Diagnosis and Treatment for Anxiety Disorders
The key issues in the case of Donald are anxiety disorders, depression and panic attacks. Anxiety disorder is the major issue because Donald has been suffering from this disorder for most of his life. He started suffering anxiety during the first years of his marriage and he has been married for about 30 years and he is still suffering from anxiety. The anxiety is causing Donald to worry about almost everything that is going on in his life. He worries about his grandchildren, about his parent’s health, about his and his wife’s health. He worries about his job security, he worries about the home, about his car and many other things going on in his life. The anxiety disorders are so severe that they have taken control of Donald’s life. He cannot enjoy his life because of the constant anxieties. He cannot enjoy holidays or special occasions because the anxieties are causing lots of stress in his life. Donald usually feels tense and restless these are signs of stress related to his anxiety. Donald has had some incidents of depression, he tends to experience an increase in his worrying frequency and intensity, but his reaction is always stronger than other people’s. After a bad period of worry he often feels depressed for weeks afterwards. Donald has also experienced some episodes of panic attack, sometimes he experiences image of his grandchildren being injured and he start feeling dizziness, sweating palms, shortness of breath and heart palpitations.
I would treat the anxiety first because anxiety is causing other illnesses, like depression and panic attacks. Donald usually goes into depression after a bad period of worries. He feels depressed because he cannot control his anxiety. He also feels hopeless and envious the enjoyment and relaxation of other people. By helping to decrease his anxiety, the depression will also decrease. The panic attacks are also related to his anxiety, and by treating his anxiety first, I can also help with his panic attacks. According to DSM-V, there are various types of anxiety disorders, and Donald can be diagnosed with a few of them. The most common type of anxiety disorders is generalized anxiety disorder. The diagnostic criteria for this disorder are excessive anxiety and worry, occurring more days than not for at least 6 months, about a number of events o activities such as work or school performance. The individual finds it difficult to control the worry. Three or more of the following symptoms are present: 1) Restlessness or feeling on edge; 2) being easily fatigued; 3) difficulty concentrating or mind going blank; 4) Irritability; 5) Muscle tension, 6) Sleep disturbance. The diagnostic feature for this disorder are: excessive anxiety and worry; the individual finds it difficult to control the worry; adults with generalized anxiety disorder often worry about every day, routines life circumstances, such as possible job responsibilities, health and finances, the health of family members, misfortune to their children. Donald has some of the criteria for his disorder and some of the diagnostic feature, for example his excessive anxiety and worry, he finds it difficult to control his worry, he worries about job responsibilities, finance and health issues for himself and loved ones.
Another type of anxiety disorders is social anxiety disorder, the diagnostic features of this disorder are, when exposed to such social situations, the individual fear that he or she will be negatively evaluated. The individual is concerned that he or she will be judged as anxious, weak, crazy, stupid, boring, intimidating, dirty, or unlikable. In the case of Donald, he has turned down some promotions at work because he is worried about being around other people. He usually worries about whether his coworkers like him. Panic disorder is another type of anxiety, according to DSM-V, panic attach is an abrupt surge of