Sociological Imagination: Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Anxiety happens to everyone, at some point in time. In fact, a little anxiety can actually be good for you. It can help you respond appropriately to danger, and it can motivate you to excel at work and home. (www.mayoclinic.com) However, when anxiety becomes so strong that it affects your daily

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

Next let us look at the psychodynamic explanation of generalized anxiety disorder. “Causes of” (2001) states the psychodynamic theory as defining anxiety as an alerting mechanism in response to unconscious motivations clashing with the constraints of the conscious mind. Benavidez (2009) states some children are more prone to generalized anxiety disorder because they are overrun by neurotic and/or moral anxiety.

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.

Like most other disorders of diseases, risks are usually prevalent. People who are divorced, living alone, or people who are a single parent are more likely to get GAD (Thomas). Gender is similarly a large factor; women have twice as much of a chance to get GAD when compared to men (A.D.A.M.). Additionally, according to A.D.A.M. being shy can contribute to this disorder because they may be a focus for bullies, causing the shy individual to develop anxiety and have trouble enduring uncertainty.

Anxiety is one of the banalest features in the human mind. People with severe anxiety can have strenuous difficulties in life. In the past, anxiety was deemed irrelevant, and it was assumed to be benign. In recent years, Researchers have concluded that anxiety can be detrimental to one’s health. Anxiety can range from mild to strong, but nonetheless, it can affect lives severely. Almost everybody in the world has at least some type of anxiety. Whether it is presenting in front of a crowd, going to social events, reliving a traumatic experience, or even going on a rollercoaster. Psychology doctor, Peg O-Conner declares in her article that anxiety is, in fact, part of human nature (Conner). Conner argues that becoming unable to prioritize matters,

To experience any form of anxiety, such as interviews, a drive in traffic, or even a first date is a natural- human experience. For instance, one begins to undergo a feeling of failure regarding specific class. Nevertheless, sometimes, the emotion, keeps us motivated and school work-orientated. Yet, now and then, anxiety can take a hold on one when intense fear and distress becomes too overwhelming; it can prevent one from doing everyday thing. As a result, anxiety disorder can be the cause (B. T. Anxiety Disorders, 2016). According to National Alliance of Mental Illness, known as NAMI (2016), anxiety disorders are a common mental health concern in the United States. Roughly, forty million adults in the United States, and eight percent of children and teenagers face some sort of a negative impact of an anxiety disorder. Consequently, people develop symptoms of anxiety disorder before the age twenty-one.

One of the most common disorders in our society today is generalized anxiety disorder. I am going to dive in to the methods of treatment and thoroughly discuss the various ways this disorder is handled. I experience anxiety when it comes to being in large bodies of water and also when I see spiders. Treatment options for anxiety disorders range from herbal remedies to prescribed medication. There are so many treatment options that I had no idea were even a possibility. The treatments I am going to talk about and describe in depth are ones that I researched and were shown to have the highest success rate. This could be

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

Anxiety plagues millions of Americans every day. There are so many people who go about their daily lives struggling with an untreated anxiety disorder. Contrary to popular assumption, anxiety is not something that goes away on its own. Each anxiety disorder is unique, and finding a way to treat your own type of anxiety can be a very emotionally taxing experience.

Anxiety, also known as generalized anxiety disorder, is categorized by Mayo Clinic as “ongoing anxiety and worry that are difficult to control and interfere with day-to-day activities”(“Generalized”). According to Mayo Clinics article Generalized Anxiety Disorder that not only adults but also children and adolescent who have this disorder that “Your anxiety, worry or physical symptoms cause you significant distress in social, work or other areas of your life.” Everyone experiences anxiety at one point in their life it; however, becomes a disorder once it starts to interfere with the everyday life of that person. The symptoms of anxiety in adults are persistent worrying over normally insignificant details in life, overthinking, having difficulty

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 characterized by many symptoms and often associated with depressive tendencies. Although the majority are produced in a person based off of their genetic material, other influences exist environmentally that can encourage or discourage the severity of the symptoms and prognosis it has on one’s overall well-being. Early diagnosis and a systematic combination of treatments can help reduce the tensions and encourage a more normal life than what was previously experienced by the person with the disorder.

     Anxiety disorders are serious medical illnesses that affect approximately 19 million American adults. These disorders fill people's lives