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P02.74. Treating Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) using a self-care model of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapy
BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine volume 12, Article number: P130 (2012)
Purpose
To investigate the effectiveness of a pilot program using a CAM multi-therapy treatment program focusing on self-care behaviors for the treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).
Methods
This is a quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design using a convenience sample of volunteers at a military treatment facility in the Pacific Northwest. Participants (N=37) were enrolled if they had a documented history of GAD or met screening criteria for GAD using the GAD-7, with 68% completing the program (N=25). Participants received acupuncture treatments one time/week for six weeks and were asked to engage in yogic breathing exercises, self and/or partner assisted massage therapy using scented oils, episodic journaling, nutrition counseling, and exercise.
Results
Significant reductions were identified on pre and post GAD-7, Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale-21, UCLA Loneliness Scale, and a significant increase was noted in the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale. In addition patient behavior (participation in study therapies) remained consistently high and a secondary outcome was reduction in anti-anxiety medication use.
Conclusion
The findings in this pilot study suggest multimodal interventions to facilitate self-care is feasible and that a multi-therapy treatment program using CAM therapy, focusing on self-care behaviors may be an effective adjunct therapy for the treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
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This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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McPherson, F., McGraw, L. P02.74. Treating Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) using a self-care model of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapy. BMC Complement Altern Med 12 (Suppl 1), P130 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-12-S1-P130
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-12-S1-P130