Anxiety

Just to recap, Tom is an engineer that is married with three healthy children. He does not suffer from any health issues. Tom does find himself feeling anxious when he is working, which interferes with his abilities. Tom's physical symptoms include muscle tension, headaches, and hot flashes. Tom also feels nauseated and easily fatigued. He has trouble concentrating and finds that he become irritable and has trouble sleeping at night. All of these ailments have been bothering Tom for the last 6 months.

Based on this information, we know that Tom did not develop anxiety early on in his life, but later into his adulthood. I do not think this is a product the nurture aspect of learning this disorder. I do not feel as though he picked up this disorder as a direct result of the way that he was raised. I feel as though has this been the case his symptoms would have been present much earlier in his life. According to an article by ("Tempermental traits and attention to threat: a theorectical exploation of their joint contribution to childhood anxiety disorders," 2009) anxiety was present in children as early on as 4 months. Could that have been a product of what the child felt while in the womb or perhaps a result of nature?

It is possible that Tom simply had a rough patch in his life that is causing his normal level of anxiety to spike and cause him problems. I feel that everyone suffers from anxiety at times, but only part of the population experience it to the point that it is debilitating. I feel as though this is a temporary issue that does not need to be addressed with a slew of medications, but more a combination of medication and therapy.

Tom fits the symptoms for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Medication can be used for this type of anxiety, however there are also other treatments that are just as acceptable for treatment such as: support and information, problem solving, self-help. The medication that can be used for short term anxiety is benzodiazepines and sedating antihistamines. These cannot be taken longer than 2 to 4 weeks. I think the best treatment for Tom would be to sit down and discuss his problems with a therapist and see where he can make changes in his life. If this method does not succeed in helping him, I think he should continue with therapy and try some medication to get the anxiety under control so he can learn to cope with the anxiety that he s experiencing. (Practice Nurse, 2009)

Mary is a single mother of one child. For the last month Mary has had issues sleeping. Her fatigued has caused impairment in her profession and social life. Mary does not drink nor use illegal drugs and she is not on any prescribed drugs. Mary's doctor has been reluctant to prescribe any medication to treat this issue because he is worried about becoming dependent.

There are several things that might have caused Mary to be experiencing her insomnia. I do not believe that this is a problem that she is experiencing as a result of anything that has been happening over a long term period. I believe that there are many other factors that have contributed to Mary's insomnia that she could adjust and try to fix on her own. Some of the causes include: tension, constant churning of the mind, unable to sleep during the night but able to sleep during day time, lack of activity, full stomach before bed, too much sugar, exposure to bright lights before bed, too hot or too cold, ingesting caffeine or nicotine before bed, alcohol, and sleeping pills.

We can already rule out some of these causes based on the information we were provided with in the case study. Based on the information that we know, we can say that drinking and drugs are not an issue. Something else that we can look at would be tension and the constant churning of the mind. Depending on the circumstances, there could be lot of tension and thoughts going through Mary's mind, especially as a single mother. She can learn to cope with her problems of being a single mother and the tension that accompanies it. Mary can learn sleep and rise at the same times every day; by setting a schedule for her body, it may allow her to force her body into sleeping at normal hours. Making her bedroom as dark as possible will help to produce melatonin which induces sleepiness. By avoiding naps during the day (such as naps when her child sleeps), she will be tired for bedtime, rather than sleeping during the day and being awake at night. Avoiding caffeine, nicotine, soda, and alcohol can also help with this problem. Avoiding drinks, food, and worrying before bedtime will allow for a better night's rest. Being active during the day as well as exercising would help with her insomnia as well. (French, 2009)

Mary can attempt to solve her insomnia by following those bits of advice and attempting to avoid medication. More than likely this is a short term problem that can be treated without medication. By avoiding medication we are also avoiding dependency which can cause more problems than it actually solves. I think Mary will be fine without medication, though there are sleeping pills available to her such as benzodiazepines and imidopyridines .

There are medications available to treat most mental illnesses, and other problems associated with them, as effectively as possible. Most mental illnesses require more than just therapy and talking about your problems; they are more than a problem that is easily fix by words and actions. Some medications were accidents, others were dead on. Either way you spin it, there is a way to help people so they can live with these illnesses and not have to experience symptoms and pain that interfere with their daily lives.