Learn More About Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized Anxiety Disorder is defined as:

• Excessive anxiety and worry (apprehensive expectation), occurring more days than not for at least 6 months, about a number of events or activities (such as work or school performance).
• The person finds it difficult to control the worry.
• The anxiety and worry are associated with three (or more) of the following six symptoms (with at least some symptoms present for more days than not for the past 6 months). Note: Only one item is required in children.
• restlessness or feeling keyed up or on edge
• being easily fatigued
• difficulty concentrating or mind going blank
• irritability
• muscle tension
• sleep disturbance (difficulty falling or staying asleep, or restless unsatisfying sleep)
• The focus of the anxiety and worry is not confined to features of an Axis I disorder, e.g., the anxiety or worry is not about having a Panic Attack (as in Panic Disorder), being embarrassed in public (as in Social Phobia), being contaminated (as in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), being away from home or close relatives (as in Separation Anxiety Disorder), gaining weight (as in Anorexia Nervosa), having multiple physical complaints (as in Somatization Disorder), or having a serious illness (as in Hypochondriasis), and the anxiety and worry do not occur exclusively during Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.
• The anxiety, worry, or physical symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
• The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition (e.g., hyperthyroidism) and does not occur exclusively during a Mood Disorder, a Psychotic Disorder, or a Pervasive Developmental Disorder.

Someone suffering from General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is someone who appears to worry about a lot of different things or who always needs to be in control. Their worry is not about any one thing in general however, or they would likely not fall in this category.

The key feature of this disorder is worrying to the point of being less productive in life – being so much of a “worry wart” that you get less things done, your relationships are less healthy, or you do worse in school or work. This can be in many forms but often shows itself in being “over prepared”, always need to know whats going on, or needing to be involved with everything.

GAD can manifest itself in many physical forms as well, some of the most common physical signs are frequent headaches, stomach aches, constipation or diarrhea, muscle pains, and excessive sweating.

To have GAD yourself can feel like you always need to worry about everything in life in order to make sure that things work out the way that they are supposed to. Many times GAD comes on so slowly over the course of many years, that its hard to notice that you have become a constant worrier until someone points it out to you. Other times the worrying feels like a desire to control the environment and those around you.

Anxiety disorders are caused by our minds desire to prepare for the future. Being smart and emotional creatures, we have developed a benefit to understanding what “might” happen in the future so that we can be prepared for it. Simply put, GAD is caused by spending too much time thinking about, trying to control, or trying to change what “might” happen.

GAD can also be a conditioned response – if at one point in our lives we had a negative event that occurred over a stimulus our minds can learn to worry about it happening again. Like Pavlovian dogs, we can train ourselves to be anxious around certain people, places or events. When we train ourselves to be anxious in general, we call it GAD.

Psychotherapy or talk therapy is the only true form of “cure” for Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Some medications can help to reduce symptoms of anxiety, but they are not a cure – talk to your primary care physician for more information. However, we recommend using medications in the treatment of general anxiety disorder only in combination with talk therapy.

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