Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Humans tend to worry about a lot of things. We worry about school, about our work and career, about other people and how they see us, about ourselves, and lots of other things. It’s perfectly normal to worry. However, worrying can sometimes be so intense and so pervasive that it crosses the borders of normal worrying and turns into an actual disorder.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder refers to a type of anxiety disorder that makes a person prone to worrying excessively. Typically, the person with GAD cannot stop worrying and cannot control his anxiety. Furthermore, the person with GAD also has a tendency to be irrational; oftentimes, the person’s source of distress – the stressor – is actually not worth the amount of anxiety generated in the person with GAD.

What are the Causes of Generalized Anxiety Disorder?

Information about Generalized Anxiety Disorder is rather scarce and the exact cause of this disorder remains unknown. What few studies there are about this disorder suggest, however, that GAD is hereditary. In other words, it can run in families.

The manifestations of this disorder usually start at an early age. During the childhood years, however, such symptoms or manifestations are not very noticeable and progress much slower than that of other anxiety disorders. GAD can also start during early adulthood. In this case, it is usually triggered by a life stressor such as the sudden loss of a prized job or a loved one. Hyperthyroidism may also precipitate symptoms that are similar to those of GAD. Sometimes, excessive intake of substances such as amphetamines and caffeine may also contribute to GAD.

Mostly, though, people suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorder because they have a negativistic outlook on life. They have this pervasive pessimism that causes them to always anticipate the worst in every situation. Thus, they subject themselves to unnecessary worrying.

For example, if a person who has GAD has an annual physical exam coming up, he will probably think incessantly about the possible results of his exam. In particular, he will focus on the worst-case scenarios. Instead of keeping himself calm, thinking of and doing other things while he waits for the results of his physical exam, he will worry nonstop about the possibility of being diagnosed with cancer or some other life-threatening disease. Even if he has no reason to think this way, this persistently negative line of thought could possibly cause a full-blown panic attack if not stopped.

What are the Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder?

People who suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorder are very pessimistic and their pessimism extends to the point where they actually anticipate disaster and obsessively worry about it. They usually have this ‘doom and gloom’ aura and they keep on predicting catastrophes. They tend to overreact to even the smallest issues about health, money, family, or work.

More often than not, their worrying also affects their bodies. Their anxiety is manifested through fatigue, headaches, nausea, muscle aches, trembling, twitching, difficulty swallowing, diaphoresis or excessive sweating, insomnia, and even hot flashes. People who have GAD are almost always irritable and seem as if they are perpetually uneasy.

For a diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder to be made, these symptoms must be consistently present for at least six months.

What is the Treatment for Generalized Anxiety Disorder?

There are two approaches to treating GAD: Cognitive-Behavioral and Pharmacologic Therapy. The first one is geared towards treating the underlying thinking process that leads to all the excessive worrying. The latter, on the other hand, is geared towards managing the symptoms of anxiety, especially when they become uncontrollable and start becoming seriously debilitating. More often than not, these two are used in conjunction with each other.

In the former, the therapist usually helps the patient understand that the way he thinks and the way he feels are the major factors that influence the manifestations of GAD. If a person is overly negativistic, then it will show in his behavior. The goal of this therapeutic procedure is to help the patient turn his negative outlook into something more positive. The patient is encouraged to develop a more realistic – rather than a pessimistic – view of the world.

The therapist helps the person recognize when his thoughts are becoming irrational, thereby allowing the person to stop these thoughts before they cause him excessive anxiety. The therapist would expose the patient, bit by bit, to the situations that cause him distress and coach him through them until such time when the patient is able to deal with them; even if the patient remains uncomfortable in these situations, he will at least be able to function when confronted by them.

Therapy is deemed successful when the patient begins to appraise situations and deal with them according to their actual value and importance, and when the patient no longer tends to succumb automatically to an overly negative viewpoint that will only cause anxiety. Statistics say that this method is effective in around 1/3 of the cases treated.

This method can be supplemented with medication. Anti-depressants like SSRIs can be used in treating anxiety disorders like GAD. Those that are often used are Prozac, Paxil, and Lexapro. Other drugs that can be used for GAD are Tricyclic Antidepressants and SNRIS. One disadvantage of using anti-depressants to alleviate the symptoms of anxiety disorders, however, is the fact that such drugs cause too many side effects.

There are also drugs that are specifically used for treating anxiety disorders. These drugs are called ‘anxiolytics’ or anti-anxiety drugs. Some examples of these drugs are Valium, Librium, Ativan, Serax, Tranxene, Miltown, Equanil, Vistaril, Atarax, Inderal, and Buspar. Benzodiazepines are also given to those with anxiety problems but due to the risk of dependence, these medications can be taken only for a very short, defined period. Diazepam or Valium is such a medication.

Some health care professionals also advocate the use of herbal remedies to supplement anti-anxiety drugs. One example is “Kava.” Kava is a relaxant derived from the root of a plant that belongs in the same family as the bell pepper plant. Kava, unlike the psychiatric medications used for treating mental disorders, doesn’t cause withdrawal symptoms if discontinued. However, it should be noted that Kava, like the anti-anxiety medications, can only help alleviate the symptoms. It cannot fix the underlying condition that is causing the anxiety disorder.