Generalized

Anxiety Disorder
Vanessa Gómez A01654948
Frida Juárez A01655627
Dulce Mendoza A01654297
 Description
Marked symptoms of anxiety that
persist for several months
Manifested by general
apprehension or excessive worry
focused on multiple everyday
events (family, health, finances,
school/work).
Symptoms result in significant distress
or significant impairment in personal,
family, social, educational, ocupational
and other important areas of
functioning.
 Diagnostic requirements Additional characteristic
symptoms
Marked symptoms of anxiety:
-Muscle tension/restlessness
General apprehensiveness that is not restricted to any
-Sympathetic autonomic overactivity
environmental circumstance
(gastrointestinal symptoms, heart
Excessive worry about negative events occurring
palpitations, sweating, trembling,
Symptoms persist for several months (for more days than not)
shaking, dry mouth)
Symptoms are not better accounted by other mental disorder
Symptoms are not a manifestation of another medical condition -Difficulty concentrating
and not due to the effects of a substance or medication -Irritability
Symptoms result in significant distress about experiencing -Sleep disturbances (difficutly falling
persistent anxiety symptoms or significant impairment in areas or staying asleep, restless,
of functioning. unsatisfying sleep).
 Some people may only report general
Additional Clinical apprehensiveness accompanied by chronic
somatic symptoms without being able to
Features articulate specific worry content.

Behavioral changes such as avoidance,

frequent need for reassurance and
procrastination may be present (they
represent an effort to reduce apprehension
or prevent inconvenient events from
occurring).
 Boundary with normality
Anxiety and worry are normal when people are under stress. These feelings may help
us to direct problem-solving efforts, focus our attention and increase alertness.
However, they can be sufficiently self-regulated.
When anxiety starts interfering with our functioning and causes significant distress,
we may be dealing with GAD. With GAD, the worry is persistent, excessive and
intense.
Intense and impairing anxiety may not be correspondent with GAD if the
environmental circumstances are appropriate (war zones, emergencies, etc.).
Let's watch a video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=-7KMipIPntA

Pay attention to the way he thinks and

perceives reality. What tells you that
he has GAD?
 Course features
This disorder may occur at any age but acording to the ICD-11 the
typical age of onset is during early to mid 30s
Earlier onset of symptoms is associated with greater impairment of
functioning and presence of co-occurring mental disorders.
The clinical features of this disorder generally remain consistent
across the lifespan
The content of the individual’s worry may vary over time and there
are differences among different age groups.
Full remission of symptoms is uncommon.
Anxiety or Fear-Related Disorders are the most prevalent mental disorders of
childhood and adolescence. Generalized Anxiety Disorder is one of the most
common in late childhood and adolescence
GAD increases across late childhood and adolescence with development of
cognitive abilities that support the capacity for worry (a core feature of the
disorder)
As a result of their less developed cognitive
abilities, Generalized Anxiety Disorder is
uncommon in children younger than 5. Girls
tend to have an earlier symptom onset than
their same age male peers.

Developmental presentations
Children and adolescents with Generalized Anxiety Disorder may :
Engage in excessive reassurance seeking from others, repeatedly asking questions, and may exhibit
distress when faced with uncertainty
They may be overly perfectionistic, taking additional time to complete tasks, such as homework or
classwork
Common somatic symptoms in children include frequent headaches, abdominal pain, and gastrointestinal
distress
Similar to adults, they also experience sleep disturbances
Adolescents with GAD may demonstrate excessive irritability and have an increased risk of co-occurring
depressive symptoms.

Developmental presentations
 Culture- Related features
Worry content may vary by cultural group, according to the
most salient issues of the enviroment
For many cultural groups, somatic complaints rather than
excessive worry may predominate in the clinical presentation.
These symptoms may involve a range of physical complaints
but sometimes not asociated with GAD
 Gender Related Features

Men are more likely to experience

Lifetime prevalence of GAD is

co-occurring Disorders due to

twice as high among women. Substance Use.

Panic disorder: Individuals with GAD may experience panic attacks due to

specific worries. The diagnosis should be indicated as “GAD with panic attacks”.

If the person experiences unexpected panic attacks, an additional diagnosis of

Panic Disorder may be assigned.

Social anxiety Disorder: Individuals with GAD may worry about the negative

evaluation of others, but this is not the only source of their anxiety.

Separation Anxiety Disorder: Individuals with GAD may worry about the safety of

attachment figures, but their concerns extend to other aspects of life.

Differential Diagnosis
Depressive disorders: GAD and Depressive disorders share some features (somatic

symptoms, poor concentration, sleep disruption, etc). Depressive disorders

differentiate by presence of low mood, loss of pleasure in enjoyable activities

and other features. GAD and depressive disorders can coexist but only if the

diagnostic criteria for GAD was met before the onset of a Depressive episode.

Adjustment disorder: In this disorder, the individual has maladaptive reactions to a

specific and identifiable psychosocial stressor, while in GAD worry is caused by

multiple areas of daily life and hypothetical concerns. Also, in Adjustment disorder,

individuals function normally prior to the onset of the stressor and symptoms

resolve within 6 months.

Health Anxiety Disorder/Hypochondriasis/Bodily Distress Disorder: These

disorders are characterized by the worry about real or perceived physical symptoms.

In GAD, people can experience somatic symptoms due to anxiety and may worry

about that, but their worry extends to more aspects of life.

Obsessive-Compulsive disorder: Individuals with this disorder worry about intrusive

and unwanted obsessions. In GAD, the causes of worry are everyday life events

and individuals consider their worry is a helpful strategy for averting negative

outcomes.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: In PTSD, anxiety appears as a response to the

traumatic stressor or reminders of an event. In contrast, in GAD the worry directs

toward the possibility of various adverse events in many life domains, not one

specific traumatic event.

Which are the features

that you identify as

symptoms of GAD?
Which other disorders

might you think about

when reading the case

and why?

Which other disorders

might you think about

when reading the case

and why?

Separation Anxiety

Disorder

Depression

disorder and

anxiety disorder
Thanks for your

attention!
 Sources:
ICD-11 for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics. (2023). Who.int.

https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en

Sirius Productions. (2019, 19 mayo). G.A.D. Short film | A film

about college students’ anxiety [Vídeo]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7KMipIPntA