Psychological Approaches to Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Clinician's Guide to Assessment and Treatment

205 Pages·2008·1.17 MB·English

by  Holly Hazlett-Stevens (auth.)

Psychological Approaches to Generalized
Anxiety Disorder
SERIES IN ANXIETY AND RELATED DISORDERS
Series Editor: Martin M. Antony, Professor, Department of Psychology,
Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
ACCEPTANCE AND MINDFULNESS-BASED APPROACHES TO
ANXIETY
Conceptualization and Treatment
Edited by Susan M. Orsillo and Lizabeth Roemer
CONCEPTS AND CONTROVERSIES IN OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE
DISORDER
Edited by Jonathan S. Abramowitz and Arthur C. Houts
SOCIAL ANXIETY AND SOCIAL PHOBIA IN YOUTH
Characteristics, Assessment, and Psychological Treatment
Christopher A. Kearney
TREATING HEALTH ANXIETY AND FEAR OF DEATH
A Practitioner’s Guide
Patricia Furer, John R. Walker, and Murray B. Stein
TREATING TRICHOTILLOMANIA
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Hairpulling and Related Problems
Martin E. Franklin and David F. Tolin
ANXIETY IN HEALTH BEHAVIORS AND PHYSICAL ILLNESS
Edited by Michael J. Zvolensky and Jasper A. J. Smits
ANXIETY AND SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS
The Vicious Cycle of Comorbidity
Edited by Sherry H. Stewart and Patricia J. Conrod
PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO GENERALIZED ANXIETY
DISORDER
A Clinician’s Guide to Assessment and Treatment
Holly Hazlett-Stevens
A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring
delivery of each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only
upon actual shipment. For further information please contact the publisher.
Psychological Approaches
to Generalized Anxiety
Disorder
A Clinician’s Guide to Assessment
and Treatment
Holly Hazlett-Stevens, Ph.D.
University of Nevada, Reno
Holly Hazlett-Stevens, Ph.D.
University of Nevada, Reno
Department of Psychology/298
Reno, NV 89557
USA
[email protected]
ISBN: 978-0-387-76869-4 e-ISBN: 978-0-387-76870-0
DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-76870-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008928768
© 2008 Springer Science + Business Media, LLC
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To Chris and Jack

Acknowledgments
The ideas and clinical practices contained in this book are based on the innovative
work of many researchers and colleagues in the field. I have had the great fortune
of working with two exceptional mentors, Tom Borkovec and Michelle Craske,
both of whom have influenced my thinking on this topic immeasurably. This book
certainly would not have been possible without their teachings and support throughout
my career, not to mention their brilliant contributions to our field. The cognitive-
behavioral therapy techniques described in this book are based largely on the work
of Tom Borkovec, who has been developing and refining GAD treatment
approaches for most of his career. In collaboration with Douglas Bernstein, he
developed a systematic progressive relaxation method widely recognized for its
effectiveness. His more recent work with colleagues Louis Castonguay and
Michelle Newman led to the integration of interpersonal and experiential therapy
approaches. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have worked with this group
at Penn State, and I am greatly indebted to Tom and his collaborators as well as to
Michelle Craske and the many other psychologists involved in my training over the
years. My thinking also continues to be enhanced by the bright and creative graduate
students in my laboratory: Michael Ritter, Amanda Drews, Deacon Shoenberger,
Stephanie Spear, Larry Pruitt, Angie Collins, Kirsten Lowry, and Susan Daflos.
I would also like to thank Martin Antony for inviting me to write this book for
his anxiety series as well as Sharon Panulla and Jennifer Hadley at Springer for all
of their assistance in the preparation of this manuscript. Finally, a special thanks to
Larry Pruitt for his essential contributions to the second chapter and to Susan
Daflos for all of her wonderful help preparing the final manuscript for production.
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About the Author
Holly Hazlett-Stevens received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the
Pennsylvania State University in 1999. Under the mentorship of Dr. Thomas
Borkovec, she studied the nature of anxiety and worry as well as cognitive behav-
ioral therapy for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). From 1999–2001, Dr.
Hazlett-Stevens was a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology at the
University of California, Los Angeles under the mentorship of Dr. Michelle Craske.
There she received training in cognitive behavioral treatment for panic disorder,
coordinated panic disorder intervention research projects, and continued her own
program of anxiety and worry research.
In 2002, Dr. Hazlett-Stevens joined the faculty of the Psychology Department at
the University of Nevada, Reno, where she is currently an Associate Professor. She
has conducted psychological research in the areas of worry, anxiety disorders, and
relaxation for the past 10 years, resulting in the publication of over 20 articles and
book chapters. She also co-authored New Directions in Progressive Relaxation
Training with Douglas A. Bernstein and Thomas D. Borkovec. Her self-help book,
Women Who Worry Too Much: How to Stop Worry & Anxiety from Ruining
Relationships, Work, & Fun was released by New Harbinger publications in 2005.
Dr. Hazlett-Stevens has served as an ad-hoc reviewer for several academic and profes-
sional journals in the area of clinical psychology, and she has been listed in several
Who’s Who lists.
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