Worrying about Worry: A Generalized Anxiety Disorder Case Study

Abstract

Mr. X, was 28 years old. The patient came with complaints of excessive worry and not being able to control it, apprehensiveness that his mind would go blank and that he would lose his mind if kept worrying, fear of being inadequate at work, unable to concentrate on work, anxietyandtiredness. He also reported disturbed sleep and muscle tension. He was diagnosed as having Generalized Anxiety Disorder and his case was conceptualized using the Well’s Cognitive Model of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Management was also done on the CBT model. Treatment goals were achieved by the use of various verbal challenging exercises such as questioning the evidence, evidence for and against, challenging uncontrollability appraisals and by providing education in order to normalize the worry. Various behavioral exercises such as controlled worry periods, challenging uncontrollability beliefs, loss of control experiments, pushing worry limits in situ and abandoning thought control were also done for disconfirming the beliefs related to Type II worry. The patient showed significant improvement in his condition by the termination of the therapy which was evident through his post assessment ratings.