Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) is one of a range of anxiety disorders that includes panic disorder (with and without agoraphobia), post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder, social phobia, specific phobias (for example, of spiders) and acute stress disorder.
GAD is a common disorder, of which the central feature is excessive worry about a number of different events associated with heightened tension.
A formal diagnosis using the DSM-IV classification system requires two major symptoms (excessive anxiety and worry about a number of events and activities, and difficulty controlling the worry) and three or more additional symptoms from a list of six. For a diagnosis to be relevant, symptoms should be present for at least six months and should cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning.
Adapted from
NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence).
