Generalized anxiety disorder is one of the most common anxiety disorders people experience. The anxiety disorder is an umbrella term for several different types of abnormal, alleviating anxiety, fear, phobia and nervousness which can occur in an instant or progressively, within a course of several years and may hinder or avert the effective performance for normal day-to-day routines.

The chief characteristic of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is excessive and irrepressible concern regarding daily matters. This constant concern can cause a negative impact on daily functioning and result to physical symptoms. GAD is usually difficult to diagnose since it lacks some of the dramatic symptoms, like spontaneous panic attacks that happen along with other anxiety disorders. To clearly diagnose generalized anxiety disorder, the symptoms must occur often for a minimum of six months.

The usual symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder includes:

- Extreme anxiety and concern, often occurring within a course of six months on several events and activities. Those suffering from GAD can find it hard to control the anxiety and worry.

- Other related symptoms also appear alongside the anxiety and worry, namely restlessness or feeling tense or edgy, exhaustion or fatigued, difficulty concentrating or mind going blank, irritation, muscle tension together with aches, difficulty falling or staying asleep, restlessness, unsatisfying sleep, difficulty swallowing, trembling, sweating, nausea, light-headedness and shortness of breath.

- Anxiety and worry isn't limited to and focus on experiencing a panic attack, embarrassment in public, being contaminated, weight gain, suffering from many physical complaints, or having a serious illness. Also, the anxiety and worry does not exclusively occur during post traumatic disorder.

- The anxiety, worry, or physical symptoms become the cause for clinically significant discomfort or impairment at social, occupational, or further important areas of everyday life.

- Physiological effects such as alcohol and drug abuse, or other medical condition, are not the direct cause of the disturbance. Additionally, it doesn't occur exclusively with mood disorder, a psychotic disorder, or a prevalent developmental disorder.

People with a mild case of GAD are capable of keeping a job and performing normal everyday routines. Meanwhile, someone with severe cases of generalized anxiety disorder can find it hard to do even the simplest of daily tasks, even when they try to avoid particular situations because of their disorder. The disorder can start progressively and can begin at any age, still higher risks runs for people between childhood and middle age.

General treatments used for generalized anxiety disorder are prescribed medications and cognitive-behavioral therapy. There are many prescription drugs that are used to treat anxiety disorders and these include: benzodiazepines and antidepressants, and Quetiapine.