An Overview of Anxiety and its Prevalence

A disturbed state of mind predominated by negative feelings is called anxiety. Studies show that about 18% females and it is more prevalent in women who have gone through separation or divorce and 11% males are a victim of anxiety globally. 28% of the global population has experienced depression, emotional turmoil and anxiety in some form or the other. According to studies there are four kinds of four kinds of anxiety (Khoury et al., 2013). They are as follows:

• Generalized anxiety disorder
• Social anxiety disorder or Phobia
• Panic disorder

Post-traumatic disorder:

Anxiety is a product of a deep environmental episode and can trigger at any age and is not specific for a particular place or age group. A deep understanding is required to deal with anxiety as the symptoms may not be physical; one has to take the psychological symptoms into consideration. It should be noted that professional help must be advised if any symptoms are noticed and dealing with such victims and symptoms should be taken seriously and with utmost sincerity.

In this report a case study of a subject named ‘Sarah’ has been discussed who has recently experienced a breakup and has shown multiple symptoms of anxiety. In this report there is a thorough discourse on the key facts of the subject and the case study and a complete understanding on the effective implementation of the cognitive behavioural therapy to advocate standard healing.

In this segment the key features of the case study has been discoursed. In the case study it has been stated that the subject ‘Sarah’ has recently experienced a breakup. Having gained that information, her friends have invited her to a party as a sympathetic gesture and to help her recover from the sensitive event. In the party the subject meets a man named Tom and enjoys his company. Out of the fondness for each other’s company they decided to exchange numbers in the hopes for a prolonged connection. The subject consumes a significant amount of alcohol at the party. The next day she had hopes to get messages from Tom but no such thing happens due to which the subject feels further violated and rejected. Out of anxiousness she refuses to go to work by reporting being sick and further the subject starts consuming alcohol hoping that to be a source of distraction and out of the feeling of rejection and anxiousness she breaks all tie with her social life.

Two serious risk areas can be identified from this case study. First, the feeling of rejection and anxiousness making the subject separate her from all social communications which is quite a grave situation. Second,consumption of alcohol (substance abuse) which could lead to severe physical and mental issues.

Understanding Post-traumatic Disorder: A Case Study Approach

There are three ways I which assessment criteria can be made. They are, through screening, comprehensive assessment and formal diagnosis.

A psychological therapeutic intervention that significantly mends mental health issues is called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Studies show that CBT helps to cultivate a positive perspective towards life on the basis of positive thoughts, coping tactics and emotional stability (Ehde et al., 2014); (Gu et al.,2015). The idea of CBT is to focus on positive thoughts and eliminate all the negative thoughts and develop complete mental wellbeing (Eysenck, 2014).

Reports suggests that CBT helps in yielding  positive results in treating anxiety and other disorders related to depression. If the case study in hand is taken into consideration, we’ll be able to understand and appreciate the need of CBT for victims of anxiety. In this case the subject ‘Sarah’ has gone through a breakup and is in complete emotional turmoil and it got elevated and worsened when she felt ignored by Tom, a feeling of distress and rejection, which has made her socially isolated and pushed her into substance abuse. All the consequences of her breakup and anxiety have led to an integration of negative thoughts and actions. By properly administering CBT, all her negative thoughts and anxiousness could be eliminated and she can be returned to the path of positivity which will lead to the discontinuation of bad habits such as substance abuse and will help her to return to her normal social behaviour.  

There are number of tools and strategies that are implemented while dealing with victims of anxiety and depression. In the case in consideration, while dealing with the subject in question, Montreal Cognitive Assessment tool could be used to evaluate the cognitive ability of the subject (Lader, 2015). Multiple cognitive domains such as language, attention, memory, executive function are used in this tool to appraise subjects such as Sarah and they are evaluated in the form of a score. The score ranges from 0-30 in which <26 suggests diminished mental health. This test is extremely convenient, accurate and consistent.

The ABC model is an effective model for effectively administering CBT. The model takes into consideration the consequences leading to negative thoughts and actions and aims at identifying event leading to the negative thoughts and suggests strategies to eliminate them (Poulsen et al., 2014).

A safe environment must be warranted for the subjects in question. All the events leading to the consequences should be evaluated and the upcoming events must be closely regulated so that there aren’t any causes for worsening the situation any further. Self-management skills must be incorporated in the subject’s routine so that she can combat and deal with anxiety (Spielberger et al., 2017). To cope up with substance abuse, anti-abuse medication can be administered depending on the amount of alcohol the subject consumes. Most importantly CBT must be incorporated to combat with all the negativity and restore positive thoughts and vibes.

Assessment Criteria for Anxiety

The first thing to ensure is a safe and loving environment as environment has a huge impact on the rate of recovery. Therapy must be incorporated and there must be a proper plan for sessions of psychotherapy in association with mindfulness based therapy such as yoga and meditation (Wells, 2013). Addiction must be dealt with by administering drugs and inculcating meditation in the routine of the subject.

Training on self-management should be imparted to cope up and recover completely. Creative activities and hobbies should be encouraged along with the inculcation of CBT.

Within 6 months a pattern of recovery will be experienced by the subject with a healthy social life and slowly leading to discontinuation of substance abuse and leading to a path of positivity.

Conclusion:

Anxiety is a serious issue which may not have much physical symptoms but the psychological symptoms can be devastating. Management of recovery of anxiety can be done effectively by administering cognitive therapy which depends of numerous factors which must be screened properly to identify and administer the right kind of cognitive risk assessment tools. After identification of the risk and the core of the problem interventional strategies must be incorporated to give the right kind of treatment and support for recovery. The recovery strategies must be directed towards the elimination of all forms of negative thought process and should be aimed at inculcating a positive beginning so as to eliminate all forms of anxiety, stress and depression.

References:

Ehde, D. M., Dillworth, T. M., & Turner, J. A. (2014). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for individuals with chronic pain: efficacy, innovations, and directions for research. American Psychologist, 69(2), 153.

Eysenck, M. (2014). Anxiety and cognition: A unified theory. Psychology Press.pp.56-64

Gu, J., Strauss, C., Bond, R., & Cavanagh, K. (2015). How do mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction improve mental health and wellbeing? A systematic review and meta-analysis of mediation studies. Clinical psychology review, 37, 1-12.

Khoury, B., Lecomte, T., Fortin, G., Masse, M., Therien, P., Bouchard, V., … & Hofmann, S. G. (2013). Mindfulness-based therapy: a comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical psychology review, 33(6), 763-771.

Lader, M. (2015). Generalized anxiety disorder. In Encyclopedia of psychopharmacology (pp. 699-702). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Poulsen, S., Lunn, S., Daniel, S. I., Folke, S., Mathiesen, B. B., Katznelson, H., & Fairburn, C. G. (2014). A randomized controlled trial of psychoanalytic psychotherapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy for bulimia nervosa. FOCUS, 12(4), 450-458.

Spielberger, C. D., Gonzalez-Reigosa, F., Martinez-Urrutia, A., Natalicio, L. F., & Natalicio, D. S. (2017). The state-trait anxiety inventory. Revista Interamericana de Psicologia/Interamerican Journal of Psychology, 5(3 & 4).

Wells, A. (2013). Cognitive therapy of anxiety disorders: A practice manual and conceptual guide. John Wiley & Sons.pp.33-38