Generalized Anxiety Disorder

It is normal if someone feels anxious and worried about the things when they are stressed but being anxious and worried all the time without any particular reason is a big problem. Generalized anxiety disorder is basically characterized by worry which is persistent and uncontrollable. It is about the common situations and there is no particular reason for the anxiety. The worry and anxiety starts interfering with the day to day activities of the individual’s life and they start to feel anxious about their family, work, friends and almost everything in almost every situation.

This disorder can develop both in childhood and adulthood. Generalized anxiety disorder has similar symptoms as to that of obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder and other types of anxiety disorders but they are all different conditions. There is uncontrollable worry and it is diagnosed when they are having the symptoms for at least six months duration time. They should also have at least three symptoms which will be mention in our article. This makes a differentiation between the normal worry which is just in the particular situations.

Living with this may be a challenge to a person and may often occur with other mood disorders and anxiety disorder also. 

Symptoms of generalized anxiety disorders

Generalized anxiety disorder is usually affecting the way a person thinks and feels. This can lead to physical symptoms and other symptoms:

Physical symptoms are:

• There is Fatigue
• The person have Trouble sleeping
• There are Muscle tensions or some muscle aches
• There is a feeling of Trembling or a person may feel twitchy
• There is Nervousness or the person may feel easily startled
• There may be Sweating
• They may have Nausea, diarrhea or their irritable bowel syndrome may be triggered
• There may be Irritability

Some other symptoms are:

• There is Persistent worrying or anxiety about a number of situations and the person may keep on thinking about their impact also.
• They keep on over thinking on the plans and solutions and may think all their possible worst outcomes.
• They may perceive the situations threatening even when they are not threatening.
• There is Difficulty in handling the uncertainties
• There is a fear that they may make the wrong decisions.
• They are not able to let go of their worried.
• They are unable to relax and they feel restless all the time.
• They are having difficulties in concentration and think that there mind is going blank.

When we talk of teenagers and children there may be some different symptoms like:

• They may ask for approval.
• They may be overly punctual.
• They may redo on their tasks because they may have not done it in a corrected way earlier.
• They may have frequent stomach issues or some other complaints regarding their bodies.
• They may avoid social situations or their school.

Causes Of Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Causes of GAD may include the following:

• There may be family history for anxiety
• There may be long term exposure for stressful situations which may be personal or regarding their families.
• They may be using an excessive use of tobacco or caffeine which may strike their anxiety or make it worse.
• There may be some childhood abuse.

Researchers have said that women are more prone to generalized anxiety disorder as compared to men.

Treatment Of Generalized Anxiety Disorders

The patients of generalized anxiety disorder are often referred to psychologist and in extreme cases psychiatrists because they are the mental health professionals who are an expert in Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The treatment which is used by them includes both the medication and the therapy in combination with each other. Therapy which is used is Cognitive Behavior Therapy. In cognitive behavior therapy they learn to change their thoughts, feelings and behavior which lead to anxious feelings. They make the patient look their worries as more realistic in nature.

In medications some anti anxiety medications are used and some anti depressants may also be used. Anti anxiety drugs are not given for a longer period of time because a person may become dependent on them. For long term treatment anti depressants are used because they work quite well in GAD.

These medications can take a few weeks to start their effects and can also have some side effects like dry mouth and nausea. Anti depressants are effective in people who want to end their life or may have some suicidal thoughts. People are also asked to report any mood changes while taking these medications.

Lifestyle Changes To Ease GAD

There are some lifestyle changes which you can make to ease your living with the generalized anxiety disorder:

• Start doing regular exercises or yoga and meditation.
• Have a good and plenty of sleep.
• Avoid caffeine as much as you can because it can increase or trigger the anxiety.
• Talk about your thoughts and feelings to the person you trust like your parents, spouse or friends.
• Stop taking alcohol because it can interfere with the medications you are taking for anxiety. Taking alcohol may make you feel good in the immediate moment but in long term it may have a negative effect and make you depressed also.