A certain amount of anxiety or nervousness is normal. In fact, completely lacking anxiety can actually impede your ability to get things done. Normal stress reactions – instituting coping mechanisms to decrease or eliminate the problem situation or emotion – is actually beneficial. However, for certain people, the anxiety level they experience day-to-day becomes too high to be helpful. When someone is unable to do anything to lessen their anxiety such that they experience it as suffering and it impedes their ability to perform normal day-to-day tasks, it has become more than what we consider motivational anxiety.
Many people in the U.S. experience overwhelming uncontrollable anxiety without seeking treatment. Often when left untreated, anxiety can spiral out of control until the person becomes so nervous, stressed and agitated that they feel incapable not only of managing their anxiety but also anything else in their life. Anxiety is treatable and the skilled staff at Abilene Behavioral Health can help you with your anxiety and related difficulties.
One particular type of anxiety, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) can be a problem for many people. This type of anxiety is often described as “free-floating anxiety” as identification of specific triggers are not understood. GAD involves unrealistic, exaggerated or excessive anxiety that appears to come out of nowhere. Individuals with GAD worry about normal, everyday events despite there being no cause for stress.
Statistics
The yearly prevalence rate of GAD is approximately 0.9% among adolescents and 2.9% among adults in the U.S. Women are twice as likely to experience GAD as men. However, this may not be an entirely accurate estimate since men are less likely to report symptoms of anxiety due to the concern they will be considered weak. Prevalence rates of GAD peak in midlife and taper off in later life. Overall, the onset of GAD occurs later in life compared to the age of onset for other anxiety disorders.
Co-Occurring Disorders
Several disorders have been known to co-occur with GAD. These include:
- Other anxiety disorders (panic disorder, social anxiety disorder/social phobia, simple phobias, agoraphobia, and in children separation anxiety)
- Major depressive disorder
- Eating disorders
- Substance abuse
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Causes
Although no specific cause for GAD has been identified, several factors are believed to contribute to its development. These include genetics, brain chemistry, connections in the brain and environmental factors.
- Genetic: There is research that supports the theory that family history plays a role in the development of GAD. Findings suggest that the disorder can be passed down in families. Individuals who have a first-degree relative with GAD are more likely to develop the disorder than peers without a similar family history.
- Brain Chemistry: Certain chemicals that are responsible for mood states and communicating messages about physiological arousal between nerve cells. These are called neurotransmitters. When these chemicals are not correctly balanced, the brain may interpret normal physiological arousal as the type of physiological arousal that occurs when one is exposed to a stressor that would cause realistic anxiety. Despite the absence of a realistic stressor, the brain still communicates the message that danger is imminent resulting in anxiety.
- Connections in the Brain: New research suggests that people with GAD may have weaker connections between the amygdala, a brain structure responsible for alerting us to threats in our environment, instigating the fight-or-flight response and the parts of the brain responsible for emotional reactions. It has been hypothesized that this weakened connection leads to the brain’s “panic button” remaining on and signaling danger all the time. This causes the entire body to maintain a high level of arousal so as to be constantly prepared for danger.
- Environmental Factors: When children grow up exposed to chronic stressors but have not developed adequate coping mechanisms, they may begin to develop negative emotional symptoms. Sometimes they are unable to fully understand why various factors in their lives may result in distress or connect a stressor with the distress they are feeling. This can lead to a process whereby they only recognize their negative feelings and not to what they may be connected. This can become habitual, such that they fail to overcome this process and continue to be unable to connect their anxiety to the stressors that caused it until they come to interpret everything as anxiety-provoking.
Signs and Symptoms of GAD
Due to the stress not just on the mind but on the body as well there are a number of symptoms of GAD:
Mood:
- Exaggerated worry over impending danger, occurring almost all day on more days than not about numerous activities, situations and relationships
- Inability to control the worry
- Feeling restless or “keyed up”
- Frequent fatigue
- Trouble concentrating, mind going blank or losing train of thought
- Irritability and agitation
Behavioral:
- Sleep problems including trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, early morning awakening or restless, unsatisfying sleeping.
- The worry leads to significant problems in daily functioning in such areas as social, occupational or overall daily functioning
- Trouble with concentration, attention and memory
- Social isolation
- Poor job or scholastic performance
Physical:
- Muscle tension in all areas of the body but especially the shoulders, neck and back
- Body pains
- Hands sweating
- Elevated pulse or heart rate
- Exaggerated startle response
- Headaches
- Migraines
- Dry mouth
- “Butterflies in the stomach” or a fluttering feeling in the abdominal area
- Nausea
- Loss of appetite
Psychological:
- Unrealistic view of problems
- Worsening self-image
- Agoraphobia
- Major depressive disorder
- Substance abuse related to easing of anxiety symptoms
Effects of GAD
The effects of GAD can be devastating to individuals if the disorder is left untreated. These effects include factors in every area of the individual’s life including:
- Difficulty being productive at work or school
- Loss of interpersonal relationships
- Addiction
- Social isolation
- Development of additional disorders such as depression due to the individual feeling they should be able to control their anxiety and substance abuse problems to medicate away the anxiety
- Unemployment
- Family and marital discord
- Difficulty completing daily responsibilities
- Inability to complete tasks rapidly or precisely
- Hopelessness that things will improve due to frequency and duration of anxiety
- Negative effects on the parent-child relationship due to the parent fearing they will transmit the anxiety to the child
- Lack of a personal sense of competence leading to the belief the individual can’t instill confidence in their children
- Self-harm
- Suicide
Although the symptoms and effects of GAD can seem insurmountable, the trained staff at Abilene are here to help. We can assist you in finding your way back to a normal, happy, satisfying life.