What is GAD?

If you are prone to worry about every day events, you could be suffering from a condition called Generalized Anxiety Disorder or GAD as it is more commonly known. Those suffering from this type of disorder find they cannot stop themselves worrying about a range of things from health and money to friends or work. This worry is unrealistic, making the life a constant state of fear, dread and worry. The anxiety starts dominating the person’s perception, and starts interfering with the daily functioning such as studies, work, relationships or social activities. Click here for more information on Anxiety Disorder.

What Are The Symptoms of GAD?

Anxiety affects the thinking process of a person, and it can lead to various physical symptoms including irritability, sweating, headaches, restlessness, nausea, difficulty in concentrating, tiredness, trembling, trouble falling asleep, frequent urination and getting easily startled.

Causes of anxiety are not known fully, but there are various factors that contribute to its development, and these factors are brain chemistry, genetics and environmental stress. People with family history of anxiety are more likely to suffer from it. GAD has been linked with abnormal levels of neurotransmitters in the brain. These are the chemical messengers passing the information between nerve cells, and when they get out of balance, the brain does not receive messages properly. This alters the brain’s reaction to certain situations, causing anxiety.

Certain unpleasant events, like trauma, divorce, death of a loved one, or job stress may cause anxiety, and it becomes worse if there is high level of stress. Click here for more information on Anxiety Therapy.

Treatment of Anxiety

Anxiety is treated by psychologist, psychiatrist, or a mental health professionals. These professional are trained to diagnose and treat any kind of mental illnesses. The treatments for anxiety may include cognitive-behavioral therapy and the use of drugs. If GAD has started to interfere with everyday functioning, medications can be very useful. These may include tranquillizers to relax and calm the patient.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps people by recognizing the factors that cause the troubled feelings, and then change the thought and behavior patterns to deal with them. It helps by giving people an understanding of their worries and how it distorts their thinking and so limiting their effect.

GAD cannot be prevented, but there are some things that can be done to lessen or control the symptoms. This includes reducing the consumption of caffeine containing products such as tea, coffee, chocolate and cola. Talk to your pharmacist or doctor before taking any over the counter herbal remedies or medicines, as they may contain the chemicals that increase the anxiety symptoms. As ever, it is important to exercise and eat a healthy balanced diet regularly. If you have suffered a traumatic experience you may need to seek the support of a counelor.

For more information visit our Anxiety and Depression Homepage.