Generalised Anxiety Disorder Flashcards
What is anxiety?
Mental health condition that causes excessive and disproportional anxiety and worry that negatively impacts the persons everyday activity
What are the 3 typical features of anxiety (ICD-10 criteria)?
Apprehension
Motor tension
Autonomic overactivity
What do the apprehensive features include?
- Worries about future misfortunes
- Feeling on edge
- Difficulty in concentrating
What do the motor tension features include?
- Restless fidgeting
- Tension headaches
- Trembling
- Inability to relax
What does autonomic overactivity include?
- Light-headedness
- Sweating
- Tachycardia
- Epigastric discomfort
- Dizziness
How is anxiety diagnosed?
Clinical history
What is important to find out when doing a clinical history?
If there is a trigger
If it is persistent
What are the 6 key features of anxiety?
- Restlessness
- Fatigue
- Irritability
- Poor concentration
- Sleep disturbance
- Muscle tension
How many key features must there be for a diagnosis of anxiety to be made?
3 of the 6 key features
What is the first step in the management of anxiety disorder?
Education about GAD and active monitoring
What is the second step in the management of anxiety?
Low-intensity psychological interventions- individual non-facilitated self-help
Or
Individual guided self-help or psychoeducational groups
What is the third step in the management of anxiety?
High-intensity psychological interventions- CBT
Or
Drug treatment such as SSRI’s (sertraline)
What is the fourth step in the management of Anxiety?
Both CBT and Drug treatment
What would you give if an SSRI was ineffective?
SNRI
What are examples of SNRI’s?
Duloxetine
Venlafaxine
