Have you ever been told, “You worry too much”?
People with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) often hear that from family and friends. They are frequently described as worriers, overthinkers, or people who are always expecting something to go wrong.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder is characterized by excessive worry, anxiety, and tension that feels difficult or impossible to control. The worry is often present even when there is little or no reason for concern. Many people with GAD report that they have been anxious for as long as they can remember.
Unlike a specific phobia, where the fear is focused on one thing, the worries associated with GAD tend to jump from topic to topic. One day it may be finances, the next day it may be health, work, relationships, children, school, world events, or something that hasn’t even happened yet.
The mind is constantly scanning for potential problems and trying to prevent them. Unfortunately, this creates the opposite effect. Instead of feeling prepared, the person feels overwhelmed, exhausted, and trapped in an endless cycle of worry.
What Does GAD Feel Like?
Many people with GAD describe their minds as being “on” all the time. When one worry is resolved, another quickly takes its place. The thoughts often sound like:
“What if something goes wrong?”
“What if I’m not prepared?”
“What if I forget something important?”
“What if something happens to my family?”
“What if I make the wrong decision?”
The worrying may feel productive because it creates the illusion of preparation and control. In reality, it often increases anxiety and makes it more difficult to focus on what is happening in the present moment.
With so much mental energy devoted to worrying, everyday tasks can become surprisingly difficult. Concentrating, following directions, multitasking, making decisions, finding one’s way, arriving on time, or simply enjoying an event can become challenging when the mind is constantly preoccupied with potential problems.
Common Symptoms of GAD
People with Generalized Anxiety Disorder often experience both emotional and physical symptoms, including:
- Feeling restless, keyed up, or on edge
- Difficulty relaxing
- Fatigue or low energy
- Difficulty concentrating
- Mind going blank
- Irritability
- Muscle tension, especially in the neck, shoulders, and jaw
- Trouble falling asleep
- Trouble staying asleep
- Restless or unsatisfying sleep
Common Thinking Patterns
The primary feature of GAD is worry, but that worry often takes predictable forms.
Catastrophic Thinking: A relatively small problem is mentally transformed into a disaster. A mild headache becomes a brain tumor. A mistake at work becomes a firing. A disagreement becomes the end of a relationship.
Anticipatory Anxiety: The person spends large amounts of time imagining future problems before they occur. “What if” becomes one of the most frequently used phrases in their vocabulary.
Mind Reading: The person assumes they know what others are thinking, and it’s almost always negative. “They probably think I’m incompetent.” “They must be disappointed in me.” “They think I’m annoying.”
Intolerance of Uncertainty
People with GAD often struggle with not knowing. They want certainty before making decisions, certainty about the future, and certainty that everything will work out. Unfortunately, certainty is impossible, which keeps the worry cycle going.
Before and After Treatment
One participant in The Anxiety Solution Series described her experience this way:
“I worried about everything… What if there’s an earthquake? Am I prepared? What if there’s an accident? What if I die?”
Like many people with GAD, she spent much of her day anticipating problems that might never occur. After treatment, she reported a very different experience:
“I did not think that in this short amount of time that I would actually be feeling as good as I do and actually looking forward to life, instead of just making it through day by day.”
The Good News
Generalized Anxiety Disorder is highly treatable. People with GAD often believe their worrying protects them, prepares them, or prevents bad things from happening. With treatment they learn that worry is not the same as problem-solving and that it is possible to live a productive, meaningful life without constantly trying to predict and prevent every possible problem. Most importantly, they learn something many have forgotten: How to enjoy the present moment instead of living in fear of the future.
