Understanding Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder occurs when a person experiences excessive or unrealistic anxiety or worries about two or more areas of their life.
The term “generalized” is used because the anxiety the person experiences is linked to multiple root causes – rather than having one specific concern, a person afflicted with a generalized anxiety disorder finds themselves anxious about more than one aspect of their life.
What are some common characteristics of a person suffering from a generalized anxiety disorder?
Generalized anxiety disorder can look different from person to person.
“Some people may notice only one or two symptoms, while others experience various symptoms.”
The signs can vary greatly, but they all fall under two categories: Mental and Physical Symptoms.
Mental Symptoms:
- Continuous worrying or stressing about things in a way that is disproportionate to the situation at hand
- Overthinking different problems and potential solutions for them with a tendency to focus on the worst-case scenarios.
- Feeling like certain situations are threatening or dangerous, even when they aren’t
- Inability to make a final decision
- Difficulty focusing or concentrating; is often described as feeling like you’re trapped in a fuzzy mental state referred to as “brain fog.”
- Struggling to relax; regularly feeling like you’re on edge or jumpy.
Physical Symptoms:
- Fatigue
- Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
- Muscle pains and aches
- Trembling, twitching, or bouncing legs
- Nervousness and feeling startled easily
- Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea
- Irritability and mood swings
- Headaches
What are some signs that generalized anxiety disorder may be negatively affecting your life?
Knowing whether or not anxiety – specifically generalized anxiety disorder – is negatively affecting your life can be a tricky situation to navigate. Everyone struggles with some anxiety from time to time.
“Feeling anxious about a particular upcoming event, big assignment, or some other aspect of your life that serves as a specific root of anxiety is normal.”
However, some signs point to unhealthy amounts of anxiety. When your anxiety affects your life for an extended period or shows some persistent symptoms, it may be something more significant than brief anxiety from a specific cause.
1. You struggle to maintain concentration or focus.
Whether you feel like your mind is foggy, your thoughts are racing, or you can’t seem to pay attention to any particular subject, issues with anxiety are made clear when you can’t concentrate.
“While this symptom can present itself in a handful of different ways, the results are frustratingly similar – since you can’t get yourself to focus, you can’t pay attention well enough to focus on the task at hand.”
2. You have emotional outbursts that can feel unpredictable and uncontrollable.
Anxiety can spark emotional outbursts, such as sudden anger, irritability, or crying spurts, that seem to come and go with no cause or reason. These frustrating bursts of emotion are usually surprising and happen quickly.
3. You catch yourself thinking obsessively about something that causes you to worry, even if you know that your worrying is excessive.
Anxiety causes people to focus on particular issues or problems they perceive as a threat – even when they aren’t much of a threat.
For example, if you’re feeling anxiety about a work project you know well prepared to present, you may worry excessively over it for weeks leading up to the presentation date.
Similarly, you may feel anxious that your romantic partner will leave you even though your relationship with them is healthy and they’ve given no indication that they want to end your partnership.
This type of constant worrying is highly characteristic of generalized anxiety disorder.
4. You feel an impending sense of danger or doom.
The tricky aspect of generalized anxiety disorder is that it can be challenging to pinpoint precisely what’s causing you to feel anxious.
“Generalized anxiety disorder is commonly associated with feeling a sense of danger or doom that can be difficult to describe, even though the person experiencing it clearly feels its presence and weight.”
5. Feelings of anxiousness regularly affect how you go about your daily business.
Feeling anxious from time to time is usual. Still, when anxiety begins to affect how you’re living your regular, daily life, it may be a symptom that you have a generalized anxiety disorder.
For example, suppose you avoid certain situations, events, or activities because you associate them with your anxiety. In that case, you may be experiencing some significant adverse effects from a generalized anxiety disorder.
Is generalized anxiety disorder curable?
There is no way to “cure” generalized anxiety disorder, but you can recover from it by allowing yourself to live a happy, comfortable, and everyday life.
Because generalized anxiety disorder can affect anyone at any point and time in life, the solution to easing the symptoms and complications brought on by excessive anxiety is learning how to manage and soothe them healthily.
The initial step is to contact a medical or mental health professional when you start to feel like your anxiety is becoming too difficult to manage—this tends to be when you notice it is affecting your daily life for a significant time.
“You must reach out to a doctor or therapist—they can help you navigate your feelings and experiences to determine your mental health needs.”
Many people diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder work closely with their doctors, therapists, psychiatrists, and counselors to look for a treatment plan that best suits their needs.
Some people need psychotherapy treatment, some people need medication, and some respond well by combining the two.
Everyone is different, so working closely with a professional is the best way to determine what will work best for you.
Although experiencing a generalized anxiety disorder can be highly challenging, it’s possible to find a treatment plan that helps control and conquer anxious feelings when they become too much to handle on your own.
References:
https://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/generalized-anxiety-disorder
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/generalized-anxiety-disorder-gad
