Anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder):
The core feature of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is excessive worry and anxiety. “Excessiveness” is differentiated from normal worry or anxiety by the fact that it occurs more often than not for a period of 6 months, that it is associated with other symptoms (e.g. irritability, muscle tension), and that it difficult to control such that the anxiety causes significant impairment in work, relationships, or in other important areas of functioning. Approximately 6.8 million American adults or about 3.1 percent of people age 18 and over, have GAD in a given year (Kessler et al. 2005).

The typical worrier with GAD worries about the possibility of something “bad” could happen (“What if..?”) and the worry then spreads from one thing to another. Symptoms and excessive worry tends to be especially prominent at night or when there are few distractions.

Excessive worry and anxiety arises when our perception of the number of threats we are facing outweighs our sense of safety, ability to cope or resources for dealing with them (Beck et al. 1985). Worry can also be promoted by a general intolerance to uncertainty (e.g. “It is terrible to not know what lies ahead”) (Dugas et al. 1998) and a general tendency to look for the worst possible scenario in any given situation (e.g. “It is best to be prepared for the worst…”).

Watch a FOX40 news clip of Dr. Bermudes speeaking about phobias >

References
1. Beck AT, Emery G, Greenberg RL. Anxiety disorders and phobias: a cognitive perspective. Basic Books, New York, 1985.
2. Dugas MJ, Gagnon F, Ladouceur R, et al. Generalized anxiety disorder: a preliminary test of a conceptual model. Behaviour Research and Therapy 1998;36:215-226.
3. Kessler RC, Chiu WT, Demier O, et al. Prevalence, severity, and comorbidity of twelve-month DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R). Arch Gen Psychiatry 2005;62:617-627.