Generalized Anxiety Disorders (GAD)
Millions of people in the United States have generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). If you’re experiencing symptoms, find a diagnosis and treatment close to home at Reid Health.
Specialized treatment to help you overcome generalized anxiety disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is one of the most common mental health conditions, affecting millions of adults in the United States every year.
It’s normal to experience occasional anxiety and worry, especially when faced with stressful situations. If you’re experiencing excessive worries, however, or you have anxious thoughts more often than not, it could be caused by generalized anxiety disorder.
The good news is while GAD is very common, it’s also quite treatable. The first step toward finding relief is to simply talk with a medical provider about what you’re experiencing.
Generalized anxiety disorder care at Reid Health
GAD is a common anxiety disorder impacting people in our East Central Indiana and West Central Ohio communities. We’re here to help.
There’s no need to travel to get the specialized care and attention you need for your mental health. At Reid Health, we offer comprehensive services to diagnose and treat all types of anxiety disorders, including GAD.
You can easily and conveniently access this care through our team of mental health professionals in several locations throughout our area. Our goal is to get you back to feeling your best by relieving your symptoms and providing you with tools to support your mental health in the future.
What is generalized anxiety disorder?
All forms of anxiety cause intense feelings of uneasiness, fear, or dread. With anxiety disorders, the anxiety doesn’t go away when the stressor does, and symptoms disrupt daily life.
GAD is one type of anxiety disorder. “Generalized” refers to the general nature of GAD. Unlike other anxiety disorders that can be triggered by a specific phobia or situation, GAD causes broad and wide-ranging anxiety about ordinary things. Worries and fears about family life, work, or money, for example, become persistent and excessive.
As a result, anxious thoughts can quickly overwhelm everything else, negatively impacting a person’s life, relationships, work, and school. Chronic and excessive anxiety can also cause a wide range of symptoms affecting your mental and physical health.
GAD can affect anyone, although it’s more common in women than men. In many cases, GAD first develops during the teenage years or early adulthood, with anxiety symptoms gradually worsening over time.
In some cases, people develop GAD along with other mental health issues, such as depression or panic disorder. These are called co-occurring mental health conditions.
Symptoms of GAD
Anxiety can appear in many different ways. GAD causes a variety of symptoms affecting your mental and physical well-being.
If your anxiety is caused by GAD, you might:
- Be restless, irritable, or on edge
- Experience sleep disturbances, such as having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep
- Feel a frequent need to use the bathroom
- Feel lightheaded or out of breath frequently
- Feel tired all the time or tire easily
- Find it difficult to stop worrying or feeling nervous
- Have a hard time making yourself relax
- Have difficulty concentrating
- Have unexplainable physical symptoms, such as headaches, muscle tension, or digestive issues
- Know you worry too much
- Startle easily
- Sweat a lot
- Tremble or twitch
- Worry excessively about everyday events and activities
GAD risk factors
Researchers aren’t certain what causes GAD or many other anxiety disorders. They’re likely caused by a combination of factors, which might include:
- A family history of anxiety disorders
- Certain genetic markers
- Childhood trauma, abuse, or neglect
- Chronic medical conditions
- Environmental factors, such as being around violence or other traumatic situations
- Personal history of mental health issues
- Substance use
Diagnosing generalized anxiety disorder
If you have persistent worries that disrupt your daily life, talk to your primary care provider about your symptoms. Your provider can review your symptoms and, if needed, refer you to a mental health professional for a diagnosis and treatment plan.
To determine whether you have an anxiety disorder, a mental health professional will ask you questions about your symptoms, how frequently you experience anxiety, and how much your anxiety interferes with your daily activities.
Mental health symptoms, including anxiety, can sometimes be caused by physical health problems, such as a hormonal imbalance, or develop as a side effect of medications. To rule out these causes, your medical provider will review your medical history and any prescription and over-the-counter medications you take. They might also order blood, urine, and imaging tests to see if you have a physical health issue needing treatment.
Diagnosing criteria
To be diagnosed with GAD, you need to meet certain criteria established by the American Psychiatric Association in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. For one, you need to have experienced excessive anxiety and worry more days than not for at least six months.
A GAD diagnosis requires a disruptive level of anxiety and difficulty controlling worry. Your anxiety must also be associated with at least three of the following six symptoms:
- Being easily fatigued
- Being restless or feeling on edge
- Experiencing irritability
- Having difficulty concentrating or having your mind go blank
- Having some type of sleep disturbance, such as difficulty falling asleep
- Staying asleep
- Having tense muscles
To determine whether you have GAD or another type of anxiety disorder, your provider will also consider what’s causing your anxiety. Anxiety related to many different events, activities, and issues is more likely to be defined as GAD.
Treating generalized anxiety disorder
Your provider will create a treatment plan personalized for your specific needs. Your plan might include medication management, psychotherapy, or a combination of both.
Medication management
Providers use several different types of medication to treat GAD, including antidepressant medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). Although these medications are often used to treat depression, they can also be helpful in alleviating anxiety and other GAD symptoms.
Certain other anti-anxiety medications might also be recommended for treating GAD in some cases.
If your provider recommends medication as part of your treatment plan, remember these drugs often take several weeks to begin working. You might experience some side effects in the first days to weeks after starting a new medication, so talk with your provider or pharmacist about what to expect.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy also plays an important role in treating GAD. We offer cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a specialized form of psychotherapy. In this type of therapy, you’ll identify negative thoughts and behaviors and learn tools to help you overcome those patterns.
Ongoing support
GAD is a chronic mental health condition. Although some people are able to discontinue treatment after the condition has stabilized, many people require ongoing treatment with medication or therapy to keep their anxiety under control.
In addition to these treatment options, you might also benefit from talking with others who have GAD. Participating in a support group
can help you build connections with other people who are familiar with this type of persistent anxiety and who can offer guidance to help you overcome it.