Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is an anxiety disorder that is characterized by excessive and uncontrollable worry about everyday things. The frequency, intensity, and duration of the worry are disproportionate to the actual source of worry, and such worry often interferes with daily functioning.

GAD sufferers often worry excessively over things such as their job, their finances, and the health of themselves and their family. However, GAD sufferers can also worry over more minor matters such as deadlines for appointments, keeping the house clean, and whether or not their workspace is properly organized.

People with GAD tend to have more conflicts with others and are very hard on themselves, they also tend to avoid common situations for fear of worry and anxiety. In youth GAD often leads too lower levels of social supports, academic underachievement, underemployment, substance use and a higher probability of obtaining other psychiatric disorders. GAD differs from other anxiety disorders in the sense that there is no clear stimulus that elicits anxiety or was associated with how it began. It also lacks the clear avoidance and escape behaviors of phobias and unlike panic attacks associated with most disorders, GAD stays fairly moderate in its anxiety levels.

According to the DSM-IV-TR, the following criteria must be met for a person to be diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder:

a) Excessive anxiety and worry (apprehensive expectation), occurring more days than not for at least
six months, about a number of events or activities (such as work or school performance).

b) The person finds it difficult to control the worry.

c) 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
Irritability
Muscle tension
Sleep disturbance (difficulty falling or staying asleep, or restless unsatisfying sleep)
Difficulty concentrating or the mind going blank

d) The focus of the anxiety and worry is not resulting from a features of another anxiety disorder
such as:

(i) Panic Disorder (anxiety and worry about having an panic attack)

(ii) Specific Phobia (anxiety regarding exposure to a specific phobic situation)

(iii) Social Phobia (anxiety from being embarrassed in public)

(iv) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (anxiety or worry in response to severe stress)

(v) Separation Anxiety Disorder (anxiety relating to being away from home or
close relatives)

(vi) Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (anxiety about being contaminated)

(vii) Hypochondriasis (anxiety regarding having a serious illness)

(viii) Somatization Disorder (anxiety resulting from having multiple physical complaints)

(ix) Anorexia Nervosa (anxiety surrounding gaining weight)

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

f) The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g. drugs or 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.

People with GAD often have a variety of symptoms such as muscle tension, startle ness, restlessness, hyperactivity, worrying, fear, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, irritability or sleep disturbance (difficulty falling or staying asleep, or restless unsatisfying sleep) and rumination. However these are also common factors of human life otherwise known as normal anxiety - therefore to differentiate the two these symptoms must be consistent, persisting at least every other day and be persist for a minimum of 6 months for a diagnosis of GAD.

In the National Comorbidity Survey (2005), 58% of patients diagnosed with major depression were found to have an anxiety disorder; among these patients, the rate of comorbidity with GAD was 17.2%, and with panic disorder, 9.9%. Patients with a diagnosed anxiety disorder also had high rates of comorbid depression, including 22.4% of patients with social phobia, 9.4% with agoraphobia, and 2.3% with panic disorder.

For many, the symptoms of both depression and anxiety are not severe enough alone (i.e. are subsyndromal) to justify a primary diagnosis of either major depressive disorder (MDD) or an anxiety disorder. These patients are categorized as having mixed anxiety-depressive disorder, and they are at significantly increased risk of developing full-blown depression or anxiety.

It affects approximately 5% of the total population, yet is more prevalent in women and much more prevalent in youth, where 12% to 20% are affected. In the United States approximately 6.8 million American adults, or about 3.1 percent of people age 18 and over, have GAD in a given year.

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