Generalized Anxiety Disorder Treatment

Before consultation to the psychologist or psychiatrist for generalized anxiety disorder treatment , it's best to do a medical examination beforehand. Because there could have been other things that aggravate anxiety disorders such as consuming too much caffeine. By conducting a medical examination then things like this can be known and then avoided.

Generalized anxiety disorder treatment generally can be done by two methods, medication and psychotherapy. But there are also other methods that is ‘self help’ is joining a community of people who have similar experienced, there sufferers of GAD can share feelings or share experiences about their condition or share experiences about therapy they once lived. In addition to these three above methods there also another method like psychodynamic method that focuses on the relationship between patient and therapist, the way is by discuss and analyze between patient and therapist to find the causes of anxiety. Psychodynamic methods commonly done in long periods.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder Treatment With Medication

The main medication treatment of GAD is using SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). ssris are effective for treating GAD but usually used for depression.
sometimes also prescribed a sedative to treat anxiety disorders namely Benzodiazepines are commonly used for the short term.
Important to know if the use of medications to treat GAD can cause addiction and side effects. if the treatment is stopped then the symptoms of anxiety can relapse. . treatment with medication should be used to treat symptoms of acute anxiety only for the short term only.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder Treatment Through Psychotherapy

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
Psychotherapy is used and effective cure for GAD is CBT or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. This way has been shown to decrease the symptoms of anxiety disorders for the long term. Usually there are two focus in CBT

• First: the therapist helps the patient to examine and identify specific thoughts that cause anxiety. After these thoughts are identified, then the therapist helps the patient to resist negative thoughts. instead patients could develop other thoughts that are more realistic and not too cause anxiety. in the case of GAD, the patient and therapist can check the actual possibility of a catastrophe that is thought by the patient. For example, if the patient is constantly worrying about the health of family or friends, then the therapist can ask the patient to show the list of evidence to suggest they are terminally ill. The purpose of this exercise is to make the patients examine their thoughts that cause anxiety, so they can be aware that their thoughts are not unfounded.

• Second: using a therapeutic process or exposure therapy. During the exposure, the patient is exposed to real-world situations or shadow that creates anxiety that they have to avoid in the past. His goal was to help patients understand when initially they will experience anxiety, but gradually their anxiety will be decreased. This exposure exercises done during therapy sessions and also done as homework.

Additionally sometimes the therapists also use relaxation techniques and coping techniques. Relaxation skills can be taught on its own or with the use of biofeedback (the ability to allow the patient to hear or see the physiological state of the feedback of their physiologies). Teaching about the relaxation exercise is quite simple, such as deep breathing exercises. But the relaxation exercise is not possible during the exposure process. Because the purpose of the exposure process precisely to cause anxiety and the patient learns to control it so that the anxiety decreases.

The CBT for generalized anxiety disorder treatment can last between 10 and 20 sessions, and most of people reported a significant reduction in symptoms after 10 sessions. CBT for GAD typically include some of the following interventions: relaxation exercises, cognitive Restructuring, training, systematic Exposure of mindfulness training, problem solving.

Source:
http://www.med.upenn.edu/ctsa/general_anxiety_treatment.html
https://psychcentral.com/disorders/anxiety/generalized-anxiety-disorder-treatment/
http://cogbtherapy.com/generalized-anxiety-disorder-treatment/



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