Generalized Anxiety Disorder Diagnosis
September 25, 2008 by Alex Taylor
In order for a doctor to formally offer someone a generalized anxiety disorder diagnosis, the following criteria must be met (the following text is taken directly from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV):
- Excessive anxiety & worry occurring more days than not for at least 6 months, about events such as work or school performance
- Difficulty controlling worry
- The anxiety and worry are associated with at least 3 of the following 6 symptoms. Only one of the following symptoms is required in children:
- restlessness and feeling on edge
- becoming tired more easily than normal
- irritability
- unusually high muscle tension
- insomnia - trouble both falling asleep and staying asleep
- problems concentrating or the mind going suddenly blank
Symptoms can also include nausea, vomiting, and chronic stomach aches. There are numerous other physical symptoms associated with generalized anxiety disorder.
- The focus of the anxiety and worry isn’t confined to features of an Axis I disorder, e.g., the anxiety or worry is not about having a panic attack (as in panic disorder), being embarrassed in public (as in social phobia), being away from home or close relatives (as in Separation Anxiety Disorder), gaining weight (as in anorexia nervosa), having multiple physical complaints (as in somatization disorder), or having a serious illness (as in hypochondriasis), and the anxiety and worry do not occur exclusively during post-traumatic stress disorder
- The anxiety, worry, and physical symptoms cause significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, and other important areas of day-to-day life
- The disturbances are not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (drug abuse or medication) or a general medical condition (hyperthyroidism) and do not occur exclusively during a mood disorder, a psychotic disorder, or a pervasive developmental disorder
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