This Is How Generalized Anxiety Leads You To Obsessive Thoughts
Yes ok Anxiety is a completely normal experience in anyone’s life, in some cases it is linked to certain psychopathologies. This is what happens in GAD, or Generalized Anxiety Disorder, an anxiety disorder characterized by the appearance of excessive and persistent worries that generate discomfort in the subject. Knowing how it works is key to knowing how to deal with it.
Therefore, if you want to know What GAD consists of and how it is linked to irrational obsessive thoughts keep reading.
Let’s start by looking at the most distinctive aspects of this psychological alteration. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is classified in diagnostic manuals as an anxiety disorder. Specifically, the TAG shows as its main characteristic excessive worry and expectation of apprehension. That is, the subject with this type of anxiety anticipates the possible appearance of negative events, this anticipation generating worry.
The criteria to be able to make the diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder included in the latest version of the Diagnostic Manual of the American Psychiatric Association has been published (DSM 5), are the following: excessive anxiety and worry almost every day for at least 6 months; the patient shows difficulty controlling her constant worries; and three of the following symptoms appear (restlessness, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, irritability, muscle tension and sleep disturbance).
Likewise, it must be assessed whether the alteration and discomfort is clinically significant or affects the subject’s functionality. We see, then, how apart from the cognitive symptoms, that is, the concerns that are defined as main symptomatology, we also observe other characteristic features such as muscle tension or tiredness, physical symptoms.
When studying GAD, it has been proven that it is the anxiety disorder with the least genetic influence. It is considered that the GAD arises in a learned way, that is, by influence of the environment. There are different theories that try to explain the etiology of anxiety disorders, although one of them, the one proposed by Adrian Wells, is the one that has proven most useful in explaining the appearance and maintenance of generalized anxiety disorder.
Adrian Wells proposes the metacognitive model to explain the typical concerns in GAD. This author believes that both the positive and negative considerations that can be made of worries can lead to the appearance of a feeling of threat and discomfort.
exist two types of worries. Type 1 concerns are directed outward, towards environmental or external events. In this case, subjects usually worry because they believe it is a way to solve problems or avoid threats. Thus, if these types of worries are persistently repeated, pathological worries are likely to arise.
The other type of worries, type 2, arise when the individual worries about his or her own worries. On this occasion the subject perceives the worries as something negative. This is the type of worry characteristic of subjects with generalized anxiety disorder, also known as metaworries.
The author points out that the main problem of subjects who carry out pathological worries is that they do not understand worry as a cognitive process, as an internal realization, but rather they place it externally. This fact makes them worry for events that are not real That is, they turn the thought into something real and try to avoid such a threat that they place outside.
Another psychologist who has tried to explain the origin of anxiety disorders and especially generalized anxiety disorder is Michael Dugas. This author presents us with the concept of intolerance of uncertainty, which is understood as the lack of acceptance that a person shows when faced with the possibility that a negative event may occur. Can’t stand the uncertainty not knowing what can happen.
In this way, intolerance of uncertainty produces the appearance and maintenance of worries in the subject, since the subject focuses his attention on the probability of threat, even if it is minimal, thus causing worry to appear, increase and persist.
Treatment
Given the nature of the disorder, we will try to intervene using both cognitive and behavioral techniques. Regarding cognitive strategies, one of the most proven is cognitive restructuring, which tries to weaken catastrophic thinking and influence the anticipation of an event that the person fears. That is, it consists of making the person leave behind dysfunctional beliefs that, in this case, predispose them to suffer irrational fears.
On the other hand, as a behavioral technique, exposure to worries is usually chosen so that the individual can normalize them and thus reduce them. What it is about is helping the patient learn to face these fears and not fall into strategies of avoidance, escape or desperate attempts to “block” thoughts. Through this type and interventions, it is possible overcome the TAG in a few months.
Do you want to attend psychotherapy?
If an anxiety problem is affecting you and you need professional psychological support, I invite you to contact me. My name is Diego Sebastián Rojo and I specialize in cognitive-behavioral therapy.
