Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Spiritual Behavior Intervention

Treatment Summary: The Spiritual Behavior Intervention (SBI) was a way to approach Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) from a new angle. There are many people that live religious based lives and many that lean towards religion to find resolution. This plan applied the benefit of religion and spiritual beliefs to reduce stress from traumatic events, fast psychological healing, and an increase in quality of life. The plan was structured with 12 themed sessions and after each lesson the individuals had homework. The exercises were comprised of multifaiths: Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, Hinduism, and Confucianism, thus making the plan applicable to different individuals. The study showed that people who prefer religious psychotherapy responded best to the treatment and continued to improve with remission. The first session was focused on psychoeducation of GAD, discuss the basis for religious approach, and create goals of treatment. The second session introduced concentration focus towards calm and meditation. The remaining sessions continued to focused on spiritual-based themes encouraging the individual's to express their experiences within the spiritual practices, and the overall well-being effected by the practices. The study showed that people who prefer religious psychotherapy responded well to the treatment and continued to improve after treatment. The value to using religion based therapy is that there are always services at a church for one to pray and find their calm, therefore making remission a higher success rate.

• Reference: Koszycki, D., Bilodeau, C., Raab-Mayo, K., & Bradwejn, J. (2014). A multifaith spiritually based intervention versus supportive therapy for Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A pilot randomized controlled trial. Journal of clinical psychology, 70, 489-504. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22052
• Submitter: N/A