Final paper: Biopsychological Analysis of a Neuropsychological Disorder

Running head: OUTLINE 1

Final Annotated Outline

Miranda Smith

PSY 350 Physiological Psychology

Dr. Claire Decristofaro

10/21/2020

OUTLINE 2

Final Annotated Outline

Introduction

A. General anxiety disorder is a mental health condition that is associated with persistent

and excessive worry that a person might have over a number of various things

(DeMartini, 2019). Such individuals normally tend to always have anticipation on

disaster and to some extent they may be overly concerned about family, money,

health and other issues. Mostly, these people find it hard to control the worry that

they have.

B. Generalized anxiety disorder is a neuropsychological disorder as it involves the

mental function being disturbed due to a brain trauma, which is usually associated

with neurotic, behavioral or mental impairment

C. Diagnostic criteria

1. For anxiety disorder to be diagnosed, the following components must be present.

The first one is an individual presenting restlessness. The presence of irritability,

difficulty in concentrating and fatigue (DeMartini, 2019). Other than that, sleep

disturbance and marked distress are also essential in diagnostic.

2. The physical signs and symptoms include sweating, irritability, fatigue, muscle

aches among other symptoms. The psychological signs include lacking

confidence and feeling overly anxious.

D. Reasons for Choosing Topic

1. There are several personal reasons that led to the choice of this topic. One of the

reasons is that there are many people who suffer from this disorder unawares and

thus close attention should be drawn to them. Another reason is that close

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everyone feels anxiety and therefore they need to be told on how they can control

it.

2. The professional reason for this is to trace the cause of the disorder. Apart from

that, it would be essential to educate the patient on the dangers of the prevention

of being exposed to stressful situation constantly as they can result to the disorder.

3. Other possible reasons for choosing this topic includes educating the patient to

avoid using excessive tobacco as it can result to generalized anxiety disorder.

2. Discussion

A. Detailed Description of Disorder

1. The symptom of generalized anxiety varies from person to person depending on

several factors including age. They include, overthinking plans and solutions to

problems, difficulty in dealing with uncertainty and the inability to let go or set

aside of any worry.

2. The most affected group of people are the adults who are middle aged. However,

according to research women are more at risk when compared to men. Those

people who are staying in the urban areas are at a higher risk of being exposed to

this disorder when compared to those who stay in the rural areas (Mannes, 2020).

The European American are more likely to be affected when compared to other

ethnic groups.

3. There are various known subtypes of anxiety disorder. One the type is specific

phobia. There is also panic disorder, separation anxiety disorder and social

phobia.

B. Description of Natural History of Disorder

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1. Generalized anxiety is curable and normally treatment lasts for a minimum of six

months. Within this time, the disorder is gradually being managed and the patient

might be out of it if they respond positively to treatment.

2. If a patient is not subjected to any treatment, the disorder develops and one might

experience some complications (Mannes, 2020). With time, the disorder may

impair a persons ability that enables them to perform tasks more quickly and

efficiently.

A. Methods to Diagnose, Evaluate and Manage Disorder

1. once a patient turns up in a healthcare facility, the first thing that a physician does is to

carry out a physical examination on them and identify the physical symptoms that can be

easily observed (Robichaud, 2019). They can also conduct a psychological evaluation on

the psychological symptom that the patient might present.

2. The methods of ongoing management include imaging, to detect the part of the brain

that has been affected and also psychological evaluation.

B. Risk Factors

The genetic risk factors that contribute to generalized anxiety disorder is the family history,

where the family might be having a history of suffering from the disorder (Gottschalk, 2017).

The lifestyle factors include an individual who is timid or negative as they may be more exposed.

The environmental factors include those people who have had a significant change in their life,

or those who might have had negative experiences during their childhood.

B. Other Causes

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1. Some of the known factors for generalized anxiety include differences in the way

threats are perceived and the development and the personality of a person.

2. The theorized causes are the genetics and also the differences that arises in brain

chemistry and its function.

C. Nervous System Structure

The disorder affects the central nervous system. There are also other neurotransmitters

and peptides that might be involved which include corticotrophin-releasing factor.

D. Neurotransmitters and Receptor systems

The neurotransmitters that are associated with generalized disorder include serotonin,

norepinephrine and dopamine.

E. Current Treatment Options

1. Treatment for the disorder involves using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors

which acts on the serotonin neurotransmitter to prevent the disorder.

2. The non-pharmacological therapies treatment is the psychological counseling which

involves talking to a therapist to reduce the signs of anxiety (Markota, 2017). Apart

from that keeping a journal can help in relaxing the mind of a person.

3. The care givers in this case mainly are the therapist who offers effective methods to

prevent anxiety disorder from developing.

4. The types of healthcare facilities that are involved in this situation includes

outpatient, where a patient only appears to the therapist and goes back home. The

other place is home where they practice a healthy lifestyle such as avoiding tobacco

(Markota, 2017).

F. Future Areas of Research

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1. The needed areas for research treatment is whether drug treatment is better than

therapist and whether tricyclic antidepressants are the better option for effective

treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (Yonkers, 2017).

2. The areas that are needed for research is the possible improvement diagnostic

techniques that can be used to identify the presence of the disorder.

3. The required areas of research for etiology and pathological study are on clinical

pathology. Also on the conditions on how history of the family can lead to the

disorder.

3. Conclusion

In conclusion, anyone can be exposed to anxiety. However, it should not be a scary situation as it

can be easily cured when diagnosed early and exposed to the best form of treatment., it is also

essential if a patient understands their history well, to be able to fight the disorder.

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References

DeMartini, J., Patel, G., & Fancher, T. L. (2019). Generalized anxiety disorder. Annals of

internal medicine, 170(7), ITC49-ITC64.

Gottschalk, M. G., & Domschke, K. (2017). Genetics of generalized anxiety disorder and related

traits. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 19(2), 159.

Mannes, Z. L., Dunne, E. M., Ferguson, E. G., Cook, R. L., & Ennis, N. (2020). Symptoms

of generalized anxiety disorder as a risk factor for substance use among adults living with HIV.

AIDS care, 1-10.

Markota, M., & Morgan, R. J. (2017). Treatment of generalized anxiety disorder with

gabapentin. Case reports in psychiatry, 2017.

Robichaud, M., Koerner, N., & Dugas, M. J. (2019). Cognitive-behavioural treatment for a

generalized anxiety disorder: From science to practice. Routledge.

Yonkers, K. A., Gilstad-Hayden, K., Forray, A., & Lipkind, H. S. (2017). Association of panic

disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and benzodiazepine treatment during pregnancy

with risk of adverse birth outcomes. JAMA psychiatry, 74(11), 1145-1152.