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Lillian Knisley

Prof. Flores

English Comp ll

March 20, 2022

Literature Review for Research Project

According to the National Institute of Health, nearly 1 in 3 of all adolescents aged

13 to 18 will experience an anxiety disorder. Both teenagers and parents have been

searching for ways to cope and cure this disorder. Some doctors describe medications

while others believe in a more holistic approach like therapy. At the end of the line

everyone wants to find the most effective and safe solution.

Before Anxiety Disorder was established, there was “pantophobia” in the early

20th century. It was a diagnosis from the Greeks who described patients as having the

“anxiety of everything”. The term “pantoptopic” was first employed by the Latin speaking

physcian Caelius Aurelinas. He noted that some physicians spoke of “pantophobia”

patients, who were allegedly afraid of everything. After years of studying and testing this

word slowly evolved into Neurthesia. This was one of the most successful diagnostic

categories. A psychologist named Sigmund Freud took an interest in Anesthesia and

created the term “anxiety neurosis”. He created the common symptoms and the

backbone for the Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

The treatment for GAD has had many changes as well. In the 20th century if

someone were to have persistent anxiety attacks they would be shipped off to a local
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insane asylum. Where they were given electroshock therapy and in severe cases

lobotazium. During the civil war soldiers were given opioids, ethyl alcohol, bromide salts

to treat the symptoms brought on by anxiety. These treatments were short term

solutions which made the disorder worse. The 1930s saw an interesting mixture of

therapies from electroshock therapy to muscle relaxation. Finally, a more scientific

approach was taken to treat GAD. Harper Collins explains in Your Adolescent - Anxiety

and Avoidant Disorders, “Scientists had a realization that antidepressants and cognitive

therapy could be effective to treat anxiety as well as depression”.

There is a lot of evidence behind the effectiveness of antidepressants and

cognitive therapy to treat Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Antidepressants work by

balancing chemicals in your brain called neurotransmitters that affect mood and

emotions. The article Anxiety in Teenagers by Caroline Miller she explains,

“Antidepressants can take the edge off of teenagers that are dealing with anxiety and

allow them to open up at Cognitive Therapy”. Taking antidepressants can be tricky and

should be monitored closely to make sure symptoms do not worsen. Cognitive

behavioral therapy has been shown to be effective for a wide variety of mental health

disorders. CBT has also been associated with improvements in quality of life in anxiety

patients. Cognitive therapy is a talking therapy that can help you manage your problems

by changing the way you think and behave. According to the Encyclopedic Reference of

Molecular Pharmacology, “CBT aims to help you deal with overwhelming problems in a

more positive way by breaking them down into smaller parts.You're shown how to

change these negative patterns to improve the way you feel”. Many psychologists and
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patients have agreed that a combination of Cognitive Therapy and Antidepressants

have been the most effective in treating Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

These sources have helped me understand the long journey that psychologists

and patients have dealt with as they research Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The

sources have helped me gain a strong background about Anxiety and that I need to

focus on a specifc age group. Since there is a wide range of symptoms and treatments

for Generalized Anxiety Disorder. My research has helped me gain a serious view

towards the topic since it affects so many people worldwide.

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Works Cited

Anxiety.” Encyclopedic Reference of Molecular Pharmacology, Jan. 2004, p. 139.

EBSCOhost,

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=22802220&site=eho

st-live. Accessed 6 March 2022

Collins, Harper. “Your Adolescent - Anxiety and Avoidant Disorders.” American

Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2021,

https://www.aacap.org/aacap/Families_and_Youth/Resource_Centers/Anxiety_Disorder

_Resource_Center/Your_Adolescent_Anxiety_and_Avoidant_Disorders.aspx .

Accessed 6 March 2022

Miller, Caroline. “How Anxiety Affects Teenagers.” Child Mind Institute, 2022,

https://childmind.org/article/signs-of-anxiety-in-teenagers/ . Accessed 6 March 2022.