General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) Essay

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is an anxiety disorder that is characterized by excessive, uncontrollable and often irrational worry about everyday things that is disproportionate to the actual source of worry. This excessive worry often interferes with daily functioning, as individuals suffering GAD typically anticipate disaster, and are overly concerned about everyday matters such as health issues, money, death, family problems, friend problems, relationship problems or work difficulties.[1] They often exhibit a variety of physical symptoms, including fatigue, fidgeting, headaches, nausea, numbness in hands and feet, muscle tension, muscle aches, difficulty swallowing, bouts of difficulty breathing, trembling, twitching, irritability,

Those with GAD experience lavish amounts of worry, usually anticipating the worst even when there is no reason to. Unlike phobias, the anxiety isn't connected directly to something, it just a worry that is always present. These worries that these individuals experience are what normal people experience, such as reaching to work safely, but taken to the extreme. The difference between normal worrying and GAD is that, is that the worrying involved in GAD is excessive and often unnecessary. For example, after watching a news report about a school shooting, the average person might feel a temporary sense of worry for their kids. If you have GAD, however, the individual might be up all night after it and continue worrying for days about a worst case scenario that could happen, maybe even keeping your kids from going to school. To deal with GAD, individuals are given suggestions such as to practice deep breathing, meditation. In terms of treatment, presciprdtions are often given to them. One of the drugs prescribed to patients is buspirone. This is an anti-anxiety drug and takes the edge off but does not completely eliminate the anxious feeling. Benzodiazepine is also a drug prescribed which calms the body (“Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is characterized by excessive anxiety and worry that is not limited to one subject, situation or activity (Nevid, Rathus & Greene, 2017). People with GAD are known to worry about many things in their lives; their health, their finances, their well-being and that of their children. It is a worry that can be describe as excess and one that impairs one from functioning (Nevid, Rathus & Greene, 2017).

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is one of the most diagnosed mental disorders today, and can often be closely linked to concurrent symptoms or disorders including physiological, behavioral, other anxiety disorders, depression and substance abuse. (Merino, Senra & Ferreiro, 2016) (Cacioppo & Fregberg, 2013, p. 688). GAD most notably produces symptoms of excessive worry and anxiety related to non-specific risks, which often leads to functional decline both socially and professionally (Roberge et al., 2015). GAD reveals instances of links to biological origins such as heredity and biochemistry, as well as, ties to an individual’s cognitive development and socioeconomic environment (Cacioppo & Fregberg, 2013).

E. The anxiety, worry, or physical symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

A. Excessive anxiety and worry, occurring more days than not for at least six months.

GAD is diagnosed when a person worries excessively about a variety of everyday problems for at least 6 months. Physical symptoms include tension, fatigue, insomnia, irritability, gastrointestinal problems, restlessness and edginess (Aikins & Craske, 2001). Excessive worry becomes a typical way of thinking and everyday problems result in a series of ''what-if'' thoughts, which eventually leads to a disastrous prediction. Because individuals with GAD are highly sensitive to threat in general, particularly when it has personal significance, they frequently observe possible threats (Barlow, 2002). In response to these anticipated dangers, fight-or-flight reactions are activated. In most anxiety disorders, it is generally clear what needs to be escaped or avoided (e.g., spiders or public speaking), but in GAD there is

There are a few different types of anxiety. The six most common anxieties are generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder (anxiety attacks), phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and social anxiety disorder. People with GAD are constantly worried with no idea why and could have physical symptoms like insomnia, stomach upset, restlessness, and fatigue. Someone with OCD might have unwanted thoughts or behaviors that seem impossible to stop and may suffer from uncontrollable compulsions, like washing hands over and over again. A person with panic disorder may suffer from panic attacks and may also have agoraphobia, which is a fear of being in places where escape or help would be difficult in the event of a panic attack. People with phobias have an unrealistic fear of an object, activity, or situation, and may try to avoid the fear which only makes the phobia worse. Someone with post-traumatic stress disorder can have flashbacks or nightmares about a something traumatic that happened in the past. A person with social anxiety may not want anyone to see them negatively or worry a lot about what people think about them, and may be seen as extremely shy. Someone with social anxiety might also have performance anxiety or stage

Anxiety disorder , unspecified (ICD-10-F41.9) – This condition is manifested by excessive worry and fear than lasts for more than six months. Some of the symptoms include irritability, sleeplessness, fatigue, muscle tension and shortness of breath (Bystritsky et al., 2013).

Generalized anxiety disorder(GAD) is much more than the normal anxiety people experience everyday. It is a chronic condition that is chracterized by excessive worry and anxiety, even though there aren't any reasonable explanations for the cause. It is diagnosed when a person spends a least 6 months worrying excessively about numerous everyday problems.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a disorder in which an individual may feel persistent, excessive, and worry about everyday things that may not even happen. Individuals with this disorder may feel worry, excessive anxiety, and have thoughts of the worst even when there is no need for concern. A person experiencing GAD may expect a disaster. They may worry about their finances, money, health, family, work, or any issue that may come to mind. This disorder may be present when a person worrying increases on more days than one for at least six months. GAD can interfere with work, school, family, and even social activities. GAD can be diagnosed in adults when they experience at least three of the symptoms. These symptoms include restlessness or feeling on the edge, fatigue, difficulty focusing or mind going blank, irritability, muscle tension, pain in back or headaches, and sleep disturbance (ADAA, n.d.).

Anxiety is constant. It is that itch that just will not go away. Because the itch is right in the back of your mind, you cannot get to it. Whether I am in a crowded restaurant or alone in my room, it is there. Always. Every little thing is a cause for anxiety. Big event coming up? Anxiety. Something is broken and it’s my job to fix it? Anxiety. Need to tell my father something incredibly simple? Anxiety. Think there is nothing to worry about and everything is fine in my life? Nope, anxiety there too. Whether it is worrying about a big event or a person, or it is just checking every five minutes to make sure I have absolutely everything I need in my bag, and then always finding something new to pack because there is so many ‘what if’ situations that it is almost hard to think of anything else, every situation has bad thing when you have anxiety eating away at you constantly.

There are varying degress of anxiety from mild – worrying about something to fully blown panick

The six most common forms of anxiety are Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Phobias, Social Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or GAD, is characterized by excessive worries about nonspecific life events, objects, and situations. People with GAD often have trouble identifying that specific fear and controlling it. That said fear is often unreasonable and not in proportion with what is expected in a normal situations. They normally expect failure and disaster is coming, and they normally can not lead normal lives. Phobias are an irrational fear of a certain object or situation. Most people will acknowledge their fear and know that it is unreasonable,

Based on the DSM-V, the symptom Joe reported met the criteria for generalized excessive anxiety. For example, ongoing anxiety and worry for at least six months. He reported sleep