Potential Benefits of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Local Wisdom and Online Counseling for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorders, and Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders in College Adolescent Girls

Abstract

Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) and generalized anxiety disorders (GADs) are widespread chronic illnesses associated with a reduced quality of life, social burdens, and low treatment rates. They affect adults, adolescents, and children. The main objective of this study was to examine the literature on the potential benefits of using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), local wisdom, and online counseling approaches for the treatment of FGIDs and GADs in adolescent girls of college age. The existing research on the possible advantages of these approaches was reviewed and analyzed using a narrative–descriptive literature review methodology. The results of this review demonstrated the effectiveness of the three approaches in reducing the symptoms of GADs and FGIDs, enhancing patients’ access to evidence-based care, patient self-care, and participation in therapeutic activities that improve their health. These therapeutic strategies are acceptable, possibly cost effective, and most importantly, they can help individuals, including teenage girls with GADs and FGIDs, enhancing their overall functioning and quality of life. It can also be argued that these interventions, particularly online therapy, offer comparable levels of client satisfaction to traditional face-to-face therapies while being more dependable, offering greater program fidelity, being easier to develop, and reaching a wider audience. Treatments used in the studies evaluated, especially those that included local wisdom counseling techniques, are successful in raising overall functioning levels and, to some extent, patients’ quality of life by encouraging self-care. The benefits of the three approaches in the treatment and management of GADs and FGIDs are still expanding, though, and longer-term studies with more robust sample sizes are advised to draw more reliable conclusions and clinical practice implications.