GAD is characterised by excessive worry about a range of things. It often involves feeling overwhelmed, feeling on edge, difficulties concentrating, strongly disliking uncertainty and the sense of not being in control. People can often experience unpleasant physical symptoms associated with their anxiety, such as feeling nauseous, headaches, muscle aches and pains. People experiencing GAD may try to offset their worries by over-planning, being overly organised and seeking reassurance from those close to them that they are safe and well. This is because they can have a tendency to overestimate the likelihood of the worst case scenario happening. To further add to worry, people may have a heightened sense of responsibility. Therefore they believe that if something bad were to happen it would have been largely their fault. People often believe that there are benefits of worrying to the extent that they do and that the cost of not doing so provides good reason to continue worrying. This can make it difficult for people to let go of their worries and reduce the measures they take to prevent their fears occurring.
Treatment for Generalised Anxiety Disorder
Therapy may involve helping you to explore the pros and cons of worrying to the extent that you do. You may be helped to challenge your thoughts and perhaps to try not to engage with them but instead to let them go. An important aspect of therapy is often around helping you to accept that you cannot have full certainty and control and to let go of striving for this. The behaviours you engage in which are a result of your worries will be explored. You may learn that they are feeding into your anxiety and it may be helpful to make adjustments to them. This may sound daunting. However, with the support of your therapist, you can identify what adjustments would be helpful to make and to put these into play in a gradual way.