Case Study 1: Amy, age 38, is a worrier. She is restless, irritable and has difficulty concentrating. She worries that she worries so much and isn’t always sure what it is that she is worried about. She can’t let her husband or children leave the house without making them call her regularly to reassure her that they are ok. Her husband is growing weary of her fretting. Her children can’t understand what all the fuss is about. Their impatience with her only makes her worry more.


Amy has Generalized Anxiety Disorder. With this disorder, there are six main symptoms: (1) restlessness or feeling keyed up or on edge (2) being easily fatigued (3) difficulty concentrating or mind going blank (4) irritability (5) muscle tension (6) sleep disturbance (difficulty falling or staying asleep, or restless unsatisfying sleep) . Amy has atleast three of the above. She is always restless, she has difficulty concentrating, and she is very irritable. With Generalized Anxiety Disorder, the patient finds it difficult to control their worries, and, at times, the patient worries about how much they are worrying. This shows the extent to which this disorder causes problems with the patient. This disorder does not only cause problems for the patient, it also causes problems to the people that are around the patient. It can be very stressful and frustrating to always have to deal with the worry-er.

There are a couple of ways to treat Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The first, which might not always be the best would be to give the patient anti-depressants. These might be effective, but they might cause future problems with dependence. Psychotherapy might also be an option, depending on the case; the two can even be combined. Relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing, might also be recommended. Lastly, the patient should try to avoid substances that trigger anxiety such as caffeine.

Source: http://www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com/symptoms_remedies/generalized_anxiety_disorder/75-1.html

http://www.behavenet.com/capsules/disorders/gad.htm

Kurt Cobain: A Legen Cut Short

Kurt Cobain was a very talented and emerging rock star. At an early age, his talent was evident and his band, Nirvana, emerged into the main stream music with their lead single "Smells Like Teen Spirit", which proved to be a huge hit. Nirvana became one of the most famous rock bands of its time. Because of Nirvana, and Kurt Cobain's lead singing abilities, a new subgroup of rock was formed. All this fame was not welcome for Kurt Cobain, so he took all the stress and began to drink and do drugs to relieve it. This just made everything worse and worse.

Kurt Cubain, the former lead singer of Nirvana, died at the early age of 27. His life was cut short because of his drastic decision to commit suicide. This suicide was the final result of many years of both acute depression and a bipolar disorder [also known as manic-depression]. Bipolar disorder causes many simptoms including mood swings, which present as rage, euphoria, high energy, irritability, distractibility, overconfidence, and other symptoms. All these made life extermely hard for Kurt. He turned to drugs and alcohol as a means to "soothe" the pain in his life. Another thing that made Kurt at a higher risk of suicide was that suicide had already occured in his faimly, putting him at higher risk.

Although many may not see the severity of both acute depression and bipolar disorders, it is apparent that they can have HUGE side effects on the brain and ability to think rationally. No normal person would ever think that suicide is the right path to take, no matter how hard their lives are. It was also shown that Kurt had these illnesses since the beginning of his life. As a teenager, he had been diagnosed, but nothing was done about it. This just goes to show that it is important to be both aware of the symptoms and aware that there is a means to get passed these illnesses.

Source:

http://www.ahealthyme.com/topic/cobainqa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Cobain

http://www.geneticfutures.com/cracked/info/sheet13.asp