Generalised Anxiety Disorder

Generalised anxiety disorder (or GAD) is characterised by persistent, excessive, exaggerated anxiety and worry about everyday life events with no obvious reasons for worry and difficulty controlling it.

This excessive anxiety is pervasive and needs to have been present for at least six months. People with symptoms of generalised anxiety disorder tend to always expect disaster and can't stop worrying about health, money, family, work, or school. In people with GAD, the worry is often unrealistic or out of proportion for the situation. Daily life becomes a constant state of worry, fear, and dread.

Eventually, the anxiety so dominates the person's thinking that it interferes with daily functioning, including work, school, social activities, and relationships. Physical symptoms such as muscle tension, trembling, headache, sweating, nausea and diarrhoea are common.

So too are fatigue, irritability and sleep problems.