A nurse is assisting with the plan of care for a client who has generalized anxiety disorder. Which of the following actions should the nurse include in the plan?

Introduction: Generalized anxiety disorder involves persistent, excessive worry about various aspects of daily life. Nursing interventions focus on cognitive-behavioral strategies, promoting self-regulation, and helping the client identify and verbalize the underlying causes of their anxiety to develop more effective coping mechanisms and reduce autonomic arousal. A. Encouraging dependency is counterproductive in the treatment of anxiety. The goal of nursing care is to empower the client to utilize coping skills and gain autonomy. Fostering dependence can increase the client's sense of helplessness and exacerbate their anxiety when the caregiver or nurse is not present. B. Facilitating the verbalization of feelings allows the client to process their emotions and identify specific stressors. This therapeutic communication technique helps the client move from a state of vague, overwhelming anxiety to a more manageable understanding of their internal state, which is a prerequisite for cognitive restructuring. C. Providing overly detailed directions can be overwhelming for a client with high anxiety levels. During periods of acute distress, the client's ability to process complex information is impaired. Nurses should provide simple, clear, and concise instructions to avoid increasing the client's cognitive load and subsequent anxiety. D. Avoiding triggers is a maladaptive coping mechanism known as avoidance behavior, which can actually strengthen the anxiety response over time. Therapeutic care involves helping the client gradually face and manage triggers through desensitization or cognitive strategies, rather than ignoring the factors that contribute to their clinical condition.