How To Diagnose and Treat Your Anxiety

By Steven T. Griggs, Ph.D.

This ebook starts out with a description of the 33 anxiety symptoms and guides you through a system of evaluation. You pick which symptoms you have, quantify them according to their number, frequency and severity. This number is plugged into rating criteria to tell you where you "fall" relative to everyone else.
Next is a description of the seven categories of anxiety. This helps you pick which area best describes your experience with anxiety. You find out which diagnostic category best fits.
Next is a discussion of the causes of anxiety, divided broadly into two groups--physical and psychological causes.
Finally, there follows a description of the treatment of anxiety, which again focuses first on fixing any physical causes, and then delving into what you can do psychologically. There's a lot you can do right away, but you have to follow along with my thinking first. I take you through my exact process as a psychologist as I work with clients, only you get to follow along and do it yourself.
Lastly, I have four techniques or exercises that take you right up to the limit of what a self-help book can do.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steven T. Griggs, Ph.D.
• Release date: May 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476411477

Steven T. Griggs, Ph.D.

I'm a psychologist. I write no-fat, how-to ebooks on subjects and conditions I fix everyday in the office. These include relationships, being assertive, struggling with guilt and/or procrastination, children and teenager's behavior, anxiety disorders, anger management, kids and divorce, self-esteem, child visitation, weight control, forgiveness, ADHD, addictions, and my latest, mood disorders. I've written 15 ebooks, and most of them are translated into Spanish. Now, I'm starting to write a book, "The Other Side of the Couch." It's about my daily experiences as an outpatient psychologist and how I see the world through the lense of a shrink...

Book preview

HOW TO DIAGNOSE AND TREAT YOUR ANXIETY

by

Steven T. Griggs, Ph.D.

A PSYCHOLOGICAL CORPORATION

http://www.psychologyproductsandservices.com/page2.html

Copyright August 2007

Published by Steven T. Griggs, Ph.D. at Smashwords

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Disclaimer

Introduction

Part 1

-Definitions and Self-Assessment

-Subjective Assessment

Self-Rating

--Mild

--Moderate

--Severe

-Objective Assessment

--Worrisome Personality

--Generalized Anxiety Disorder

--Adjustment Disorder with Anxiety

--Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

--Panic Disorder

--Phobia Disorder

--Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Part 2

-Causes of Anxiety

--Physical Causes

--Psychological Causes

Part 3

-Treatment of Anxiety

Techniques

-Exercise #1

-Exercise #2

-Exercise #3

-Exercise#4

Glossary

Appendix A (Related Disorders with Anxiety)

Appendix B (Severity of Stressors)

Bibliography

And Last...

Ebooks by the Author

About the Author

DISCLAIMER

This monograph (single subject paper) is written to assist those who seriously question their experience of anxiety. The information given is straightforward, written in ordinary English, and conforms to the general standards of the psychiatric and psychological professions in the United States. The attempt has been to present this information in a thorough, accurate manner, without being too technical (clinical) or overwhelming in detail. It is intended to be used by adults of reasonably sound mental states who wish to assess their own anxiety problems and to possibly try some exercises to alleviate the symptoms. It is designed to help people determine whether they might need a psychotherapist, or not. It is assumed the reader has an average level of competence in reading, thinking about and understanding materials of this nature. The author of this monograph does not claim the enclosed information will cure anyone's anxiety, only that it will help some people and give the general reader a better sense of the range of anxiety symptoms, possible causes, and when to seek treatment. It is written for adults.

The data, scales and charts are the product of the author’s years of experience in helping patients rate themselves in this subject. These have face validity but have not been formally compared to additional professional or academic instruments to establish other types of statistical, conceptual or concurrent validity.

INTRODUCTION

Hello,

My name is Dr. Griggs. I am a clinical psychologist and have worked in private practice over twenty-three years. You have acquired this monograph about anxiety, and I presume you want straight answers. My goal is to help you understand/learn about anxiety and to teach skills to manage it. In this monograph, I will share with you my professional experience in this particular subject. My goal is to help you identify the symptoms and begin to deal with your symptoms, if that is what is appropriate, or to learn when to seek a professional. Many types of anxiety do not require professional help and, conversely, many do. I mainly discuss anxiety, so if you have other symptoms (depression, eating disorders, addictions, etc.) you can obtain other monographs on these subjects later. Since anxiety often is associated with and sometimes underlies these other conditions. I will mention these other areas briefly.

I have written this monograph because I see many anxious people in my practice who did not need to spend their money or time going to a therapist. There are many people like you who want or need information about their experiences, but cannot afford to see a therapist. There are people suffering from anxiety who need a therapist and might respond to a monograph like this because it is specific and confidential. Each of these groups of people might benefit from my experience and get some clinical direction, and possibly move towards solving some of their problems by themselves without lengthy treatment. This document educates and offers at least an initial approach to a widespread problem, and does so safely, sensibly and inexpensively. If you do not require treatment, this material will help you find that out, put your mind at ease and save you money. If you do need a therapist, this material will help you figure that out and point you in the right direction.

Everything presented here has been researched and used in my private practice for years. This approach to the subject of anxiety is the one I take when I work with clients. The process is well documented in established psychological journals and other professional psychological literature. That does not mean the psychological techniques necessarily will be easy. They are effective within the limits set forth in this monograph. I take you to the limits of what can be done in a self-help manual, but not further. It may be reassuring that anxiety is a very common experience and is not limited to the young or old, rich or poor, or to any race, religion or geographic area. This material is applicable to any adult who is experiencing some form of anxiety and who wants to know more or to do something about it. I hope it helps you.

PART 1

Definitions and Self-Assessment:

First Things First. Let us define the term anxiety according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition-Revised. For this part, I chose to use this version because the later version (DSM IV, published in 1994) is actually less concise defining the term. According to the DSM III-R (1987), anxiety is:

"..an apprehension, tension, or uneasiness that stems from the anticipation of danger, which may be internal or external. Some definitions of anxiety distinguish it from fear by limiting it to anticipation of a danger whose source is largely unknown whereas fear is the response to a consciously recognized and usually external threat or