Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Description, Prevalence, Treatments (Essay Sample)

Generalized Anxiety Disorder
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Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Introduction
Anxiety disorders are prevalent among many individuals across the globe. Clinicians and psychiatrists attribute anxiety to continuous worry about different aspects of life, including but not limited to health, money, world affairs and relationships. In most cases, anxiety disorders are often unrecognized or underdiagnosed leading to problematic levels for patients and healthcare practitioners. However, mental health practitioners encounter individuals absorbed in intense and constant worry and anxiety diagnosed with a generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Even though worry is a universal experience, patients suffering from GAD stand out due to their more persistent and uncontrollable worry that is not targeted to a particular situation. This paper will focus on generalized anxiety disorder as a basic and independent disorder, the symptoms and signs, risk factors and causes, its prevalence, and the diagnostics and treatment of the disorder.
GAD Description
Generalized Anxiety Disorder is defined by pathological anxiety with severe levels of uncontrollable worry that results in significant impairment of social interactions. In most cases, excessive worry, as the central characteristic of GAD, gives the impression of a psychological defence mechanism that accumulates a sense of control in case what is feared occurs (Kehoe, 2017). Continuous extreme worry becomes a learned series of thoughts that develops into a cognitive pattern, resulting in impairment. GAD patients suffer from top stress responses to minor and nonspecific issues that arise from their day-to-day activities (Myers & DeWall, 2016). According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, GAD is defined as a disorder of uncontrollable anxiety and excessive and unrealistic worry that lasts over a month, with the symptoms describing "anxiety neurosis". In the subsequent diagnosis, the debate on other characteristics of GAD included the original Freud's definition of anxiety neurosis that elucidated other features such as chronic fear, anxiety attacks, and secondary phobic avoidance (Szkodny et al., 2014). According to Kehoe (2017), the GAD features diagnosed by nonspecific anxiety and worry-related symptoms cannot be secondary to other psychiatric disorders. However, the debate on the symptoms of GAD continues where the duration and number of symptoms considered are partly in response to the consideration that GAD is a stable and distinct disorder (Szkodny et al., 2014). Several physical GAD symptoms also prompt patients to seek medical attention. It is important to note that the first-line treatment for GAD consists of cognitive behavioural therapy and pharmacotherapy in conjunction with specific inhibitors.
Symptoms
No available laboratory tests or scans can be used to diagnose GAD. Consequently, clinicians and psychiatrists conduct