Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Anxiety is being worried or nervous. Anxiety is often normal. For example, many people are anxious when they're having money problems, trouble at work, or family difficulties. However, if you're anxious a lot of the time even when you aren't having problems or the problems aren't bad, then you have an anxiety disorder.

There are many types of anxiety disorders. If you're anxious about only one particular thing, such as being in a crowd, you may have a phobia Phobic Disorders (Phobias) Phobia is a medical term for fear. It's normal to be afraid of dangerous things. Most people are afraid of things like standing on the edge of a cliff or going near a snarling dog. However,... read more . If most of the time you don't feel anxious but sometimes suddenly become panicked, you may have a panic disorder Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder A panic attack is when all of a sudden you get very scared and anxious. You might also have chest pain and choking and feel sick to your stomach, dizzy, and short of breath. A panic attack lasts... read more .

Generalized anxiety disorder is when you're anxious or worried about a number of different things.

If you have generalized anxiety disorder, you:

You also have at least 3 of these symptoms:

Doctors will ask about your anxiety and physical symptoms and do a physical exam. They may do a blood test to rule out other causes for your symptoms.

Doctors treat generalized anxiety disorder with medicines and therapy sessions.

Medicines may include:

A therapy called cognitive-behavioral therapy can help you learn to:

Your doctor may also recommend mind-body techniques Mind-Body Medicine Complementary or alternative medicine can be classified into five major categories of practice: Whole medical systems Mind-body techniques Biologically based practices Manipulative and body-based... read more such as: