Georgia Case Study: Understanding Anxiety and Its Impacts on Mental and Physical Health

This case study explores the impacts of anxiety on mental and physical health through the story of Georgia. It discusses different types of anxiety disorders, their symptoms, and interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy, medications, and complementary health approaches. The implications for nursing practice are also highlighted.

Running head: GEORGIA CASE STUDY
GEORGIA CASE STUDY
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Introduction:
Anxiety is one of the most common mental health problem faced by the citizens of the
nation. A case study is provided where a patient named Georgia was showing symptoms of
anxiety and was living poor quality life. This assignment would provide details about anxiety as
a mental disorder and describe is symptoms. It will divide for it unpaved physical health of
patients as well. Moreover, different interventions of the disorder would also be discussed in
details in the assignment.
Understanding of the mental health and mental illness:
Anxiety can be defined as the mental health conditions where the patients suffer from a
type of fear that usually remain associated with the thought of threat or some aspects that would
go wrong in the future. One in every six people in the nation is seen to suffer from the mental
health issues of depression and anxiety (Townsend & Morgan, 2017). The patient named
Georgia is also suffering from anxiety that is making her live poor quality life. People suffering
from anxiety are seen to suffer from a number of symptoms like troubled sleeping, feeling
irritable, lack of concentration, feeling depressed as well as loss of self-confidence (Urden et al,
2017). Similarly, in the case study as well, the patient is seen to have lost confidence in herself
and cannot pass the driving test successfully even when she tried twice to complete the task
successfully. Moreover, she is also having issues with sleeping and cannot sleep properly at
night. She remains awake for a long time and sleeps late at night. Moreover, she has also
developed depression and this is evident from the way by which she avoids social meetings.
Depressed individuals avoid socialization. The patient stated that her mother also suffer from
anxiety issues. Studies are of the opinion that genetics can be a risk factor that results in anxiety.

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Anxiety disorders run in families as suggested in studies and some families have higher than
average amount of anxiety issues among relatives. Therefore, the patient might have acquired it
from her mother.
Researchers have categorized different types of anxiety. One of them is the generalized
anxiety disorder. This disorder makes individuals develop regular as well as uncontrollable
worries about many different things in everyday lives of the patients (Coventry et al., 2015).
These worrying attributes can consume several hours of the individuals every day and thereby
makes it hard for the individuals to concentrate or finish daily tasks. Georgio also seems to suffer
from this type of anxiety disorder. This is evident from the fact that although being a full-time
psychology student, she could not complete the tasks on time and always felt anxious that
affected her academic career. Therefore, she had to change it to part time course. Another type of
anxiety issue is the social anxiety disorder. Patients suffering from this disorder experiences
extreme fear or anxiety that are mainly triggered by social situations like parties, workplace or
situations in which they have to work with another person (Sklenarova et al., 2015). Georgia is
also seen to avoid any interactions with her friends and cancel their invitations and therefore, she
can considered to be suffering from the disorder. However, this cannot be understood whether
this symptom is a result from social anxiety disorder or due to feelings of depression that also
make people withdraw themselves from society. Another type of disorder is called the panic
disorder. This actually refers to the situations when individuals suffer from regular or frequent
panic attacks without a clear cause of the feelings or trigger (Kennedy et al., 2016). This is
characterized by sudden feelings of terror sometimes striking repeatedly without warning. Panic
attacks cause symptoms like that of heart attack like chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness,
stomach upset, heart palpitations and many others (Poulsen et al., 2016). One evident from the

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case study also shows that she also faces similar symptoms. She often suffers from similar panic
attack during the time of examinations or during the submission of assignments worrying that
she would fail in the assignments. Hence, she needs to be treated appropriately to help her
overcome anxiety disorders successfully.
Relationship between mental health and the physical health:
Studies have found out that anxiety can result individuals to suffer from many negative
physical aspects. The individuals might suffer from rapid or irregular heartbeat. Individuals
who experience fear and anxiety show irregular heart rate. Bodies are seen to escape from the
feelings of danger or harm and this is achieved by elevation of the heart rate and increasing the
force of each beat that occurs during atrial fibrillation. Georgia also faces similar pounding of
heartbeat when she faces anxiety attacks. Individuals are also seen to suffer from fast breathing.
They also suffer from weakened or tensed muscles and suffer from sweating. Dry mouth and
dizziness are also two other physical impacts that people might suffer from due to anxiety. Long-
term anxiety as well as panic attacks can affect the central nervous system making the brain to
release stress hormones on the regular basis (Huffman et al., 2014). This indeed is responsible
for increasing the symptoms of dizziness, depression as well as headaches. A feeling of
churning stomach and loose bowels are also seen to be the result of anxiety issues in patients. In
case of Georgia, it was found that she had fast breathing rate and this was measured for about
22 breaths per minute. Normal persons have respiration rate between 12 and 20 breaths. Studies
are of the opinion that anxiety can help in triggering a flight or fight stress and thereby causes
release of flood of chemical and hormones that might include adrenaline into the system. This is
mainly responsible for increasing the pulse and breathing rate for making the brain get more
oxygen. Often people also suffer from sleep issues. Different sources of stress and feelings of

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uneasiness (due to excessive worrying in patients) make people suffer from anxiety make them
prone to sleeplessness (Yohannes et al., 2014). Therefore, Georgia also suffered from similar
symptoms that made her wake up fatigues and stressed in the mornings as well.
Personal recovery of the client:
Clinical recovery is mainly defined as the condition of the patients where they have fewer
or no symptoms of the disorder they were suffering from. In contrast, personal recovery can be
explained as the ability of the individuals to live a meaningful life as defined by the individual
themselves in the context of their experience or severe mental health problems. Studies are of the
opinion that personal recovery helps by promoting the health as well as wellbeing of the
individuals that include defining of the personal recovery goals, building up of the self-esteem,
self-confidence as well as resilience (Coventry et al., 2015). It also includes the ability of the
individuals to maintain relationships effectively and also have proper sense of purpose. However,
it should be remembered that although clinical and personal recovery are not mutually exclusive
but they can go hand in hand (Otte et al., 2016). Studies are of the opinion that although clinical
recovery includes achieving an end goal, personal recovery is an on-going procedure and involve
maintaining of developing a healthy self-identity. It incorporates the attributes of empowerment
and having control and realizing strengths.
In the case study, it was seen that Georgia was in a very vulnerable situation and had lost
her mental and emotional stability. She was suffering from anxiety as well as panic attacks on
different circumstances which were having negative outcomes on her physical health as well.

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She was not able to carry on her full time academic career as a psychologist even after getting
admitted to it. She had to pursue part time course to cope with the stress. From this incident, it
can be understood that she had completely lost her confidence and no more contained the zeal to
overcome barriers. She had to compromise her academic career which could have contributed to
grief and sadness to the patient. Secondly, she was even not able to pass her driving test because
of anxiety and this shows that she was failing miserably in all activities which can be easily
achieved by others.
All these attributes might have made her upset as well as frustrated with her and could
have contributed to emotional burnouts. The condition became more intense when she started
turning down the offers of friends in handling out preferring to be socially excluded. Even the
quality of her health and mood were also impacted by poor sleep making her stressed and fee;
fatigued (Stein et al., 2015). Therefore, it can be seen that she was having very poor quality life
where she was not being able to succeed or remain happy in any instances. Therefore, she needed
personal recovery by which she can not only overcome symptoms of anxiety but also achieve
important millstones of her life. The professionals should be supporting her in ways by which
she feels empowered, identifies her strengths and overcome her weakness. She should learn to
replace her negative thoughts with the positive thoughts and participate in every aspects of her
life successfully. Personal recovery would be achieved when she strengthens her confidence and
participate in developing self-identity and self esteem. She would be able to enjoy challenges of
her academic life, have stable personal lives, socialize with friends and families and spend
valuable moments with all when personal recovery is achieved (Lai et al., 2015).

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Mental health needs of the person:
Georgia remains highly stressed and therefore, the most important intervention that
should be included in her care plan is development of stress management techniques. Potential
triggers should be limited. She should be advised to keep an eye on the deadlines and the
pressure and thereby arrange the daunting tasks in her to-do lists and take proper time off from
her educational obligations. This would help Georgia to handle her academic submissions
successfully. Another important intervention would be relaxation techniques. Studies are of the
opinion that certain measures like deep breathing exercises, mediation, long baths, yoga as well
as resting in the dark can help in reduction of the signs of anxiety (Patel et al., 2016). This
would help her to overcome her fear as in case of driving of cars and also help in developing her
concentration issues like in case of riving, completing her academic home chores and many
others. Often the healthcare professionals are also seen to refer patients towards support
networks. The patients are also requested to share their anxious feelings with friends and family
members in place of suppressing as the latter can worsen the anxiety disorders. Georgia should
go out with friends and can also talk about the issues with her parents with whom she shares
quality bonding. This would help her to release her stress to some extent. Studies are of the
opinion that exercises also help in anxiety management in patients. Physical exertion as well as
an active lifestyle can cause improvement in the self-image. Exercises also help in triggering the
release of chemicals in the brain that would help in stimulating positive emotions (Nielsen et al.
2015).

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Apart from the above-mentioned techniques, professionals also prefer psychological
counseling and therapy. One of the most important therapies that show maximum successful
result is the cognitive behavioral therapy. This therapy mainly aims in recognizing and altering
the harmful thought patterns that can trigger an anxiety of the disorders as well as different
troublesome feelings with positive thinking. This also helps in limiting distorted thinking and
help in changing the scale and intensity of the reactions and stressors. Many studies are of the
opinion that psychotherapy along with counseling brings out beneficial outcome. The healthcare
professionals can also include Georgia in CBT and counseling (Fogel et al., 2015). This would
help her to recognize her negative thoughts and encourage her to modify them replacing with
positive thoughts through motivational interviewing and continuous encouragement.
Drugs are also one of the effective interventions that can help Georgia to overcome the
feelings of anxiety, fear and stress. One of the classes of drugs is the tricyclics that show positive
outcomes on most of the patients suffering from anxiety issues other than the obsessive-
compulsive disorder. They have side effects like drowsiness, dizziness, eight gain and many
others. Another class of drugs is the benzodiazepines but they should not be used a first line
medications. These forms of drugs help patients by promoting relaxation and helps in reduction
of tensions. They should never be referred or long-term use as they can affect coordination,
become addictive and reduce alertness. Antidepressants are another form of medication that
brings positive results on anxiety and its symptoms although they are primarily used for
treatment of depression (Patel et al., 2016). During anxiety disorders, different chemicals in the
brain like the serotonin, noradrenalin and dopamine lose their balance. This class of drug can
help in correcting the imbalance of chemical messages between the nerve cells in the brain and
help in developing the conditions of the patient. Healthcare professionals for Georgia can also

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apply this. However, the side effects should be kept in mind and the medications should only be
provided when the positive outcomes overcome the negative effects caused by medications.
Implications for the practice:
Nursing professionals might have to manage patients who suffer from anxiety and help
them cope with their symptoms and develop their health. Therefore, during treating such
patients, the professionals might apply cognitive behavioral therapy. This is a psychotherapy that
helps individuals to replace their negative thoughts with positive thoughts and help in handling
symptoms effectively. Medications like anti-anxiety depression as well as antidepressant can also
be provided to the patients. However, complementary health approaches also help in bringing out
effective results for overcoming anxiety in patients (Townsend & Morgan, 2017). These include
introducing self-management as well as stress and yoga relaxation techniques to patients.
Moreover, yoga, exercises and meditation also help in mitigating the issues. Therefore,
healthcare professionals can apply these interventions when they have to tackle patients suffering
from anxiety. Some of suggestions they can make to patients are consuming less tea, soda,
chocolate; keeping balanced diets; avoiding alcohol, cannabis, and other recreational drugs. It
should also include Regular sleep patterns to ensure better health and mood.
Conclusion:
From the above discussion it can be seen that anxiety disorder can have huge number of
negative impacts on the life of individuals. From the case study, it was seen that additional
results in development of stress in the patients resulting from fear and worrying of matters of
everyday lives. It results in disturbed sleep, faster respiratory rate, shortness of breath, lack of
concentration, social exclusion and many others. It also affects the physical health of people to a

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high extend impacting the quality of life. Therefore healthcare professionals need to identify the
symptoms and accordingly develop interventions for the patient. Some of the interventions
developed by professionals are self management strategies, exercises, meditation, yoga,
mindfulness based therapies and many others. Psychotherapies and counselling are some of the
most successful interventions as found in the evidence based studies. Cognitive behavioural
therapy and motivational interviewing are highly effective. Medications are also found to be
helpful for management of symptoms of anxiety. Antidepressants, tricyclics as well as
benzodiazepines are also helpful although they come with several side effects. Healthcare
possessions can use these interventions to help individuals cope up with the symptoms and
develop quality life.

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