Clinical characteristics of generalized anxiety disorder: older vs. young adults

Altunöz, Umut; Kokurcan, Ahmet; Kirici, S.; Baştuğ, Gülbahar; Ozel-Kizil, E.T.

doi:10.1080/08039488.2017.1390607

Cited by 24 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 55 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Minor matters can become significant sources of worry that produce greater worry; due to controlling the severity, a couple of participants engaged in reassurance-seeking behaviors to comfort themselves. Likewise, excessive reassurance-seeking was found to be very prevalent, especially in a young (the mid-30 s) Turkish individuals with GAD compared to the older group (≤ 65 years) (Altunoz et al, 2018 ). The presence of somatic complaints, reassurance-seeking behaviors, poor attentional control and exaggerated attention on minor issues, hypervigilance, and negative appraisals of neutral subjects as well as catastrophic metacognitions about worry that we obtained from the participants are indeed parallel with the clinical model of GAD (Clark, 1986 ; Wells, 1995 , 1999 , 2005 ; see a meta-analysis of Covin et al, 2008 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meaning in life, psychological hardiness and death anxiety: individuals with or without generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a widespread psychiatric disorder. According to the transdiagnostic approach, death anxiety can underpin predominantly somatic manifestations of GAD. Personal resilience factors such as a sense of a meaningful life, and psychological hardiness, which can protect people from developing clinical symptoms, may be lower in individuals with GAD. So far, there has been no study examining the role of meaning in life dimensions, death anxiety, and hardiness in individuals with GAD in Turkey. Thus, we aimed to investigate to what extent the GAD sample differs from the non-anxious control group in terms of death anxiety, meaning in life dimensions, and hardiness. Secondly, we examined how conceptually predicted death anxiety by meaning in life dimensions and hardiness regardless of diagnosis, age, and gender. Just before the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, we could only recruit 38 individuals with GAD and 31 non-anxious control subjects. The Death Anxiety Scale, The Meaning in Life Questionnaire and the Psychological Hardiness Scale were administered to all the participants. The one-way MANOVA results with Bonferroni adjustment revealed that individuals with GAD significantly differed from the control group in every way. Hierarchical regression analysis displayed that the presence of meaning made the most significant contribution in predicting death anxiety. In conclusion, existential issues such as death anxiety, hardiness, and meaningful life can be emphasized for the treatment of GAD, and the presence of meaning is the most crucial antidote to avoid death anxiety in all individuals.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meaning in life, psychological hardiness and death anxiety: individuals with or without generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Epidemiological studies have shown that the peak age of anxiety is in the early stage of adulthood, and the incidence and prevalence decrease with age 22 . Another study showed that although older adults patients with generalized anxiety disorder have less severe symptoms than younger patients, they have more sleep disorders, a higher incidence of depression and a higher degree of depression 23 . The survey results showed that we underestimate the prevalence of anxiety in the older adults population.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Older patients with persistent postural-perceptual dizziness exhibit fewer emotional disorders and lower vertigo scores

Zhang

Jiang

Tang

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The clinical characteristics of persistent postural-perceptual dizziness (PPPD) vary according to patient age and inducing factors. We aimed to analyze the differences in the clinical characteristics of PPPD with different patient age groups and different etiologies. A total of 122 PPPD patients hospitalized in the vertigo ward of Nanjing Brain Hospital from December 2018 to July 2021 were enrolled. According to whether dizziness symptoms were secondary to organic diseases, PPPD patients were divided into the primary (p-) and secondary (s-) PPPD groups; subgroups were created according to age including youth group, middle-aged group, older adults group 1 and older adults 2. We collected detailed data from each patients, including scores on the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI), mental state and other clinical data. The ratio of males to females was 1:2. The prevalence of emotional disorders in the middle-aged group was the highest (67.57%) and that in the older adults groups was lower (48.08% in older adults group 1 and 8.70% in older adults group 2, P = 0.000). The proportion of p-PPPD patients with emotional disorders was significantly higher than that of s-PPPD patients (53.48% vs. 30.56%, P = 0.028). The average total DHI score in the middle-aged group was significantly higher than that in older adults group 2 (52.86 vs. 35.04, P = 0.032), and the Beck anxiety score in the middle-aged group was higher than that in older adults group 2 (38.89 vs. 27.65, P = 0.000). The middle-aged group had the highest proportion of women, the highest proportion of patients with emotional disorders and the highest vertigo score. The proportion of patients with emotional disorders and the vertigo scores were lower in the older adults groups.

show abstract

“…Depression often co-exists with anxiety and anxiety symptoms. Compared to younger age groups, older adults report a higher frequency of anxiety (8,19).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

A psychometric validation of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in community-dwelling older adults

Sivertsen

Helvik

Gjøra

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives The Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS) is commonly used to measure anxiety and depression, but the number of studies validating psychometric properties in older adults are limited. To our knowledge, no previous studies have utilized confirmative factor analyses in community-dwelling older adults, regardless of health conditions. Thus, this study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of HADS in older adults living at home in a large Norwegian city. Methods In total, 1190 inhabitants >=70 (range 70 – 96) years completed the HADS inventory in the population based Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT) termed "HUNT4 70+" in Trondheim, Norway. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were performed to test the dimensionality, reliability, and construct validity. Results The original two-factor-solution (Model-1) revealed only partly a good fit to the present data; however, including a cross-loading for item 6 D ( “ I feel cheerful” ) along with a correlated error term between item 2 D ( “I still enjoy the things I used to enjoy” ) and 12 D ( “I look forward with enjoyment to things ”), Model-3 with a two-factor solution demonstrated an acceptable/good fit. Good to acceptable measurement reliability was demonstrated, and construct validity was supported. Conclusions The HADS involves some items which are not reliable and valid indicators for the depression construct in this population. Especially item 6 which is problematic. To improve the reliability and validity of HADS rewording of some items is recommended.

show abstract

Clinical characteristics of generalized anxiety disorder: older vs. young adults

Cited by 24 publications

References 55 publications

Meaning in life, psychological hardiness and death anxiety: individuals with or without generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

Meaning in life, psychological hardiness and death anxiety: individuals with or without generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

Older patients with persistent postural-perceptual dizziness exhibit fewer emotional disorders and lower vertigo scores

A psychometric validation of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in community-dwelling older adults

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About