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- Montreal Therapy Services
Queen Elizabeth Health Complex
2100 Marlowe
Suite 626
Montreal, Qc, H4A 3L6
514-482-3327 -
A subdivision of:
Montreal Psychology Center
1310 Greene Ave. suite 760
Westmount, Qc, H3Z 2B2
514-515-9350
Generalized Anxiety
What is Generalized Anxiety?
Excessive and Uncontrollable worry occurring more days than not for several months. The worry is associated with several of the following symptoms:
- fatigue
- restlessness
- difficulty concentrating
- irritability
- muscle tension
- sleep disturbance
What causes Generalized Anxiety?
Childhood experiences associated with generalized anxiety in adulthood include:
- Worried and overprotective parents: Children interpret parental worry to signify that the world is a dangerous place. As adults, they try to protect themselves by attempting to control their environment.
- Fear of abandonment: Research suggests that individuals who become worriers are more likely to have lost a parent before the age of 16. Adults who are chronic worriers have difficulty believing that others could be trusted to take care of their needs.
- Parents dismissed emotions: These individuals become fearful of intense emotions. As adults, they are more likely to worry about events which may provoke strong emotions.
Processes involved in Generalized Anxiety
- Intolerance of Uncertainty: Research has identified an inability to endure uncertainty as a key factor associated with generalized anxiety/chronic worry.
- Positive Beliefs about Worry: Individuals who suffer from generalized anxiety believe that worrying is useful. Specifically, they believe that worrying helps to find solutions to problems and to avoid disappointments.
- Worry is related to poor problem-solving confidence.
How can Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy help for Generalized Anxiety?
Approximately 75% of individuals suffering from generalized anxiety can be helped with a comprehensive approach to therapy based on the most recent scientific knowledge.
Cognitive/Behavioral therapy can help you to:
- Understand why you keep worrying – become familiar with how positive beliefs about worrying and intolerance of uncertainty sustain generalized anxiety.
- Identify productive versus unproductive worry - recognize problems that actually have solutions and set in motion an action plan to solve these problems – let go of the other worries.
- Challenge your worried thinking – use thought records to identify and change common thought distortions associated with worry.
- Use failure as an opportunity – learn to turn what you currently view as a catastrophe into an opportunity to learn and improve.
- Use your emotions rather than worry about them – worry is actually a strategy to avoid intense emotions – learn to experience your emotions and use them to your advantage.
- Learn to focus on the here and now – Chronic worriers often feel controlled by a need to know everything right away. Therapy can teach you to turn off this sense of urgency. This will allow you to remain in the present and to get more out of life.
From Robert Leahey – “The worry Cure”
If generalized anxiety is causing distress, a professional at the Montreal Clinic for Therapy Services can help.