Question

Kristen is a 38 year-old divorced mother of two teenagers. She has had a successful, well-paying career for the past several years in upper-level management. Even though she has worked for the same, thriving company for over 6 years, she’s found herself worrying constantly about losing her job and being unable to provide for her children. This worry has been troubling her for the past 8 months. Despite her best efforts, she hasn’t been able to shake the negative thoughts. Ever since the worry started, Kristen has found herself feeling restless, tired, and tense. She often paces in her office when she’s there alone. She’s had several embarrassing moments in meetings where she has lost track of what she was trying to say. When she goes to bed at night, it’s as if her brain won’t shut off. She finds herself mentally rehearsing all the worse-case scenarios regarding losing her job, including ending up homeless. What diagnosis would you give Kristen (list the symptoms you used to make the diagnosis) and what treatment would you suggest?

Answer 1

The possible diagnosis for Kristen is Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Supported by symptoms like-

• constant worry for 8 months about losing her job and being unable to provide for her children, although she is successful.
• persistent negative thoughts
• feeling restless, tired, and tense most of the time
• work life is getting effected - often loses track of what she was trying to say
• insomnia

Kristen has a well paying successful career and two teenage kids, yet her time is spent in excessive worry and constant negative thinking about her future.She should get in touch with a therapist, for individual therapy sessions, mailnly targetting her negative congnitions, possibly through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy sessions reducing one or two negative cohnitions at a time.This should be coupled with providing her some relaxation exercises or techniques which can be practiced with the therapist and then alone whenever she feels anxious, as well as part of a daily routine.