“

If a pickpocket meets a saint, all he sees are his pockets

” - Traditional

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

“

Money often costs too much.

” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

I've been working on the 'Panic & depersonalization' handouts list in the Good Knowledge section of this website.  The list contains most of the handouts and questionnaires I currently use when working with people suffering from panic disorder, agoraphobia or depersonalization/ derealization disorder.  Here they are with brief descriptions: 

“ Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find it was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible. ” - T. E. Lawrence

The US DSM IV diagnostic system describes the "essential features" of agoraphobia in the following way: "There is intense fear of, or discomfort in, settings from which escape is difficult or embarrassing, or in which help (e.g. to alleviate a panic attack) is not available."  It then adds the following three criteria:

I'm gradually adding content to the 'Good Knowledge' database.  I've just put in some information on agoraphobia.  It reads: 

Manber, R., J. D. Edinger, et al. (2008).

“

As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.

” - Leonardo da Vinci

The "Improving Access to Psychological Therapies" (IAPT) initiative is very ambitious and exciting.  It states its principal aim is to support English Primary Care Trusts in implementing "National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence" (NICE) guidelines for people suffering from depression and anxiety disorders.  It comments "The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme began in 2008 and has transformed treatment of adult anxiety disorders and depression in England. Over 900,000 people now access IAPT services each year, and the 'five year forward view for mental health' committed to expanding services further, alongside improving quality."  

“

There is nothing the wise man does reluctantly.

” - Seneca

Here are many of the handouts and questionnaires I use currently (autumn '09) when working with people suffering from panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD or depersonalization/derealization disorder. 

“ The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes. ” - Marcel Proust

Here are a series of assessment questionnaires and handouts for Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Health Anxiety Disorder.  Note that the 2010 Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies "IAPT Data Handbook" recommends using the GAD-7 to monitor progress in Generalized Anxiety Disorder and the short 18-item version of the Health Anxiety Questionnaire to monitor Health Anxiety progress. 

GAD, 2 question screen - answering "yes" to either of the two screening questions on this sheet suggests it's worth checking for a diagnosis of full Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) - for example by using the GADQ (see below).