Using CBT with Generalised Anxiety Disorder

Generalised Anxiety Disorder, or GAD, is one of a set of anxiety disorders which, along with Panic Disorder (PD), Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), Specific Phobia disorders, and others are considered anxiety disorders in the DSM-5. In the previous version of the DSM, the DSM-IV, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) were also considered to be anxiety disorders. Collectively these conditions plague the lives of one in six or seven people in western, English-speaking countries. A plethora of studies have shown that Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, or CBT, has a high degree of both efficacy and effectiveness in treating anxiety. This course is about using CBT with GAD. If you need to know how to use CBT to treat the wider spectrum of anxiety disorders, we recommend that you enrol in the other courses in this series as well. In this course, we briefly explain the basic principles of a cognitive-behavioural approach, look at the evidence showing that it works, and list the key skills needed by CBT therapists. We also examine the conditions with which CBT should and should not be used. We review the main symptoms of GAD. The final section of the course examines which components should be included in any CBT program for GAD. Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to: Name the main principles and strategies of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy; Cite the major research findings showing that CBT is an efficacious and effective treatment for anxiety disorders; List the key skills and knowledge needed by CBT therapists in order to be effective treating clients with anxiety; Name ten conditions which CBT has been used for and four conditions which tend to be exclusion criteria from CBT studies; List at least eight client qualities which tend to indicate a positive prognosis for CBT treatment; Define GAD and identify the main symptoms of it; Recall the four factors which should be considered in the initial assessment of a CBT-based treatment program for anxiety; Explain which CBT-based treatment components should be included in a program for someone with a presenting issue of GAD.