What is Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?

Anxiety and fear are common emotions. But, while fear is a normal response to a perceived threat, anxiety is an unwarranted or inappropriate fear to a vague or ill-defined threat.

However, when these emotions are persistent, excessive, and irrational, they may affect:

• The way a person leads his life.
• The person's ability to work.
• The person's ability to cope with the demands of life or relationships.
• When this happens, anxiety becomes a disorder.

There is usually a combination of factors that contribute to GAD.

• Genetic – a family member suffers from a mental health condition.
• Biochemical – hormonal and chemical imbalance.
• Cognitive – misinterpreting physical sensation as threatening or having a serious medical condition.

In GAD, the anxiety symptoms occur most of the day, persistent, and may not be restricted to any event.

You may feel some/all the unpleasant mental symptoms such as:

• Apprehension
• Confusion
• Worry
• Feeling keyed up or on edge.
• A sense of helplessness.
• Repeated negative thoughts.

It also triggers a wide range of physical symptoms such as:

• Muscle tension and weakness.
• Pounding heart (palpitations).
• Difficulty breathing.