Cognitive-Behavioral Model of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Psychotherapy

Abstract

Among the variations of anxiety disorders, generalized anxiety disorder is considered to be one of the most problematic. In times of intense social transformation, the issue of mental health of the youth, in particular the prevalence of tendencies to generalized anxiety disorder among young people arises. For this reason, the purpose of the article is to investigate the propensity of young students to excessive experiences and propose a model of understanding and treatment of generalized anxiety disorder. Cognitive-behavioral methodology is used while the study for understanding generalized anxiety disorder, PSWQ experience questionnaire, WWS-II experience value scale, and two survey items. The results of the study show that 18% of the youth surveyed have a high level of anxiety. Such young people can be considered a risk group for generalized anxiety disorder. The results of the study indicate that respondents with a high level of worry are statistically more likely to perceive worries as those helping them to solve problems, motivate them to act and are able to prevent negative results. Such positive beliefs about the experience may reduce the perceived need to seek help from psychologists and psychotherapists. A description of the clinical case is given and the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic interventions is demonstrated. An algorithm for working with clients is proposed, which is based on a modern protocol for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder. It includes: qualified examination; reassessment of the usefulness of the worry; assistance in a realistic understanding of ambiguous situations as such that are not clearly threatening; rethinking attitudes to situations of uncertainty; use of exposures for the purpose of deeper processing of the stimulus in a nonverbal way; skills of overcoming negative emotions without avoiding them. An attempt to combine the clinical paradigm and the scientific position is made in the article. Nowadays there are very few studies based on cognitive-behavioral methodology in Ukraine.