde amnesia for recent events, but no such deficit for remembering remote events (Bayley, Hopkins, & Squire, 2003; Reed & Squire, 1998).

Amygdala (p.98): The amygdala is an important part of our brain and limbic system because it is the center for our emotions. The amygdala and limbic system matures earlier that the prefrontal cortex that increases cognitive control and allows one to control one’s emotions. I think that this is interesting because it can explain why teenagers and young adults have more impulsive behaviors linked to their passionate emotions.