Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Individuals who experience generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) worry excessively and uncontrollably about multiple everyday concerns. Generalized anxiety disorder is often associated with trouble sleeping or concentrating, and persistent feelings of irritability, tension, restlessness, weakness, or exhaustion.
Symptoms
Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or GAD is an anxiety disorder affecting 6.8 million American adults. It is characterized by extreme and often irrational worry or apprehension displayed across a variety of everyday situations or activities. Patients with GAD worry about things that most people will from time to time worry about, such as health, finances, work difficulties, or family problems. However, while most people are able to control their anxiety regarding these issues, those with GAD are unable to stop focusing on these everyday issues, often fearing the worst outcome for every situation for which they’re experiencing anxiety. Quite often the worry of GAD patients is out of proportion to the actual likelihood of their feared outcome.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV - Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR), the following criteria must be met in order for a person to receive a diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
· Excessive anxiety and worry occurring more days than not for at least six months, about a number of different events or activities
· The person finds it difficult to control the worry
· The worry is associated with at least 3 of the following 6 symptoms (only 1 is required for children)
o Restlessness or feeling keyed up or on edge
o Being easily fatigued
o Irritability
o Muscle tension
o Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
o Difficulty concentrating
· Physical Symptoms that can include nausea, vomiting, headaches, or chronic stomach aches
TREATMENT/THERAPY:
Cognitive-behavioral therapy for GAD includes examining fearful thoughts, learning to control worries, learning effective coping skills, and relaxation training.