OakHeart, Center for Counseling
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Generalized Anxiety Disorder

At any given time, approximately 3 out of every 100 adults in the United States suffers from Generalized Anxiety Disorder (National Institute of Mental Health), with lifetime prevalence rates of approximately 6%. 

What is Generalized Anxiety Disorder?

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), is defined as frequent excessive anxiety and worry. In association with the worry, the individual may experience the following:
  • Feeling restless or keyed up
  • Being easily fatigued
  • Difficulty concentrating or having your mind go blank
  • Irritability
  • Muscle Tension
  • Sleep Disturbance 

GAD is essentially a fear of bad things happening in the future. Individuals with GAD worry about a large variety of fears such as a loved one dying or being in a serious accident, something horrible happening to their children, money/financial security, getting a serious illness or dying, how they are performing in their jobs, losing their job, being evaluated by others, making mistakes, etc. 

Individuals with GAD find it very difficult to control their worry and often describe worry as almost compulsive in nature. Long periods of time may go by before the individual realizes that they have been steeped in worry. ​​
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Call to Schedule an Appointment
Importantly, worry itself is conceptualized as a cognitive avoidance strategy. This may sound confusing, since worrying feels like the opposite. However, worry is thought to be a verbal/linguistic process versus an "imaginistic" process, the former of which distracts and inhibits appropriate appraisals of threat (Borkovec, Sahdick, & Hopkins, 1991). In addition to worry, an individual may engage in other cognitive avoidance strategies such as planning and distraction. Individuals with GAD also frequently engage in overt safety behaviors to reduce their feared consequences from happening (e.g., texting their loved one repeatedly to reassure themselves that their loved one is safe, googling information about feared illnesses or conditions, procrastination, over-preparation, etc.). Unfortunately, all of these avoidance strategies only serve to perpetuate worry and fear and the individual ends up inadvertently maintaining their symptoms. Lastly, individuals with GAD report that, if the thing they were worried about recently has been resolved, they will start scanning for threat to make sure everything is safe, and will inevitably find something else to worry about. 

What is the Treatment for Generalized Anxiety Disorder?

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the treatment of choice for GAD. ​
The goals of CBT for GAD are to:
  • Provide psychoeducation regarding the maintaining factors in GAD and how worry works
  • Evaluate and alter assumptions about the liklihood and cost of feared consequences.
  • Evaluate and alter assumptions about the client's own self-efficacy (their belief in their ability to handle challenges, bad things happening, and their own anxiety).
  • Identify and alter other related beliefs that perpetuate and maintain the client's worry (e.g., beliefs about the function of worry, beliefs about responsibility, beliefs about perfectionism, beliefs about the controllability of worry).
  • Help the individual distinguish between "helpful" and "productive" worry versus "unhelpful," maladaptive, unproductive worry. 
  • Alter both cognitive and behavioral avoidance strategies and help the individual face their fears to allow for habituation and healthy evaluations of their feared consequences (likelihood and cost estimates).
  • Teach the client attention focus retraining from internal and external threat focus to task-focused attention
  • Learn problem-solving skills
  • Learn worry postponement strategies
  • Learn mindfulness skills
  • Help the client increase their acceptance of uncertainty
  • Teach our client's to live consistently with ones values

At OakHeart, we are proud to offer Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for the treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Please call to make an appointment: 630-570-0050. 

OakHeart Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Counselors, Psychologists, and Social Workers

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Kat Harris, PhD, LCP

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Vanessa Osmer, MA, LCPC

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Pamela Heilman, PsyD, LCP

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Hillary Gorin, PhD, LCP

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Katie Sheehan, MSW, LCSW

Generalized Anxiety Disorder Related Blogs:

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What to Expect in CBT Treatment Series: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Essentially, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is chronic worry (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). I often describe it as the tendency to get on the hamster wheel of worry. Worries spin around and around, continuing to fuel anxiety. If you are diagnosed with this, you will also be experiencing the physical impact of this anxiety, such as sleep difficulties or muscle tension....(to read more, click on the link above). 

Resources

General Information
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Phone: 630-570-0050
Fax: 630-570-0045
Email: Contact.OH@OakHeartCenter.com
North Aurora, IL Location
​66 Miller Drive, Suite 105
North Aurora, IL 60542
phone: 630-570-0050
​Sycamore, IL Location
1950 DeKalb Ave, Unit E
Sycamore, IL 60178
phone: 779-201-6440
  • Home
  • Services
    • Counseling
    • Group Therapy
    • Exposure-Based CBT Interventions
    • Divorce Mediation
    • Professional Consultation
    • Telehealth
  • Providers
    • Emily Frey
    • Vanessa Osmer
    • Kat Harris
    • Erin Mitchell
    • Pamela Heilman
    • Megan Allegretti
    • Katie Sheehan
    • Hillary Gorin
    • Lee Ann Heathcoat
    • Adam Ginsburg
    • Megan Noren
    • Sarah Williams
    • Christina Bieche
    • Bridgette Koukos
    • Angela Kaminski
    • Laura Lahay
  • Specialties
    • COVID-19 Related PTSD and Anxiety >
      • COVID-19 Resources
    • Depression
    • Bipolar Disorder
    • Grief and Bereavement
    • ADHD
    • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
    • Social Anxiety Disorder
    • Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia
    • Generalized Anxiety Disorder (Worry)
    • Health Anxiety
    • Specific Phobias
    • Maternal Mental Health
    • Infertility, Miscarriage, and Neonatal Loss
    • Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI)
    • Eating Disorders
    • Substance Use Disorders (SUD)
    • Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
    • Anger Management
    • Insomnia
    • Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
    • Trauma
    • Divorce Recovery
    • Relationship Concerns and Couples Counseling
    • Self-Esteem
    • Therapy for Therapists
    • LGBTQA+ Support
  • Employment
  • Contact
  • Locations
    • North Aurora, IL
    • Sycamore, IL
  • About Our Practice
  • FAQ and Notices
  • Why Choose OakHeart?
  • Blog