Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Anxiety and Depression in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (Research Paper Sample)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Anxiety and Depression in Patients with Chronic Student’s Name
University Affiliation
Abstract
The paper starts by explaining what Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease entails, its causes and the effects these causes have in the body. It then tackles anxiety and depression and their effects in patients with COPD. The next section is about the recommended treatments for both depression and anxiety in patients with COPD, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Next is a general explanation of CBT, what it entails, and its effects on the humankind mentality. What follows is the CBT application in COPD patients, the comparison between this treatment and others, its effectiveness and why some psychologists think CBT is not the best treatment for everyone. The paper then concludes with recommending the right ways healthcare professionals and family members should treat patients with COPD, who are also experiencing both depression and anxiety.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is a term that collectively represents common disorders that relate to the lungs like emphysema and chronic bronchitis (Bourke, 2011). The causes for this condition include tobacco smoke, dust, air pollution and chemical fumes (Bourke, 2011). When one exposes themselves repeatedly on the above irritants, the lungs’ air sacs become inflamed, lose their normal elasticity and get damaged. The accumulation of mucus can also contribute to the development of COPD, which has the effect of narrowing the air passages and clogging the air sacs. All these occurrences obstruct the lungs partially, reducing their capacity to extract enough amount of oxygen from the inhaled air. That is why people who experience this condition have to breathe harder so that they can supply the lungs with sufficient amounts of oxygen. The primary symptoms of this condition include a long-lasting cough, breathlessness, excessive production of mucus when coughing, body weakness and weight loss, and unpredictable exacerbations.
Problems related to the lungs develop gradually, and may take many years before symptoms start to show up. Individuals diagnosed with COPD are about three times more likely to develop mental health problems than those whose lungs are functioning accordingly. That is why it is imperative for one to seek therapies, physical training, and other treatments whenever any of the above signs is detected. This condition is mainly common to persons over the age of 60 years.
Depression and Anxiety: COPD Patients
Studies indicate that depression and anxiety are the primary co-morbidities in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. In other words, patients with COPD have higher chances of experiencing both depression and anxiety. Anxiety is the state that allows the body to act quickly and accordingly in the case of danger. It acts by increasing both the heart and respiratory rates, which are vital for proper blood circulation and the production of hormones like adrenaline, which is responsible for the stimulation of autonomic nerve action. Its functions are incredible to individuals whose lungs are working accordingly.
However, the same anxiety has been cited as one of the most mental health problems in some countries like the United Kingdom (Yohannes, Baldwin, & Connolly, 2000). It can contribute to tensions, worries, and emotional distress, all of which have adverse impacts on psychological, physical, and social well-being. This is especially common to individuals with lung conditions like COPD. For example, a person with COPD and experiencing anxiety may start thinking that they are unable to breathe, and considering how vital this function is for survival, they feel they will die so soon.
Sources state that panic disorder is about ten times more likely to occur in these patients than those free of this condition (Livermore, 2010). Panic disorder is a health condition characterized by sudden and repeated attacks of fear, loss of control, and feeling like having a heart attack (Livermore, 2010). Patients may keep worrying all the time that they may have another attack. This can lower their self-esteem, due to their inability to carry out normal routine such as driving and shopping. The result is physical de-conditioning, which may contribute to reduced confidence and more feelings of breathlessness or dying (Livermore, 2010).
Recommended Treatments for Anxiety and Depression in COPD Patients
It is not easy to detect the presence of depression in individuals suffering from COPD since the core symptoms of depression mimic those for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. The primary ones include anorexia, poor sleeping patterns and the inability to enjoy life due to breathlessness. Also, the heath care professionals whose mandate is to take care of COPD patients do not routinely employ the screening tools for anxiety and depression. Moreover, most patients deny the fact that they are suffering from these two conditions mainly due to the stigma associated with the same (Yohannes, Baldwin, & Connolly, 2000).
There are many ways of controlling depression and anxiety in patients with COPD. Psychologists specifically specialized in this area recommend pharmacological treatment, psychological treatment, or both. Psychological treatment involves self-help approaches, counseling, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Of the three treatments, CBT is the most common and has over time provided incredible results as far as COPD is concerned. However, a lot of research is still recommended on the effectiveness of CTB since some scientists still underrate the benefits this treatment has on patients experiencing COPD (Baraniak & Sheffield, 2011).
What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a psychotherapy that revolves around feelings, thoughts, and behavior. This treatment is very different from the traditional one in that the patient and therapist work together in the processes of recovering from mental illness. Through examining thinking patterns that are leading to false beliefs and self-destructive actions, people with mental problems can modify these patterns to improve coping. The aim of CBT is not to remove the current problems, but to help patients deal with them in a more positive way. Therapists state that negative feelings and thoughts can trap a person in a vicious cycle. This treatment cracks this cycle and shows the patient the right ways of changing negative feeling patterns for the better.
As the name suggests, CBT combines both cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy. Cognitive therapy focuses on ways of forming a clear idea of the patient’s attitudes, thoughts, and expectations, with the aim of revealing and changing distressing and false beliefs. This therapy assists people to think clearer and learn the ways of controlling themselves and replacing negative thoughts and hypotheses with less harmful and more realistic ones. On the other hand, Behavior therapy applies the notion that since human behavior can be learned, it can also be learned differently or unlearned. The aim of this therapy is to find out the behavior patterns that are intensifying a patient’s problems and apply the right ways of reversing the same.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy, COPD, Anxiety, and Depression
Various studies have proven the effectiveness of CBT for a variety of mental disorders such as personality, substance abuse, eating disorders, psychotic disorders, sleep disorders, moods, anxiety, and depression. This treatment changes the brain activity for people experiencing the above disorders and improves its functionality. As stated elsewhere in the paper, symptoms of depression and anxiety seem to intensify in patients with COPD (Maurer & Rebbapragada, 2008).
CBT is as effective as antidepressant medications for patients with COPD, who are also experiencing depression. It is common for patients with depressive thoughts to withdraw their hobbies completely, which in turn makes them feel more isolated or unhappy. This therapy identifies this mechanism and provides the right ways of helping these patients become active again. CBT therapists encourage their depressed patients always to engage themselves in positive activities or tasks that they like doing so that they can increase pleasure in their lives. They also learn how best to restructure their negative thoughts so that they can interpret everything they engage in, in a more positively-based way. During this treatment, therapists also examine their patients’ sleeping patterns and always encourage them to schedule enough hours for sleep in their daily activities. Various experiments have proven that patients who supplement their antidepressant medications with CBT treatments have way better recovery results than those who depend entirely on antidepressant medications.
In patients with COPD, forms of thinking that relate to catastrophes such as believing something is way worse than the reality, feeling that everything is going wrong, and thinking the worst, are all associated with anxiety. CBT aims at helping such patients to relax their body through muscle relaxation and breathing techniques. The goal here is to make the mind shift from concentrating on the present anxiety to the breathing and relaxation activities, and recognize the difference between unproductive and productive worries. CBT therapists also help patients experiencing panic attacks through encouraging them to test out the false beliefs they have been relating to such attacks, including specific fears that relate to bodily sensations. These actions help them develop responses that are more realistic to their experiences. False beliefs and feelings surrounding their fears such as illness and inflicting harm are c...