Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Monday, 21 January 2019 13:50
Anxiety Disorders:
- GAD
- Phobia
- OCD
- PTSD.
Generalised Anxiety Disorder DSM-5 Criteria:
- Excessive anxiety and worry at least 50% of days about at least two life domains
health, finances, work, school etc).
- The worry is sustained for at least 3 months.
- Person worries about a number of different events and activities.
- Find it difficult to control the worry.
The anxiety and worry are associated with at least three or more of the following (1
children):
• Restlessness of feeling keyed up/on edge.
• Being easily fatigued.
• Difficulty concentrating or mind going blank.
• Irritability.
• Muscle tension.
• Sleeping disturbance.
- (sweating, nausea and diarrhoea).
- Anxiety and worry are associated with marked avoidance of situations in which
significant distress or functional impairment.
What is anxiety:
- "The primary function of anxiety is to facilitate the detection of danger or threat
,s (family,
1 symptom in
can cause
t in
, • Sleeping disturbance.
- (sweating, nausea and diarrhoea).
- Anxiety and worry are associated with marked avoidance of situations in which
significant distress or functional impairment.
What is anxiety:
- "The primary function of anxiety is to facilitate the detection of danger or threat
potentially threatening environments"- Eysenck, 1992, p.11.
- Worry refers to the cognitive tendency to chew on a problem and to be unable to
(Mennin, Heimberg & Turk, 2004).
What is worry?
- Involves a type of internal verbal linguistic activity- experienced in a verbal rath
imaginal mode.
- Can be distinguished from other types of anxious thoughts like obsessions.
Worry is:
- More verbal.
- Less involuntary.
- More realistic.
- Rated more likely to lead to effective solutions.
- Doesn't lead to ritualising.
Symptoms of GAD:
- Uncontrolled worrying.
- Free floating anxiety.
- Somatic symptoms
- Neurological aspects.
- Comorbidity.
- Occurs in many psychopathologies.
- Strong links with depression.
3/4 of those with anxiety disorder meet criteria for another disorder:
- 60% meet criteria for major depression (Brown et al, 2001).
- Other disorders commonly comorbid with anxiety: substance abuse.
- Personality abuse: avoidant, dependent, histrionic.
- Medical disorders: coronary heart disease.
GAD:
Clinical Features:
- GAD patients rate their worries as uncontrollable.
- It has a causal effect on anxiety
Studies:
- Asking participants to briefly worry about self chosen concern increases depress
and anxiety in non-patient control participants and produces short term increases
intrusive thoughts (Wells, 2000).
- Following exposure to a stressful film, verbal worrying increased cognitive intru
the next 3 days, relative to imagining the film or doing nothing (Wells, 2000).
Epidemiology:
- Lifetime prevalence is up to 6%- making it one of the most common of anxiety d
-
Monday, 21 January 2019 13:50
Anxiety Disorders:
- GAD
- Phobia
- OCD
- PTSD.
Generalised Anxiety Disorder DSM-5 Criteria:
- Excessive anxiety and worry at least 50% of days about at least two life domains
health, finances, work, school etc).
- The worry is sustained for at least 3 months.
- Person worries about a number of different events and activities.
- Find it difficult to control the worry.
The anxiety and worry are associated with at least three or more of the following (1
children):
• Restlessness of feeling keyed up/on edge.
• Being easily fatigued.
• Difficulty concentrating or mind going blank.
• Irritability.
• Muscle tension.
• Sleeping disturbance.
- (sweating, nausea and diarrhoea).
- Anxiety and worry are associated with marked avoidance of situations in which
significant distress or functional impairment.
What is anxiety:
- "The primary function of anxiety is to facilitate the detection of danger or threat
,s (family,
1 symptom in
can cause
t in
, • Sleeping disturbance.
- (sweating, nausea and diarrhoea).
- Anxiety and worry are associated with marked avoidance of situations in which
significant distress or functional impairment.
What is anxiety:
- "The primary function of anxiety is to facilitate the detection of danger or threat
potentially threatening environments"- Eysenck, 1992, p.11.
- Worry refers to the cognitive tendency to chew on a problem and to be unable to
(Mennin, Heimberg & Turk, 2004).
What is worry?
- Involves a type of internal verbal linguistic activity- experienced in a verbal rath
imaginal mode.
- Can be distinguished from other types of anxious thoughts like obsessions.
Worry is:
- More verbal.
- Less involuntary.
- More realistic.
- Rated more likely to lead to effective solutions.
- Doesn't lead to ritualising.
Symptoms of GAD:
- Uncontrolled worrying.
- Free floating anxiety.
- Somatic symptoms
- Neurological aspects.
- Comorbidity.
- Occurs in many psychopathologies.
- Strong links with depression.
3/4 of those with anxiety disorder meet criteria for another disorder:
- 60% meet criteria for major depression (Brown et al, 2001).
- Other disorders commonly comorbid with anxiety: substance abuse.
- Personality abuse: avoidant, dependent, histrionic.
- Medical disorders: coronary heart disease.
GAD:
Clinical Features:
- GAD patients rate their worries as uncontrollable.
- It has a causal effect on anxiety
Studies:
- Asking participants to briefly worry about self chosen concern increases depress
and anxiety in non-patient control participants and produces short term increases
intrusive thoughts (Wells, 2000).
- Following exposure to a stressful film, verbal worrying increased cognitive intru
the next 3 days, relative to imagining the film or doing nothing (Wells, 2000).
Epidemiology:
- Lifetime prevalence is up to 6%- making it one of the most common of anxiety d
-
