Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Symptoms, Causes And Treatment
He generalized anxiety disorder It is characterized by exaggerated and excessive worry and anxiety about any day-to-day event without any apparent reason to justify this concern.
In fact, it is one of the anxiety disorders with the most annoying and disabling symptoms, since they appear in many different situations. Furthermore, it is among the most common psychopathologies, especially in countries of the Western world.
For this reason, generalized anxiety disorder is a phenomenon that should be taken seriously, and many psychologists who want to specialize in psychotherapy decide to train in this type of disorder. In short, it is a disorder for which we must go to psychotherapy as soon as possible, and in this article we will see why.
People who suffer from this disorder They always expect things to go wrong and can’t stop worrying about their health.money, family, work, university, etc. That which generates anguish and constant worries to varying degrees, as if the person were unconsciously looking for excuses to feel bad, to have a reason to enter a loop of anxiety.
Furthermore, since high levels of anxiety do not have a clear trigger and remain that way for a long time, it may happen that the person does not even consider that they have developed a psychopathology, and normalizes their discomfort. Its main characteristic is that leads to high levels of anxiety for prolonged periodsunlike other similar psychopathologies, which give rise to “spikes” of anxiety that occur only in certain situations.
This fear or worry is irrational, unrealistic and disproportionate, and daily life becomes a constant worry. Therefore, anxiety ends up dominating the individual’s life, which negatively affects their normal functioning in different areas of their life, such as social activities, work or interpersonal relationships. In addition, generalized anxiety disorder also affects the ability to vividly imagine possible future situations, causing attention to focus more on negative sensations perceived in the present.
Differences between GAD and other anxiety disorders
Anxiety is a normal reaction of individuals to situations of stress and uncertainty. Now, when several anxious symptoms cause distress or some degree of functional impairment in the life of the individual who suffers from it, anxiety disorder is diagnosed. There are different types of anxiety disorders: panic disorder, phobic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)…
All of them, including the TAG, have in common that make it difficult for the person who suffers from it to function in different areas of their life. For example: social and family relationships, work, school. But between the different types of anxiety disorders, there are differences. And knowing how to distinguish between these different phenomena is important, because if there is another diagnostic category that explains what is happening better than generalized anxiety disorder, the mental health expert will rule out GAD.
So, let’s look at some keys to differentiate diagnostic categories, taking into account that the diagnosis can only be made by psychologists or psychiatrists duly qualified and trained for this purpose.
Persistent anxiety
In the case of generalized anxiety disorder, worry and anxiety reactions are not limited to what is typical of other disorders; for example, the possibility of having a panic attack and being out of breath (panic disorder), feeling humiliated in public (social phobia), suffering from contamination (obsessive-compulsive disorder), or having a serious illness (hypochondria). Unlike the previous ones, the main characteristic of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is having excessive and irrational worry and anxiety, persistent (at least half of the days for at least 6 months) and difficult to control over a number of events or activities such as work, school, friends and family.
Furthermore, according to the DSM-V, to diagnose GAD, the disorder It must not be due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (drug) or disease (for example, hyperthyroidism) nor occur exclusively during an affective disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychotic disorder, or pervasive developmental disorder.
Symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder
Following the diagnostic criteria for GAD as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-V, anxiety and worry are associated with three (or more) of the following six symptoms. In the case of children, only one of the items is required.
Additionally, anxiety, worry, or physical symptoms cause clinically significant discomfort or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
Unlike the DSM-V, according to the ICD-10 Diagnostic Criteria (World Health Organization, WHO) it is not necessary for worries to be excessive and difficult to control. Additionally, it requires the presence of the following symptoms:
The ICD-10 specifies the presence of 4 of the 22 symptoms for the diagnosis of this pathology, and it is necessary that at least one of the symptoms be from the autonomous group. Despite the differences between the DSM and the ICD, the degree of agreement between the two is quite high: a study by Andrews, Slade and Peters (1999) concluded that 77% of the subjects diagnosed by one of these systems had a positive diagnosis in the other as well.
In any case, the symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder must be present almost constantly for a period of at least 6 months in a row.
Causes
GAD is no different from other psychological disorders in regards to the multi-causal origin that gives rise to it. There is no single cause that causes the appearance of generalized anxiety disorder. in the person, but many. The main ones are the following:
The neurological bases of generalized anxiety disorder
Little is known about the neurological basis of generalized anxiety disorder, beyond evidence that it is associated with lower than normal activation in the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex. On the other hand, alertness emotions such as fear are related to the functioning of the brain’s amygdala.
Much more research is needed to fully understand this disorder.
Examples of generalized anxiety disorder
To better illustrate this pathology, below are some examples:
Treatment for this psychological imbalance
Like other anxiety disorders, DAD can be treated effectively with psychotherapy and medication.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) allows patients to acquire tools to manage and control anxiety and worry. Additionally, alternative treatments such as relaxation techniques, meditation or yoga may be beneficial in combination with CBT.
Specifically, the use of self-instructions and the technique of systematic desensitization They are common, and so are Mindfulness sessions, whose objective is to help the person direct their attention to the present.
