Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy for Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Abstract

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is defined by the experience of pervasive and uncontrollable worry, in combination with other symptoms related to prolonged physical arousal, like restlessness, irritability, or difficulty sleeping (DSM-5, American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Worry, the core diagnosis feature of GAD, refers to “a chain of thoughts and images, negatively affect-laden and relatively uncontrollable” (Borkovec, Robinson, Pruzinsky, & DePree, 1983, p. 10), with reference to a wide range of domains, like health, financial status, education, family, and so on. While mild and transient worry is a common process in normal population, pathological worry is experienced as pervasive, uncontrollable, and dangerous (Holaway, Heimberg, & Coles, 2006).