Generalized Anxiety Disorder

It's normal to feel anxious or worried at times. Everyone does. In fact, a moderate amount of anxiety can be good. Anxiety helps you respond appropriately to real danger, and it can help motivate you to excel at work and at home.

But if you often feel very anxious without reason and your worries disrupt your daily life, you may have generalized anxiety disorder. Generalized anxiety disorder causes excessive or unrealistic anxiety and worry — well beyond what's appropriate for a situation.

Living with generalized anxiety disorder can be difficult, but treatment is available. Medications and psychotherapy can help ease symptoms, and you can learn healthy coping skills to manage generalized anxiety disorder and take back your life.

Signs and symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder can vary in combination or severity. Generalized anxiety disorder symptoms may include:

Restlessness
Feeling of being keyed up or on edge
Feeling a lump in your throat
Difficulty concentrating
Fatigue
Irritability
Impatience
Being easily distracted
Muscle tension
Trouble falling or staying asleep
Excessive sweating
Shortness of breath
Stomachache
Diarrhea
Headache

If you have generalized anxiety disorder, you may experience times when your worries don't completely consume you, but you still feel rather anxious. You may feel on edge about many or all aspects of your life. For example, you may feel intense worry about your safety or that of your loved ones, or you may have a general sense that something bad is about to happen, even when there's no apparent danger.

Generalized anxiety disorder often begins at an early age, and the signs and symptoms may develop more slowly than in other anxiety disorders. Many people with generalized anxiety disorder can't recall when they last felt relaxed or at ease.

As with many mental health conditions, what causes generalized anxiety disorder isn't fully understood. Researchers believe that it may involve naturally occurring chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and norepinephrine. However, it's likely that the condition has a complex set of causes that may include your body's biological processes, genetics and your environment and life situation. Resource: Mayo Staff.

There is help for people with GAD so please keep checking in here for more to come on this disorder.

Kitt