Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Definition, Causes, and Treatments

Running head: GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER 1
Social Work Practice with Adults in Mental Health
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GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER 2
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Generalized Anxiety Disorder.........................................................................................................4
Definition.........................................................................................................................................4
Causes..............................................................................................................................................5
Treatments.......................................................................................................................................6
Psychotherapy..................................................................................................................................8
Medication.....................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................14

GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER 3
Introduction
The client, Jane, was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder in 2011 at the age of
35. She and her husband had moved to another town where she had no friends, and the isolation
resulted in anxiety that made her see new GP. This anxiety was characterized by feeling tense
and unable to relax, insomnia, excessive worry about her health, panic attacks, and being easily
irritable. At an intellectual level, she knew the feelings were irrational, but the anxiousness could
not allow her to concentrate and reason Pawluk & Koerner 2016). She felt trapped and
powerless, but she said her GP her some interest in the anxiety and depression and was
beneficial.
The client explains that she had suffered symptoms of anxiety her entire life and the full
diagnosis in 2011 was a relief to her. At a young age, her family members and GPs labeled her as
a panicky, unsettled, and restless teenager, and now believe that the condition was generalized
anxiety disorder that could be controlled and treated if detected early enough (Zhihui, Hui Chen,
& Ruiming, 2015). She now claims that labeling a patient with a condition may be wrong, but it
somehow helped her realize that she was suffering from a disease not just some wild flight of
fancy.
According to the client, both her mother and grandmother exhibited symptoms of anxiety,
and therefore she might have learned to anxious, but she feels Generalized Anxiety Disorder
must have been inherited. Apart from hanging GAD, the patient suffers from anxiety about her
health and general illness; a challenge she has experienced from for the last five years. Both her
parents suffered some serious illness but neither of them coped well, there was always the fear of

GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER 4
the future. She argues that she must have learned anxiety from that point; fearing the parents
died.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
In general, people suffering from generalized anxiety disorder experience a lot of panics
and worry about some events in their lives. The victims fear to a level that can interfere with
some normal operations in their normal life such as sleep, and the condition is characterized by
some symptoms that such as feeling tired, nausea, and headache (Zhihui et al., 2015). These
symptoms are not limited to generalized anxiety disorder and therefore should be monitored
closely to ascertain that presence of the condition. It should be noted that the disease is easily
managed if detected an early stage before it affects the day to day activities of the victim.
Studies have shown that many people in the United States suffer from this condition, a
figure in the range of 6.8 million adults; with women as twice as me. This condition exhibits a
gradual development mostly from childhood to middle age. Some research works have shown
evidence that hormones play some role in the manifestation of the situation and that is why the
disease reaches its peak at middle age but vanishes as the victim's age advances (Whitmore,
Spoon, & Ollendick 2014). Some of the accompaniments of generalized anxiety disorder
include depression and substance abuse. It should be noted that generalize anxiety disorder gets
treated with some medication or cognitive-behavioral therapy; however, the opportunistic
conditions must also be treated or managed using recommended procedures.
Definition