EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A COGNITIVE - BEHAVIORAL GROUP PROTOCOL FOR GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER.
Keywords: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD); Cognitive Behavioural Group Therapy; controlled clinical study
The Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) has as its main characteristic the persistent and excessive worry that creates a big impact in the person’s quality of life. It produces physical symptoms related to autonomic hyperactivity and muscular tension. Different studies show the Cognitive–Behavioral Group Therapy as a possibility of GAD’s treatment with satisfactory results and a significative reduction of the symptoms. This pre-research project proposes to conduct a controlled clinical trial, with the objective of building a group Cognitive Behavioral Treatment protocol for Generalized Anxiety Disorder, in addition to measuring the effectiveness of this protocol from the comparison of a group of intervention and a control group. The hypothesis is that the participants in the intervention group show improvements in the symptoms of GAD compared to the participants in the control group after the intervention. At the end of the research, it is intended to answer the problem raised by the study: Is group cognitive behavioral therapy effective in the treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder?