Scribd
Upload
51 views

General Anxiety Disorder

Jennifer, a 25-year-old woman with two young children and a busy schedule, was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder after complaining of worrying excessively, feeling restless, difficulty concentrating, and fatigue for 6 months. Non-pharmacological interventions like cognitive behavioral therapy and exercise are recommended first-line treatments. Medications like SSRIs, benzodiazepines, and buspirone may also help symptoms but have side effects. Screening tools like the GAD-7 and BAI can help identify anxiety. The patient should be followed up closely due to barriers to treatment.

Uploaded by

Jayson Trajano
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
51 views

General Anxiety Disorder

Jennifer, a 25-year-old woman with two young children and a busy schedule, was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder after complaining of worrying excessively, feeling restless, difficulty concentrating, and fatigue for 6 months. Non-pharmacological interventions like cognitive behavioral therapy and exercise are recommended first-line treatments. Medications like SSRIs, benzodiazepines, and buspirone may also help symptoms but have side effects. Screening tools like the GAD-7 and BAI can help identify anxiety. The patient should be followed up closely due to barriers to treatment.

Uploaded by

Jayson Trajano
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Situation:

Jennifer is a 25-year-old female who has the complaint of worrying excessively, feeling
restless, difficulty concentrating and feeling fatigued for the last 6 months. She is under
considerable stress trying to juggle work, taking college classes, and raising her 2
young children. After running some laboratory tests including a TSH (which were all
normal), you diagnose her with generalized anxiety disorder.

1. What pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions could you


recommend to help her treat her anxiety?
2. Are there any medications that you would avoid for this patient?
3. Are there any tools that can help you screen your patients for anxiety in case they
don’t feel comfortable admitting they are anxious?
4. How would you follow up with this patient?

According to the American Psychiatric Association, generalized anxiety disorder


involves persistent and excessive anxiety and worry about range of concerns that
disrupts daily activities. Physical symptoms such as restlessness, feeling on edge or
quickly exhausted, difficulty focusing, muscular stiffness, or sleeping issues may
accompany this constant stress and tension. Worries about ordinary things like job
commitments, family health, or little issues like chores, vehicle maintenance, or
appointments are common.

In most individuals with anxiety disorders, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the first-
line treatment. Due to restricted access to psychological treatments, CBT for anxiety in
primary care settings is often short and focused on psychoeducation, exercise
prescription, and psychosocial support. Psychoeducation includes learning about the
psychophysiology of anxiety reactions as well as the reasoning for various treatment
options. In a self-help framework, the general practitioner encourages patients to
exercise deep breathing, exposition, cognitive restructuring, problem resolution,
relaxation, and mindfulness. Exercise has been examined in anxiety and can be
prescribed systematically as an adjuvant treatment (Servant, 2019).

The physician may also prescribe medications, in combination with psychotherapy to


help with the symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder. Because some anxiety
medications have the potential to become addictive, they are normally provided on a
short-term or as-needed basis. Commonly prescribed medications to manage GAD are
antidepressants, antihistamines, benzodiazepines and anxiolytics (Casarella, 2020).

Antidepressants, especially selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), are routinely


used to treat and prevent anxiety disorders. Citalopram, escitalopram, fluoxetine,
paroxetine, and sertraline are examples of SSRIs that are routinely used to treat
persistent anxiety. These drugs must be taken on a daily basis, whether or not a patient
experience anxiety on that specific day, as directed by the physician. Additionally,
antihistamines and beta-blocker can assist with moderate anxiety and social anxiety
disorder. In contrast to antidepressants, these drugs are used only when anxiety is
present, or just before an anxiety-inducing event. Moreover, an individual with panic
attack or acute anxiety certainly requires medication. Benzodiazepines, which include
alprazolam, clonazepam, chlordiazepoxide, diazepam, and lorazepam are the most
often used anti-anxiety medications for rapid relief. Drowsiness, irritability, dizziness,
memory and focus issues, and physical dependency are all possible side effects of
benzodiazepines. Nonetheless, they have largely supplanted barbiturates in recent
decades due to their lower risk of overdose when used in large dosages. Lastly,
Buspirone, another anxiolytic medication, is less addictive than benzodiazepines and
has fewer adverse effects. This drug, on the other hand, might have its own set of
adverse effects and isn't necessarily as effective when used with other medications.

Pharmacotherapy can have various side effects depending on the individual. However,
some medications target the same areas of your body that cause symptoms of anxiety.
Among these are medications containing caffeine, corticosteroids, ADHD drugs, asthma
medications, thyroid medicines, seizure drugs, and medicines for Parkinson’s disease
(Ellis, 2021). These drugs can aggravate anxiety and must be avoided by patients
diagnosed with any anxiety disorders.

Mental health professionals employ a variety of anxiety screening techniques. Some


methods, such as those used to diagnose generalized anxiety disorder, are better
suited to detecting specific conditions. These tools are verified by research testing for
validity and reliability. Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7) and Beck Anxiety
Inventory (BAI) are among the most widely used self-report measures of anxiety (Dulka,
2021).

Research involving over 5,000 participants revealed that GAD-7 is internally consistent.
Furthermore, it is both dependable and has strong construct validity. Other research
supports the tool as a reliable and efficient instrument for screening for and measuring
the severity of generalized anxiety disorder in both clinical and research settings. Even
as BAI was found to have strong internal validity and test/retest reliability when it was
initially designed. It can also distinguish between anxious and non-anxious populations.

According to Kosteniuk and colleagues (2012), majority of Canadian family doctors


recommended urgent treatment and close follow-up care for patients exhibiting signs of
common mental illnesses. However, physicians frequently noted a lack of time on their
part, patient noncompliance, and limited or no access to counseling services as hurdles
to providing appropriate treatment.

Nurses can also assist patients alleviate their anxiety through a variety of ways,
including efficient communication, active listening, personal visits, medicine, music, and
aromatherapy. Each nurse learns methods for recognizing signs that patients are
anxious or in distress. A deeper knowledge of the needs and experiences of patients
who suffer from anxiety would allow for a more person-centered approach and the
provision of effective recovery-focused treatment.

References:
Casarella, J. (2020). Understanding Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Diagnosis and
Treatment. Retrieved from
https://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/understanding-anxiety-treatment
Dulka, B. (2021). Screening for Anxiety Disorders. Retrieved from
https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/mental-health/anxiety/related/anxiety-
screening-tools/
Ellis, R. (2021) What Meds Might Cause Anxiety? Retrieved from
https://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/anxiety-causing-meds
Kosteniuk, J., Morgan, D., & D’Arcy, C. (2012). Treatment and Follow-up of Anxiety and
Depression in Clinical Scenario Patients. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3303668/
Servant, D. (2019). Non-Pharmacological Treatment for Anxiety Disorders. Retrieved
from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32237617/

You might also like