Case Study Analysis: Alex's Anxiety Disorder and Treatment

This case study examines a 20-year-old female, Alex, experiencing anxiety disorder. The case details her background, including overthinking tendencies since adolescence. Recent stressors such as poor family relationships, lack of self-confidence, and academic difficulties are highlighted. The case explores the decision to seek psychiatric help, pertinent biological, psychological, and social factors contributing to the disorder, and the signs and symptoms observed, including overthinking, emotional dysregulation, and panic attacks. The interventions and treatments, including medication and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), are discussed, along with their positive impact on Alex's confidence, relationships, and academic decisions. The case emphasizes the importance of timely intervention and the effectiveness of a multi-faceted approach in managing anxiety disorders. The study concludes by summarizing the factors that lead to anxiety in young adults, the major risks associated with anxiety disorders, the signs and symptoms of a person suffering from anxiety, and the treatment options available to individuals for overcoming anxiety disorders.

Running head: ANXIETY DISORDER
ANXIETY DISORDER
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
Case study............................................................................................................................2
Demographics and background.......................................................................................2
History of the problem- overthinking..............................................................................3
Recent risks- poor relationships with family members, lack of self-confidence and
negative impact on studies and case formulation........................................................................3
The decision of being taken to a psychologist.................................................................5
Pertinent bio-psycho-social factors..................................................................................5
Signs and Symptoms of anxiety......................................................................................6
Interventions and treatment.............................................................................................6
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................7
References............................................................................................................................9
Bibliography......................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Mental health disorders refer to any type of psychiatric disorder or mental illness. They
include a mental or behavioural pattern that causes impairment of the person functioning and
significant distress among individuals (Robichaud, Koerner, & Dugas, 2019). Therefore the
mental disorders are defined through a combination of the way individuals feels, behave,
perceives or even thinks. Moreover, mental health disorders include several conditions related to
mental health such as- anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders and similar others
(Hofmann & Otto). Anxiety is the most common mental health disorders faced by people of all
ages. Anxiety disorders refer to a mental health disorder that includes the characteristics of
feelings of worry. It is quite common for people to feel anxiety in their day to day activities.
However, if it is not treated for a long period, then it can start interfering with the day to day
activities of individuals. It is most common among women who are young adults (Hallion, Tolin,
& Diefenbach, 2019). The main aim of the paper is to discuss the anxiety disorder faced by an
individual. The paper will, therefore, discuss the pertinent factors or issues leading to such
conditions, the role played by a health professional in helping to overcome the anxiety disorder
and will also discuss the conditions of an individual after they have received the treatment.
Case study
Demographics and background
The case study is related to my neighbour Alex who is of my age that is 20 years old and
she has grown up with me and we have been in the same class since kindergarten and therefore
we are very close to each other (Fairbrother , Janssen, Antony, Tucker, & Young, 2016). She is

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presently doing her graduation in business management. She belongs to a much well-to-do
family and her parents are both working and earn quite well.
History of the problem- overthinking
When (Alex and I) we were growing up into adolescent, she started suffering from
overthinking and remained quite silent in our classes. Everyone thought that she was an introvert
and that is why she avoided talking to a lot of people (Gershkovich, Herbert, Forman,
Schumacher, & Fischer, 2017). She used to think a lot about every event that happened to her at
school and also discussed the same with me. However, I never took that too seriously and tried
distracting her by talking about other things. When her parents noticed her behaviour they
decided to take her to their family doctor who said that she needed to spend more time with her
friends and talk to others at least that was communicated to her (Koyuncu, Celebi, Ertekin, Kok,
& Tukel, 2019).
Recent risks- poor relationships with family members, lack of self-confidence and
negative impact on studies and case formulation
However, it has been only recently that I have seen her worry more than before. She
continuously worries about being accepted by her new friends at college. Therefore she is
cautious about what she speaks and when she speaks and often ends up keeping her emotions
with herself. She is often unable to sleep because she keeps thinking at night about her new life
at college. And since we are pursuing different courses, therefore we talk less to each other and
do not get much time to spend with each other as we used to do. And a result I am unable to talk
to her about her problems at college openly. However, once when we were talking she told me
she had a presentation the fowling day and therefore she was feeling very nervous and she was
even scared as she asked me- “what if I embarrass myself tomorrow in front of everyone? what

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will happen if everyone starts laughing at me?” I thought she was just overthinking as always so
I told her not to take too much pressure. However, she was sweating when she was telling me
that she was afraid to give a presentation in front of everyone. Then things started becoming a bit
better with her and I was happy for her. Then one day gain when I called her she was upset and
Alex said that she had an argument with her parents over the food that was offered at dinner and
said that “why did not my mother cook the food the way I told her to?” and her arguments with
her parents increased because she wanted things to happen in a particular way and when it did
not happen in that way she reacted. And this behaviour of hers had started causing trouble for her
parents as they did not always remember what was to be done or when it was to be done or
anything. Therefore they thought that she had started developing a controlling attitude towards
things and she was afraid of changes. Changes made her worry a lot. I remember when once she
was sent for her internship by her college, she was finding difficulty in coping with the new
location and new people around her and therefore she spent a lot of sleepless nights initially. One
day, Alex told her parents that she wanted to drop out of college as she was finding it very
difficult to continue in her college. When her parents asked her about the reason for the same,
she said she was unwilling to go to college because she was very scared of her final exams and
felt it was much easier to drop out than to fail. Alex had been a very good student throughout her
life and therefore hearing Alex’s decision, her parents started worrying about her. Therefore they
decided to take her to the family doctor who said that they needed to consult a psychiatrist for
Alex because her fears were continuously overpowering her and had started affecting her day to
day life.

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The decision of being taken to a psychologist
When Alex was taken to the psychiatrist, she guessed that Alex might be suffering from
anxiety due to her inability to talk confidently with others (Ordaz, LewinB., & Storch, 2018).
However, the psychiatrist decided to carry out certain tests to make sure that she was suffering
from anxiety and also decided to talk to Alex daily through the separate session with Alex for
recognising the different signs and symptoms of anxiety in her.
Pertinent bio-psycho-social factors
Through the session, the psychiatrist found out that her anxiety could have resulted from
some of the biological factors such as genetics that is she may have been passed on the disorder
genetically from her family members. Moreover, she may have developed her anxiety disorder
through excessive usage of social media whereby certain people try to show that they have a
perfect life and that can make the other social media users a bit insecure about themselves that
can further lead to anxiety. Moreover one of the major psychological factors leading to anxiety in
Alex was that she had perceptions about higher social standards and whenever she compared
herself to those standards she started worrying that her friends would not accept her at college.
As a result started losing confidence and also started having panic attacks (Pliszka, 2019). Due to
her lack of self-confidence, she had developed a negative perception about herself that people do
not like her or may not like her. The psychiatrists thought that it is common for young adults to
think that way. However, it is only when the young adults like Alex start thinking too much
about themselves, about them not meeting the standard, them not being able to express their
feelings due to the fear of being judged lead to anxiety.

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Signs and Symptoms of anxiety
Through the session that the psychiatrist had with Alex, she found out that many times
while explaining herself, Alex started crying. Therefore she was unable to control her emotions
and that is also a major sign of anxiety (Nguyen & McAloon, 2018). Alex said that she felt
helpless in many situations and that she could not stop her overthinking even if she wanted to.
Some other signs and symptoms that Alex showed were lack of concentration which the
psychiatrist understood when she conducted certain activities with Alex. Alex also got irritated
quite often because of her controlling attitude. Therefore whenever something did not happen the
way she wanted to, she got irritated may it be sudden cancellation of her session with the
psychiatrist. And Alex also discussed how she found it difficult to fall asleep at night that made it
even more difficult for her to concentrate in her classes at college which also led her to the
decision of dropping out. The psychiatrist also found out that at times Alex had panic attacks
when she was too stressed. Moreover, the results of her medical reports also showed that she was
suffering from an anxiety disorder. The psychiatrist used the Beck anxiety Inventory for
understanding the severity of anxiety in Alex.
Interventions and treatment
After understanding that Alex was facing anxiety disorder, the psychiatrist decided to
start both medications and therapies for her treatment. Medications included carrying out
different combination of medicine to calm her brain cells and medicines that would act as anti-
depressants. These medicines helped her in stop overthinking because after having the medicines
at night, her mind was much calmer than before and the medication also helped her on coping
with the sleep problems that she had been facing. Besides this, the psychiatrist also decided to
carry out cognitive behavioural therapy such that her disorder could be treated fast and for long

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term results (Siegal & Conklin, 2020). Cognitive behavioural therapy includes- addressing the
negative distortions and patterns by changing the way people look at the world and other things.
Moreover, the cognitive behaviour therapy helps in identification of the negative thoughts of the
patients, challenging those thoughts and then replacing those thoughts with realistic ones. Due to
the treatment that my friend Alex is going through, she has changed a lot. She is more confident
about herself now and has started talking to several people in our area. Moreover, her
relationship with her parents has also improved and most importantly, she has decided to change
her decision of dropping out of college and she had also made a lot of new friends at college.
Moreover, her psychiatrist has also asked her to take up any kind of sports such that she can
carry out regular exercise and that will also help her in keeping her mind off all other issues that
she will face in future.
Conclusion
Therefore from the above discussion, it is understood that anxiety can become a major
mental health issuer if not treated in time. The causes that lead to anxiety disorder among young
adults have also been understood from the paper. Further, the major risks associated with anxiety
disorder have also been understood from the paper. The signs and symptoms of a person
suffering from anxiety have been understood from the paper; the diagnosis process of the people
suffering from an anxiety disorder is also understood from the paper. For instance, the health
professional may ask a person to carry out several tests and look for the various signs and
symptoms to understand if a person is suffering from anxiety. Moreover, the number of treatment
option available to individuals for overcoming anxiety disorders, including therapies,
Medications and others have also been understood from the paper.

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References
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Gershkovich, M., Herbert, J. D., Forman, E. M., Schumacher, L. M., & Fischer, L. E. (2017).
Internet-delivered acceptance-based cognitive-behavioral intervention for social anxiety
disorder with and without therapist support: a randomized trial. Behavior modification,
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Hallion, L. S., Tolin, D. F., & Diefenbach, G. J. (2019). Enhanced cognitive control over task-
irrelevant emotional distractors in generalized anxiety disorder versus obsessive-
compulsive disorder. Journal of anxiety disorders, 71-78.
Hofmann, S. G., & Otto, M. W. (n.d.). Cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder:
Evidence-based and disorder specific treatment techniques. Routledge.
Koyuncu, A., Celebi, F., Ertekin, E., Kok, B. E., & Tukel, R. (2019). Clinical effects of ADHD
subtypes in patients with social anxiety disorder. Journal of attention disorders, 1464-
1469.
Nguyen, S.-A., & McAloon, J. (2018). A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Parental Perceptions of
Childhood Separation Anxiety Disorder Symptoms and Likelihood to Seek Help. Journal
of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 49(3), 453-469.
Ordaz, L. D., LewinB., A., & Storch, E. A. (2018). Modular Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for a
young adult with autism spectrum disorder, comorbid obsessive compulsive disorder, and
social anxiety disorder. Clinical Case Studies, 136-149.

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Pliszka, S. R. (2019). ADHD and Anxiety: Clinical Implications.
Robichaud, M., Koerner, N., & Dugas, J. (2019). Cognitive behavioral treatment for generalized
anxiety disorder: From science to practice. Routledge.
Siegal, M. P., & Conklin, S. M. (2020). Acute intake of B. longum probiotic does not reduce
stress, anxiety, or depression in young adults: a pilot study. Brain, Behavior, & Immunity-
Health.
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