Post-Yvonne

 Respond to  your  colleagues by suggesting an alternate therapeutic approach. Support your  feedback with evidence-based literature and/or your own experiences  with clients.  

NOTE( Positive Comment)

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Anxiety  disorders are psychiatric conditions that share characteristics of  excessive fear of real or perceived imminent threat. According to  Thibaut (2017), anxiety disorders are the most prevalent psychiatric  disorders- accounting for 7.3% of all psychiatric disorders worldwide.  Anxiety disorders are distinguished from one another by the triggers  that induce the anxiety, fear, or other associated behavior and may  include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder,  obsessive-compulsive disorder, selective mutism, separation anxiety  disorder, medication/substance-induced anxiety disorder, and social  phobia (American Psychiatric Disorder, 2013; Thibaut, 2017). 

             A client I observed is N.B, a 15-year old male Caucasian presented to  the clinic by his mother, who was concerned about his anxious behavior.  The client’s mother described him as a shy person with little friends.  For this reason, N.B spends most of his time playing video-games in his  room. The client’s mother also revealed that N.B has always had problems  meeting new people. During the interview, N.B looked uncomfortable. He  could not keep eye contact and was fidgeting. N.B’s mother also revealed  that he has always struggled in the presence of his peers. N.B has  severally turned down his peer’s invitations to hang out and often  engages in avoidance behaviors. After assessing the client, a diagnosis  was made for social anxiety disorder (Social phobia) 300.23 (F40.10)  (American Psychiatric Disorder, 2013).

             The DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for social anxiety disorder (Social  phobia) involves marked fear or anxiety of one or more social situations  where an individual is exposed to scrutiny by others- (in peer settings  for children). The social situations always provoke fear or anxiety and  must have been lasting for six months or more. In the given case, the  client met the diagnostic criteria for social anxiety disorder.

Therapeutic Approach and perceived Effectiveness

             The most appropriate treatment for N.B is cognitive behavioral therapy  (CBT). CBT is regarded as the approach with the highest level of  evidence in the treatment of social anxiety disorder (Bandelow et al.,  2017). CBT's goal in treating social anxiety disorder is to enable the  client to gain self-consciousness by changing maladaptive behaviors and  negative thoughts that make oneself uncomfortable in social situations.  In their study, Pinjarkar et al. (2015) examined the effectiveness of  CBT in treating social anxiety and found a clinically significant  improvement in the subject’s self-consciousness and avoidance behavior  (63.79%). In another study, David et al. (2014) concluded that cognitive  therapy resulted in better outcomes than wait-list in the treatment of  social anxiety disorder patients (78% of the subjects did not meet  avoidant personality criteria at the end of treatment). The study also  showed that cognitive-behavioral therapy was more superior to expressive  and art therapy in the treatment of social anxiety disorder (71%)  (David et al., 2014). 

Thank you for listening to me. 

I look forward to hearing from you on alternate therapeutic approaches. 

References

Bandelow, B., Michaelis, S., & Wedekind, D. (2017). Treatment of anxiety             disorders. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 19(2), 93–107.

David M., C., Anke, E., Ann, H., Freda, M., Melanie, F., Nick, G., Louise, W., & Jennifer,          W. (2014). Cognitive therapy versus exposure and applied relaxation in social   phobia: A Randomized controlled trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical             Psychology, 74(3), 568–578.

Kaczkurkin,  A. N., & Foa, E. B. (2015). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for  anxiety disorders:        an update on the empirical evidence. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 17(3), 337–      346.

Pinjarkar,  R. G., Sudhir, P. M., & Math, S. B. (2015). Brief cognitive  behavior therapy in         patients with social anxiety disorder: A preliminary investigation. Indian Journal of       Psychological Medicine, 37(1), 20–25. https://doi.org/10.4103/0253-7176.150808 

Thibaut F. (2017). Anxiety disorders: A review of current literature. Dialogues in Clinical           Neuroscience, 19(2), 87–88.