Treatment of Anxiety Disorders
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Treatment of Anxiety Disorders
Introduction
Treatment of anxiety disorders is a complex process that requires accurate diagnosis and selection of efficient medication. Healthcare workers have a responsibility to combine psychotherapy and psychopharmacologic treatment to increase the quality of the outcomes. Adjustment disorder leads to a sense of hopelessness, sadness frequent crying, while anxiety disorder leads to lack of concentration, unwanted or racing thoughts. The diagnosis for specific phobia involves examining the current and past behavior of individuals. The examination will involve a list of questions from healthcare workers. The list of questions will examine the presence of excessive and unreasonable fear. The exposure psychotherapy’s role is to expose a patient to an event or object that causes anxiety without the intention of causing harm. The purpose of the essay is to examine the difference between adjustment and anxiety disorder and treatment of specific phobia.
Adjustment Disorder and Anxiety Disorder
Adjustment disorder occurs when an individual experiences a stressful event or a change in their personal life. The reaction is considered an unhealthy response since it triggers an excessive reaction (Bandelow et al., 2017). On the other hand, anxiety disorder occurs due to short-term and long-term that lead to intense anxiety that affects daily life quality. Another significant difference is in the symptoms between the two conditions (Peedicayil, 2020). Adjustment disorder leads to a sense of hopelessness, sadness, frequent crying, isolation, palpitation, worry, and nervousness. People with anxiety disorder experience a lack of concentration, unwanted or racing thoughts, restlessness, sweating, insomnia, and hyper-vigilance (Peedicayil, 2020). The differences in the causes and symptoms prompt the healthcare workers to apply diverse treatment methods. For example, treatment of adjustment disorder focuses on lessening the severity of the symptoms such as depression and anxiety (Peedicayil, 2020). Treatment of anxiety disorder focuses on developing coping skills and tolerance for difficult situations.
Diagnostic Criteria for Specific Phobia
Specific phobia is an intense and irrational fear of something that does not warrant the fear. Children and adults have specific phobias such as fear of heights, airplanes, dogs, and thunderstorms (Arya et al., 2017). The diagnosis for specific phobia involves examining the current and past behavior of individuals. For example, the symptoms from past behavior can indicate specific phobia (Arya et al., 2017). Some of the symptoms include excessive, unreasonable, and persistent fear towards a specific object or event. A healthcare worker will review patients’ medical history and their social life (Böhnlein et al., 2020). Diagnostic criteria can examine a patient for other conditions to rule out the possibility of other related health conditions.
Reviewing the medical condition of a patient will involve a list of questions from a practitioner. The list of questions will examine the presence of excessive and unreasonable fear (Böhnlein et al., 2020). The healthcare worker will examine the presence of fear as a result of anticipating an event or object. The diagnosis will examine different phobia types, including animal, natural environment, or injection-related fear (Böhnlein et al., 2020). The list of questions will examine the areas identified by a patient in the medical history, history of present illness, and chief complaint.
Psychotherapy and Psychopharmacologic Treatment
The best form of treatment for specific phobia is psychotherapy, such as exposure therapy. Exposure therapy is effective in the treatment of disorders (Arya et al., 2017). The purpose of psychotherapy is to expose a patient to an event or object that causes anxiety without the intention of causing harm. Treatment of specific phobia is to develop tolerance and coping skills (Arya et al., 2017). It helps the patients realize that exposure to the event or object will not threaten their lives. For example, exposing patients to heights will help them overcome the fear of climbing mountains or hiking. The opportunity helps the patients to undo their fear and deescalate anxiety related to the events they fear.
The best psychopharmacologic treatment for specific phobia is a class of drugs called antidepressants. Zoloft (sertraline) is one of the best medications in the market (Peedicayil, 2020). Healthcare workers prefer to prescribe Zoloft (sertraline) since it has fewer side effects and effectively reduces the severity of the symptoms (Peedicayil, 2020). Practitioners have a responsibility to combine psychotherapy and psychopharmacologic treatments with improving the quality of the outcomes (Bandelow et al., 2017). Patients should adhere to the treatment since non-adherence can undermine the recovery process or lead to adverse health outcomes.
Conclusion
Different disorders affect people causing diverse symptoms. Anxiety can occur in different ways, including adjustment disorder and anxiety disorder. The disorders have varying symptoms, causes, diagnoses, and treatments. Specific phobia involves fear for specific events or objects such as heights or airplanes. Diagnosis of a specific phobia involves a list of questions from a healthcare worker depending on the chief complaint and presenting symptoms. Treatment of specific phobia is essential to allow individuals to participate effectively in daily activities. The best psychopharmacologic treatment for specific phobia is a class of drugs called antidepressants. Treatment should combine psychotherapy such as exposure therapy. Healthcare workers should encourage the patients to adhere to the treatment, both psychotherapy, and medication.
References
Arya, B., Verma, S., & Kumar, R. (2017). Efficacy of cognitive drill therapy in treatment of specific phobia. SIS Journal of Projective Psychology and Mental Health, 24, 48-51.
Bandelow, B., Michaelis, S., & Wedekind, D. (2017). Treatment of anxiety disorders. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 19(2), 93.
Böhnlein, J., Altegoer, L., Muck, N. K., Roesmann, K., Redlich, R., Dannlowski, U., & Leehr, E. J. (2020). Factors influencing the success of exposure therapy for specific phobia: A systematic review. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 108, 796-820.
Peedicayil, J. (2020). The Potential Role of Epigenetic Drugs in the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 16, 597.
