Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Anxiety Disorders (AD)

Já mencionei aqui no blog que estou aprimorando meu inglês...pois é tive que fazer uma apresentação na aula e vou compartilhar com vocês minha breve apresentação em inglês....até que me saí bem, diria que meu desempenho foi melhor do que eu esperava...agora já não sei dizer se o teacher pensa o mesmo...rsrsr

I’m going to talk about Anxiety Disorders (AD) that is one of the biggest complaints in psychology clinic. About 10% of world population suffers from some AD.

Anxiety is a universal experience of human species, is an emotion of discomfort but it prepares you for fight or flight*. The most common symptoms of anxiety are: tension, palpitations, trembling, “butterflies in stomach”, headache and others. It´s normal to feel anxiety, but when anxiety becomes excessive we already have an AD.

Five major types of AD are:

1 – Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) – characterized by excessive worry and anxiety that persist for at least six months. This excessive worry often interferes with daily functioning and it is difficult to relax or get rid of them. Do you know Alan Harper from Two and a half men? He´s a good example from GAD, he worries about all the things, he can´t sleep well, he doesn´t relax, he doesn´t work well, he can´t keep dating

2 – Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) - characterized by recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and/or repetitive behaviors (compulsions). Repetitive behaviors such as handwashing, counting, checking, or cleaning are often performed with the hope of preventing obsessive thoughts or making them go away. Detective Monk is the best example in this case; Melvin (Jack Nicholson in As good as it gets).

3 – Panic Disorder - characterized by unexpected and repeated episodes of intense fear accompanied by physical symptoms that may include chest pain, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, abdominal distress, sense of unreality and others.

4 – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - is an anxiety disorder which results from a traumatic experience (natural disaster, rape, a serious accident, kidnapping). Common symptoms include hypervigilance, flashbacks, avoidant behaviors, anxiety, anger and depression.

5 – Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) or Social Phobia - describes an intense fear of negative public scrutiny or of public embarrassment or humiliation. When the patient must have a performance situation, the reaction of anxiety can be so intense, and then the patient avoids any exposure situation. Common symptoms include blushing, sweating and difficulty speaking.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is the treatment of choice for these types of disorders. The therapist works with the patients to understand how thoughts and feelings influence behavior; it focuses on the "here and now" problems and difficulties. Instead of focusing on the causes of your distress or symptoms in the past, it looks for ways to improve your state of mind now.

CBT can help you to change how you think (“cognitive”) and what you do (“behavior”). These changes may help you feel better.