Considering Alternative Treatment Options for Anxiety Disorders

Considering Alternative Treatment Options for Anxiety Disorders

Although diazepam is one of the effective medications used to treat anxiety, it has a number of side effects that could harm the patient when used for a long time. Like other benzodiazepines, diazepam can cause severe weakness, swelling of hands and feet, shortness of breath, and confusion. In reference to the client’s confession that usually wakes up feeling very weak, it is highly probable that the use of diazepam to manage her condition is the cause of this problem. As Preston, O’Neal and Talaga (2017, p.214) rightly observe, “the use of benzodiazepines should be avoided until other measures have been tried… [since these drugs should be used] only for short-term treatment”. For this reason, there are valid health concerns about how diazepam will affect the client if it is used frequently and over the long-term.

Several factors have to be taken into consideration when developing a treatment strategy for a client with generalized anxiety disorder. To begin with, it should be kept in mind that excessive worrying can impair the capability of the client to execute her duties effectively. More importantly, the client should be made to understand that excessive worrying may only worsen the situation by impairing her ability to inspire confidence in her children (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). This is a very valid consideration given that Mary’s biggest worry is her children and their future (Laureate Education, 2012b). She, therefore, needs to be helped to minimize her worrying about her children. Secondly, the client’s personality and values should also be taken into account. It goes without saying that a major source of worry is one’s core beliefs. For example, individuals that are guided by the core belief of caretaking will always take everyone’s happiness and comfort as their responsibility, therefore constantly sacrificing themselves for other people’s needs. For the treatment plan to be successful, it is thus important that the client be guided in identifying her core beliefs and their costs as well as benefits.

Having highlighted that long-term use of diazepam can be harmful, the proposed treatment plan for a client with generalized anxiety disorder would lean more towards cognitive behavioral therapy. Specifically, increased relaxation training and psychotherapy should be administered to the client to ease her anxiety. Nonetheless, Mary will still continue taking diazepam, though sparingly and only when her anxiety levels get too high. Just to mention, the key goal of the treatment plan will be to assist Mary to reduce her anxiety and worry to reasonable levels. Considering that Mary worries about multiple issues and situations, such as her daughter having relationship issues as well as who will take care of her kids in the event that she is unable to, general interventions are deemed most appropriate. Specific interventions to be included in the treatment plan include relaxation training and breathing exercises. More importantly, Mary will be taken through cognitive behavioral therapy to understand when worrying can become unproductive.

Precisely, Mary’s treatment plan will comprise the following elements: mindfulness training, relaxation training, interpersonal interventions, and problem-solving training. Mary needs to be helped to understand that her anxiety will likely escalate following physiological arousal, hence the need to acquire relaxation techniques. At the same time, mindfulness training would help the client to accept and overcome intrusive worries about her children’s future. This could go hand-in-hand with problem-solving training, which would help Mary to address most of the concerns and worries she has regarding her children. From the case, Mary is worried about one of her children who cannot find a job. To ease off this stress, Mary needs to understand that getting employed in an office is not the only thing her son could do; he could be given some capital and a business idea and empowered to become self-employed.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2012b). Anxiety disorder case study: Mary: Generalized anxiety disorder [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Preston, J. D., O’Neal, J. H., & Talaga, M. C. (2017). Handbook of clinical psychopharmacology for therapists (8th ed.). Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.