If the hospital's own environment is high-end, then its funds are generally abundant and its technology will be relatively better. It's good to go to Guiyang Traditional Chinese Medicine Brain Health Hospital, where there are endless people and it takes a long time to queue up!
Epidemiological investigation shows that the prevalence rate of GAD in the United States in the past year is 3. 1%, and the lifetime prevalence rate is 5.7%. The prevalence rate of women is about twice that of men. The onset age of GAD varies greatly: some individuals develop GAD in childhood, most of them start in early adulthood, and the other peak is in old age, which usually occurs in the context of chronic physical diseases. As the name implies, GAD is a chronic disease, and 6 months is the shortest time to diagnose anxiety. Most patients have been suffering from this disease for several years before seeking treatment.
GAD is especially common in primary health care institutions, and it exists in 7-8% patients. However, patients rarely report worrying symptoms. Patients in primary medical and health institutions (non-mental health institutions) mainly show physical symptoms, such as headache or digestive tract discomfort. Children with GAD often show recurrent abdominal pain and other physical symptoms, which may lead them to stay away from school.
Depression is a common disease of GAD, although it may be difficult to distinguish it from GAD, because many symptoms of GAD (such as fatigue and insomnia) overlap with symptoms of depression. Lack of sustained pleasure (inability to experience pleasure) is the core symptom of depression, but it is not the symptom of anxiety. GAD patients usually describe helplessness, while depressed patients may often feel desperate. However, individuals with GAD have a higher risk of intentional self-injury, including attempted suicide. For many patients, GAD is a potential ups and downs state-paroxysmal depression under special life pressure. This combination of double generalized anxiety disorder and depression is sometimes called "anxiety depression", especially in primary health care institutions.
Functional neuroimaging studies in patients with GAD showed that the activation of limbic system (such as amygdala) increased and the activation of prefrontal cortex decreased. Other evidence shows that the functional connection between these areas has been weakened. In addition, preliminary data show that effective treatment of the disease can repair the above abnormal brain function. For example, functional magnetic resonance imaging shows that the activation level of amygdala in GAD patients is increased, and CBT can weaken its activation state.
Almost everyone has experienced anxiety, but to varying degrees. Anxiety, which belongs to a serious degree, often reminds people of that kind of painful experience: panic, fear, as if disaster is coming and danger is coming. Because of this, some people are afraid of anxiety, and always hope that they can get rid of anxiety and reach a state without anxiety, but they don't know that anxiety plus fear of anxiety will reach an extremely painful state.
Case: A young woman suddenly developed palpitation, chest tightness, shortness of breath, dizziness and sweating one day six months ago. After emergency treatment, the electrocardiogram showed sinus tachycardia, and no other abnormalities were found, which was relieved in about 10 minutes. After that, the above discomfort occurred intermittently and I went to the hospital for emergency treatment many times. I checked my heart rate and found other abnormalities. I went on a business trip for work reasons. On the train, I feel that the carriage is closed, and I feel chest tightness and suffocation. I asked the waiter to open the window and it took ten minutes to relieve it. Living in a hotel feels that the windows are sealed and the indoor air circulation is not smooth. I'm afraid I'll go crazy and die. For this reason, I am afraid to lock the door at night and dare not sleep. I am ready to escape from this room at any time. From then on, I hope my family will accompany me, and I don't want to be alone at home. Afraid of a relapse, I will be relieved after taking diazepam. She said that the doctor told her that it was "cardiac neurosis", and she also went online many times to understand the situation. She felt that she had mental problems and came to see a doctor.
Initial diagnosis: acute anxiety attack, so I explained her anxiety and the physical reaction caused by anxiety. Let her know that anxiety is a natural emotional response that everyone will experience. As long as she thinks something bad or threatening may happen, anxiety will appear. These dangerous things include physical threats: such as possible illness, accident or death; Social threats: such as possible humiliation, rejection or ridicule; Or psychological threats: such as the possibility of going crazy, losing control or losing ability. Explain to her that when we feel these dangers, the brain will send out messages, mobilize the body's fight and flight system, and provide energy for attack or flight. At this time, the workload of blood circulation, breathing and other systems will increase, and we will feel the changes of heart rate, heartbeat intensity and breathing speed, which are manifested as accelerated heartbeat, accelerated breathing and deepening. Sometimes breathing becomes uneven and produces harmless but uncomfortable symptoms. Such as dyspnea, cough, chest tightness or chest tightness. At this point, protective physical changes have produced uncomfortable physical symptoms, but these symptoms are harmless and do not mean that there will be big problems. Because anxiety reaches a certain level, our own body will gradually relieve itself through self-regulation.
Next, let her experience anxiety again: after guiding her to relax, let her imagine a scene that makes her feel anxious. When she entered a closed room, she felt nervous and scared, with a gold hoop on her head, stiff body, palpitations and difficulty breathing. Tell her to take a deep breath, relax and accept this discomfort. Gradually, her nervousness and discomfort will decrease. After she can stand it, let her experience the feeling of anxiety. At this time, let her accept this feeling and experience it slowly, and her anxiety will slowly ease. Later, she said that she felt very tired and weak, and she was still worried about this fatigue. She explained that it is normal to feel tired and weak, because anxiety consumes energy and anxiety. When I experienced it again, my anxiety was obviously relieved, and I was no longer afraid of this anxiety.
When asking visitors to talk about this experience of psychotherapy, she said: In the past, whenever anxiety came, I always thought it was a disaster. I wanted to control this emotion or refuse it, but every attempt failed, bringing more pain; I have been trying to find out the clear reason before, but there is no conclusive evidence to make me more afraid. Through this kind of treatment, I think it is more effective to accept this emotion than to refuse it. Fear without a clear reason may come from the heart and be related to careless pressure and disappointment in the past. In the future, I will accept it and stop worrying about anxiety. After the treatment, she showed a happy smile.