Generalized Anxiety Disorder - What Is It And How Can It Be Treated

General Anxiety disorder (or GAD) is an unrealistic or irrational worry about everything and anything to do with daily life. As you can imagine, if this disorder gets out of control it can make a persons life pretty much impossible. So a person that suffers from GAD will worry about everyday things like whether they have shut the fridge door or more profound issues like the state of their health or the chances of getting the sack at work. When these thoughts begin to pray on a persons’ mind to an unhealthy degree then they struggle to get everyday things done and this can lead to more problems.

The full extent of why people suffer from general anxiety disorder is not known but current research suggest that three factors can cause the condition.

The environment or lifestyle that a person leads can cause GAD. So chronic stress can bring on a general feeling of depression that can dominate a persons thoughts. Chronic stress can be caused by all sorts of things. Common stressors are extreme working environments. Other things might include strained interpersonal relationships like going through a divorce or losing a spouse or child. Traumatic events can also lead to generalized anxiety.

It may also be in a person's genetics to suffer GAD. If you close relatives have had the disorder then there is an increased chance that you may suffer from the problem too.

Altered brain chemistry is another factor that may cause GAD. Too many or too few brain neurotransmitters can lead to depression or joy. In effect they influence the way a person feels regardless of the rational or real reasons for such emotions. Knowing why this imbalance occurs is still an area of research.

Treating generalized anxiety disorder is a two pronged affair. Medication can stop the immediate symptoms of the condtion while therapy can look at the deeper seated problems that cause a person to feel this way.

Drugs mask or tranquilize the negative emotions of depression or anxiety, whic is why they are commonly known as a tranquilizer or anti-depressant. It operates by affecting the neurotransmitters so that emotions like depression and anxiety are not sent out but ultimately this dulls the senses. Common brand names for these types of drugs are prozac and zoloft.

The obvious advantage of taking drugs is that they can produce instance relief from the symptoms. The bad part is that they only provide temporary relief and do not get to the root of the problem. Many people get stuck on medication for life if they have no other treatment options open to them. Ultimately it can lead to a dependence on a drug such as prozac, which opens up many other potential problems.

The other treatment option is through therapy. Cognitve behavior therapy is a way to talk the patient through their anxiety problems, trying to help them rationalize the negative emotions and understand their problems more profoundly. The simple objective is to aid them single out possible reasons that will cause general anxiety and then work through the potential reasons why it is unwarranted to feel this anxiety. With this type of treatment a sufferer can get to the stage where they can rationalize anxiety away.

Therapy is obviously far more esoteric than taking a drug. In other words, it takes work to be successful. Work or effort from a mental health professional that will counsel a patient and work from the patient. If the patient does not put the effort in and confront some serious issues in their life through the therapy they will not have success in preventing their general anxiety disorder.

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