Therapies for Treating Anxieties

Literature Review

The reviewed literature has focused on two main themes in treating anxiety. These are behavioural therapies (e.g., exercise, exposure therapy, yoga, mind-body connection interventions) and cognitive therapies (e.g., cognitive therapy, schema therapy). A substantial amount of literature supports the use of combining these with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), without considering the effects of gender. As my practicum will be at the Young Women’ Christian Association (YWCA) Counselling Centre, I intend to create and use a general treatment plan to use with women with anxiety. Before discussing the treatment of anxiety, I explore the gender differences and how these might be incorporated into the treatment plan. While there are considerable gender differences in anxiety, the majority of the research focuses on certain populations and certain anxiety disorders (e.g., pregnant women and post-partum anxiety). For this treatment plan, I have intentionally remained general so it could be tailored to other specific situations and clients.

As stated in Kinrys and Wygant (2005), anxiety disorders are more prevalent in women, are more likely to be comorbid with other mental health disorders, have different or worse symptoms, and have different ages of onset compared to their male counterparts. For example, women were about twice as likely to have generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and approximately 2.5 times as likely to have panic disorder or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Kinrys & Wygant, 2005). As for panic disorder, the authors noted that women experience more respiratory-related symptoms in panic disorder (e.g., difficulty breathing) and were more likely to re-experience panic or agoraphobic symptoms when ...

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De Moor, M. H. M., Beem, A. L., Stubbe, J. H., Boomsma, D. I., De Geus, E. J. C. (2006). Regular exercise, anxiety, depression and personality: A population-based study. Preventative Medicine. 42. 273-279.

Kinrys, G. & Wygant, L. E. (2005). Anxiety disorders in women: Does gender matter to treatment?. Rev Bras. Psiquiatr. 27(Supl II.). 43-50.

Smith, M., Segal, R., Segal, J. (2014). Therapy for anxiety disorders. Helpguide. Retrieved from: http://www.helpguide.org/mental/anxiety_therapy.htm.

Toureche, M. I., Ernst, E., Hodnett, E.D., Blanchet, C., Dodin, S., Njoya, M.M. (2011). Mind-body interventions during pregnancy for preventing or treating women’s anxiety. The Cochrane Library. 7, 1-42.

Wright, J. H.., Basco, M. R., Thase, M. E. (2006). Learning Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy. United States. American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.