Week 6: Generalized Anxiety Disorder

GAD:

It's normal to feel anxious from time to time however; excessive, ongoing anxiety and worry that interfere with day-to-day activities may be a sign of generalized anxiety disorder.

A child or teen with generalized anxiety disorder may (MayoClinic.org):

•   Feel overly anxious to fit in

•   Be a perfectionist

•   Redo tasks because they aren't perfect the first time

•   Spend excessive time doing homework

•   Lack confidence

•   Strive for approval

•   Require a lot of reassurance about performance

Causes

•       As with many mental health conditions, the exact cause of generalized anxiety disorder isn't fully understood, but it may include genetics as well as other risk factors.

These factors may increase the risk of developing generalized anxiety disorder:

Personality. A person whose temperament is timid or negative or who avoids anything dangerous may be more prone to generalized anxiety disorder than others are.

Genetics. Generalized anxiety disorder may run in families.

Treatment/Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy involves working with a therapist to reduce your anxiety symptoms. It can be an effective treatment for generalized anxiety disorder.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is one of the most effective forms of psychotherapy for generalized anxiety disorder. Generally a short-term treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on teaching you specific skills to gradually return to the activities you've avoided because of anxiety. Through this process, your symptoms improve as you build on your initial success.

Week 5: Panic Disorder

A panic attack is a sudden episode of intense fear that triggers severe physical reactions when there is no real danger or apparent cause. When panic attacks occur, you might think you're losing control, having a heart attack or even dying.

Many people have just one or two panic attacks in their lifetimes, but if you've had recurrent, unexpected panic attacks and spent long periods in constant fear of another attack, you may have a condition called panic disorder.

Panic attacks typically include some of these symptoms (mayoclinic.org):

•   Sense of impending doom or danger

•   Fear of loss of control or death

•   Rapid, pounding heart rate

•   Sweating

•   Trembling or shaking

•   Shortness of breath or tightness in your throat

•   Chills

•   Hot flashes

•   Nausea

•   Abdominal cramping

•   Chest pain

•   Headache

•   Dizziness, lightheadedness or faintness

•   Numbness or tingling sensation

•   Feeling a sense of detachment

Causes:

It's not known what causes panic attacks or panic disorder, but these factors may play a role:

•    Genetics

•    Major stress

•    Temperament that is more sensitive to stress/prone to negative emotions

•    Certain changes in the way parts of your brain function

Agoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder in which you fear and often avoid places or situations that might cause you to panic and make you feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed.

• •      With agoraphobia, you fear an actual or anticipated situation, such as using public transportation, being in open or enclosed spaces, standing in line or being in a crowd.
• •      Most people who have agoraphobia develop it after having one or more panic attacks, causing them to fear another attack and avoid the place where it occurred.

Week 4: Stress

Psychologists define stress as the body’s physiological and psychological response to a condition that threatens or challenges an individual and requires some adaptation or adjustment. A stressor is a stimulus or an event that is capable of producing a stress response.

Below is a scale to find an individual’s Life Stress Score:

At the heart of Hans Seyle’s concept of stress is the General Adaptation Syndrome, the predictable sequence of reactions that organisms show in response to stressors. It consists of three stages: the alarm stage, the resistance stage, and the exhaustive stage (Selye, 1956).

Lazarus’s Cognitive Theory of Stress - Richard Lazarus (1966: Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) contends that it’s not the stressor that causes stress but rather a person’s perception of it.

Stress Reduction Techniques (MayoClinic.org)

Meditation - Meditation has been practiced for thousands of years and has many benefits. Practicing meditation can help with concentration, relaxation, inner peace, stress reduction and fatigue. It may also help relieve anxiety, depression, pain and insomnia. When combined with conventional medicine, meditation may improve physical health, such as heart health, rheumatologic conditions and digestive problems.

Deep breathing - Breathing from your diaphragm (muscle under the rib cage) to establish a pattern of slower, deeper and more efficient breathing.

Progressive muscle relaxation - Tensing and relaxing the muscle groups throughout your body to reduce muscle tension and calm anxious feelings.

Resilience Training - Resilience is your ability to adapt well and recover quickly after stress, adversity, trauma or tragedy. Learning to balance the demands placed on you with your available resources; finding meaning in life; controlling the controllable; and seeing life's situations as challenges or opportunities rather than overwhelming obstacles.

For my research, I continued to hand out questionnaires to upper school students, aged 14-17.