Clinical and Research Debates about Generalized Anxiety Disorder among Cognitive Therapists and Psychoanalysts

ETCHEBARNE, IGNACIO; JUAN, SANTIAGO; GÓMEZ PENEDO, JUAN MARTÍN; ROUSSOS, ANDRES

Congreso; 42nd Meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research; 2011

Society for Psychotherapy Research

INTRODUCTION: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is the anxiety disorder that has undergone greater amount of modifications from its first publication in the DSM-III to the drafts of the DSM-5, and its nature is still in discussion within different theoretical frameworks. AIM: The goal of the present study was to analyze the congruence between current research debates about GAD and its clinical conceptualization by cognitive therapists and psychoanalysts. Methods: Individual interviews of two samples of psychotherapists from Buenos Aires were conducted: A group of 20 psychotherapists (10 cognitive and 10psychoanalytic) with varying degrees of expertise, were asked to listen to the audio of a fictional patient meeting DSM-IV-TR criteria for a GAD, and to present their case conceptualization (approach and diagnosis). A second group of 10 expert psychoanalysts and 5 expert cognitive therapists were asked explicitly about their clinical conceptualization of what DSM-IV-TR typifies as GAD. Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) methodology was used to analyze the data. Results: Various domains were found relevant, especially those in relation to the nature and link between anxiety and worry, the functionof worry, GAD’s diagnostic validity, and focus of the case conceptualization. Discussion: The frequency of categories across therapists was classified, and relationships among categories from different domains were detected, generating hypotheses about future research and implications for clinical practice.