Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Symptoms and Impact on Patients and Others

This nursing assignment discusses Generalized Anxiety Disorder, its symptoms, and the impact on patients and significant others. It provides statistical evidence and research studies on the disorder. The document type is an assignment and the type of assignment is nursing. The subject is nursing, and the course code, course name, and college/university are not mentioned.

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
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PART A:
Discuss Generalized Anxiety Disorder, its symptoms and the impact on the person and
significant others
Generalized Anxiety Disorder abbreviated as GAD is marked by the presence of a
worrying attitude about trivial things (Yoshinaga et al., 2015). Patients affected with GAD
are anxious about a number of events that include being concerned about a misfortune, a
disaster, wellness of the family, health or workplace issues. It is extremely difficult for
patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder to stop worrying about issues or control their
worries. In addition to this, individuals suffering from GAD anticipate about the worse even
when things might seem to be in control and deprive themselves from keeping an optimistic
perspective towards life.
Statistical evidences suggest that 14% of the Australian population experience a
condition of anxiety every year (Adaa.org, 2019). The percentage can be considered
equivalent to 1 in every 7 Australians who experience anxiety every year. In addition to this,
it is important to note than less than 3% of the 14% individuals who experience anxiety suffer
from Generalized Anxiety Disorder (Adaa.org, 2019). Further, it has been estimated that a
total of 6% of the complete Australian population could potentially be affected from
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Research studies also suggest that the condition is
more common in women that in men (Lader, 2015). The condition can affect individuals of
any age group and at any time in life. GAD has been found to affect children and adolescents,
however, most commonly GAD affects adults who are aged at least 30 years (American
Psychiatric Association, 2013).
Minors or children suffering from GAD tend to worry about their academic, co-
curricular or extra-curricular performances. In addition to this, children also worry about

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other aspects such as punctuality or unforeseen disasters such as the impact of a war or a
natural disaster such as an earthquake. In addition to this, studies, suggest that the most
common symptoms evident in children suffering from GAD include, imaging an adverse
parallel scenario, which is marked by the question, ‘Yes but, what if..?’ and seeking
reassurance from care providers and teachers (Cuijpers et al., 2014). In addition to this, being
critical of self, being unsure, needing to re-do tasks to acquire perfection and being overtly
confirming are some other traits that are common in children who suffer from Generalized
Anxiety Disorder (Cuijpers et al., 2014). It is critical to note in this context that it is difficult
to identify the initial symptoms of GAD. However, ‘constant worrying over long period of
time’ must be considered as an integral symptom that confirm the diagnosis of Generalized
Anxiety Disorder or GAD in children.
The common symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder in adults include, pertinent
feeling of nervousness or feeling irritated and experiencing fatigue or exhaustion (American
Psychiatric Association, 2013). In addition to this, being fearful or anticipating danger,
panicking, having an increased heart-beat, increased respiratory rate and profusely sweating,
experiencing difficulty in concentrating, having trouble while sleeping and experiencing
gastrointestinal problems are identified as the symptoms of GAD (Hoge et al., 2013). In order
to be diagnosed with GAD, it is important that the patient must be excessive worrying about
things for more than six months and also must have at least two other symptoms listed above.
Individuals suffering from GAD find it difficult to effectively plan or manage the day.
It is extremely difficult for the affected individuals to control or stop the worry cycle, even
when they are aware that the anxiety is more intense that the criticality of the situation
(Lissek et al., 2014). A common attribute of the disorder is the difficulty experienced by the
affected individuals to control the unpredictable situations. In the pursuit of controlling the
situations, the individuals tend to worry more and plan on strategies to acquire control over

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the situations. As stated by Bystritsky et al. (2013), affected individuals believe that worry
could prevent adverse situations and hence the patients end up worrying more. Therefore, it
can be mentioned that the disorder causes emotional turmoil and makes the individuals
susceptible to develop physical health issues such as headache or frequent stomach ache.
Research studies indicate that the quality of life of the patients suffering from
Generalized Anxiety Disorder is substantially impaired (Holzel et al., 2013; Marganska et al.,
2013). Individuals who are affected with Generalized Anxiety Disorder are reported to
experience social phobia and panic disorders. This refers to the fact that affected individuals
often experience stress and low self-esteem at work. In addition to this, affected individuals
become extremely critical of their individual self as well as the surroundings and that
subsequently affects the quality of relationship of the individuals with their family members
and close acquaintances (Marganska et al., 2013). Also, affected individuals suffer from low-
esteem and develop a pessimistic outlook towards life. Moreover, as has already been
discussed, the constant worrying and insecurities aggravate the associated comorbidities with
the disorder and lead to the manifestation of physical health symptoms such as
gastrointestinal problems and other health issues. This increases the disease burden and also
increases the medical expenditure related to the comorbidities which deteriorates the quality
of life of the family members.

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References:
Adaa.org (2019). Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) | Anxiety and Depression Association
of America, ADAA. [online] Adaa.org. Available at: https://adaa.org/understanding-
anxiety/generalized-anxiety-disorder-gad [Accessed 27 Mar. 2019].
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
disorders (DSM-5®). American Psychiatric Pub.
Baer, R. A. (Ed.). (2015). Mindfulness-based treatment approaches: Clinician's guide to
evidence base and applications. Elsevier.
Bystritsky, A., Khalsa, S. S., Cameron, M. E., & Schiffman, J. (2013). Current diagnosis and
treatment of anxiety disorders. Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 38(1), 30.
Cuijpers, P., Sijbrandij, M., Koole, S., Huibers, M., Berking, M., & Andersson, G. (2014).
Psychological treatment of generalized anxiety disorder: a meta-analysis. Clinical
psychology review, 34(2), 130-140.
Cuijpers, P., Sijbrandij, M., Koole, S., Huibers, M., Berking, M., & Andersson, G. (2014).
Psychological treatment of generalized anxiety disorder: a meta-analysis. Clinical
psychology review, 34(2), 130-140.
Hoge, E. A., Bui, E., Marques, L., Metcalf, C. A., Morris, L. K., Robinaugh, D. J., ... &
Simon, N. M. (2013). Randomized controlled trial of mindfulness meditation for
generalized anxiety disorder: effects on anxiety and stress reactivity. The Journal of
clinical psychiatry, 74(8), 786.

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Hölzel, B. K., Hoge, E. A., Greve, D. N., Gard, T., Creswell, J. D., Brown, K. W., ... &
Lazar, S. W. (2013). Neural mechanisms of symptom improvements in generalized
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Lader, M. (2015). Generalized anxiety disorder. Encyclopedia of psychopharmacology, 699-
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Lissek, S., Kaczkurkin, A. N., Rabin, S., Geraci, M., Pine, D. S., & Grillon, C. (2014).
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conditioned fear. Biological psychiatry, 75(11), 909-915.
Marganska, A., Gallagher, M., & Miranda, R. (2013). Adult attachment, emotion
dysregulation, and symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety
disorder. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 83(1), 131.
Nathan, P. E., & Gorman, J. M. (Eds.). (2015). A guide to treatments that work. Oxford
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Paxling, B., Lundgren, S., Norman, A., Almlöv, J., Carlbring, P., Cuijpers, P., & Andersson,
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Stein, M. B., & Sareen, J. (2015). Generalized anxiety disorder. New England Journal of
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