DISORDERS

This section will teach you a little about each of the disorders that we diagnose and treat.

• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
• Panic Disorder With and Without Agoraphobia
• Specific Phobia
• Health Related Anxiety
• Social Anxiety Disorder
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder
• Trichotillomania and Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors
• Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized anxiety disorder occurs in approximately 3.1% of the adult population and in 3% of children and adolescents. It occurs almost twice as often in females as males. Those who suffer from generalized anxiety disorder experience chronic worry and chronic symptoms of anxious arousal, such as muscle aches, insomnia, headaches, stomachaches, feeling tired or mildly ill or feeling chronically restless and irritable. GAD frequently co-occurs with other mental health disorders. Often those who worry believe that their worry, though bothersome, may have some value in protecting their own safety, or the safety of others, or in maintaining high standards or schoolwork or job performance. Reassurance seeking is often a problem with those who have GAD. Conversations about worry will revolve around seeking the reassuring opinions other others over and over but with no apparent end to the worry. Friends and spouses frequently feel that they are being hounded by the reassurance seeking behaviors of those who have GAD.

Successful treatment of GAD includes cognitive therapy to learn to tolerate uncertainty, effectively solve problems and decrease perfectionism. Exposure therapy and imaginal flooding helps learn to no longer dread the future. If chronic physical arousal makes it impossible for a patient to relax, then relaxation training and mindfulness training will be taught to help restore the body’s normal resting state. Referral for medication may be necessary when depression or other disorders make it difficult to engage in treatment for worry.

Staff at AATC have specialized experience in helping patients learn to stop and escape the endless cycle of worry and reassurance seeking. Our goal is to help worriers learn to live in the present so that they can relax and enjoy their daily lives. Our goal is to help you learn to live with the uncertainty and risk taking that is a normal part of life.

LEARN MORE

Click here to listen to Dr. Kevin Gyoerkoe discuss treatment for generalized anxiety disorder.

For more detailed information about the generalized anxiety disorder and the science behind the treatments that AATC provides, visit:
Adaa.org