A report on the Harvard Health Blog certainly makes for interesting reading for those individuals that are affected by generalized anxiety disorder. In particular, it focuses on the impact of both worry and stress and the point whereby it becomes too much and evolves into the disorder itself.
The problem is more widespread than you perhaps realize. Indeed, according to the report it is estimated that a quarter of people that attend their physician in connection with anxiety do actually have this condition. However, the report also indicates that there are certain groups that are deemed to be at high risk from GAD including those that were subjected to trauma in childhood or as an adult, females, family issues, and being under money stress are all precursors to potentially developing this condition.

The problem is that this does not then explain why those that suffer from GAD do so thanks to their inability to cope with general worry and stress.

What the report states is that it can generally be put down to the fact that people do not worry for no reason and instead they are doing so as a form of personal protection. Now, this does sound rather strange to consider this as being the reason for them to worry, but when you look at the study in more detail then it does begin to make more sense.

When you worry, you initially put your mind into a more negative state and what then happens is that when something goes wrong it does not affect you quite as badly. For those individuals who suffer from GAD they believe that it is better for them to be in a constantly negative state of mind to then protect them for whenever anything goes wrong, which it appears to always do in their lives.
You see, for somebody with GAD they are trying to prevent that huge swing in emotion from elation to deflation that worries them and to the sufferer it makes sense to avoid getting caught up in this mood swing even if that means they need to be in this state of mind. To those that do not suffer from this constant worry it seems to be a strange way of looking at things as they believe that worry works against them, but not so for the GAD sufferer.

So how does this have an impact on treatment? Well, in all honesty getting them to just stop worrying is not going to work. Instead, research has indicated that people with GAD are almost wired to find negative news to further strengthen their thoughts and beliefs. However, all is not lost because it is possible to change how the brain recalls things and the best method is talk therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as it is otherwise known.

With CBT, you go over your assumptions and change your thoughts by directly challenging what you think. If that is you, then according to this blog it is also a good idea for you to accept that worry is doing something positive for you. At this point, you can then perhaps begin to come to the realisation that the negative swing you worry about is probably not as bad as you think. After this, you can then come to terms with the thought that worry is not actually worth it and look at changing those negative thoughts and experiences for more positive memories.

In other words, worry does not have to cripple you in the way that you fear and by tackling it you too can overcome the debilitating disorder that is GAD.

If you are interested in getting help with your anxiety through cognitive behavioral therapy, contact Patricia Hecht, M.F.T, at 415-813-0404 or through her website here.