Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Everybody worries sometimes. As humans, we have these big ol’ brains that are made for problem-solving, anticipating future events, and reviewing past experiences. We can mentally simulate an endless array of situations. But what happens when these helpful processes go into overdrive? Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is when normal concern and care turns into worrying and becomes excessive. It’s no longer a useful tool, but an incessant mental churning that leaves you stuck rather than moving you forward. While problem-solving is typically a deliberate, intentional effort, worrying tends to get out of control. It becomes habitual, automatic, and distressing. Worrying can start to interfere with sleeping and focusing on daily tasks. It tends to focus on every day stressors — concerns about finances, jobs, school, parenting, relationships.
Many people with GAD assume that worrying is inevitable. They believe that their brains were simply built to over-analyze and that’s just the way it is. While worrying certainly does become automatic for many people, that doesn’t mean it can’t be controlled. Just because you put on your left pant-leg first every day while on autopilot, it doesn’t mean you can’t build awareness so that you can put on your right pant-leg first. Worry happens, but worrying does not have to. You can’t stop being aware of all of the risks and decisions around you, but you certainly can change how you respond to those risks by developing skills and strategies to relate to worry more effectively.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is typically the front-line treatment for GAD, as it addresses both the thoughts and behaviors which perpetuate worry.
GAD Resources:
Anxiety & Depression Association of America (ADAA)
Worrying is Optional: Break the Cycle of Anxiety and Rumination that Keeps You Stuck