Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Here we see a patient exhibiting the symptoms of GAD, obsessing over daily concerns worse than average.**

Dear Reader,
It’s important to sometimes step back from the psychological effects of a behavioral disorder and look more in depth at the biological underbelly of the problems associated with certain behavioral and psychological disorders. By doing this we can hope to differentiate those disorders from what is considered to be normally functioning people and minds. We do this by looking at those without the disorder and setting a par standard of brain functionality. This also helps us set apart those who need psychiatric help from those who simply need a hand in other areas.
I chose to investigate the workings of Generalized Anxiety disorder because I have many friends and family who have been diagnosed with it. I’ve always been curious as to what qualifies them for the title, how it actually effects them, how they were tested, ect. I would really like to know where the line between diagnosis, and normal human levels of anxiety is, exactly. - Sincerely Tylor Davis

Those diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder may show the following Symptoms:
- Fatigue
-Irritability
- Difficulty concentrating on the task at hand.
- Constant obsessive worrying about simple daily affairs, as well as large ones.
- Muscle tension and muscle aches and pains
- Shortness of breath and unneeded rapid heartbeat
- Difficulty sleeping or staying asleep
While some anxiety for people is normal, anxiety levels brought upon by Generalized anxiety disorder can and do often times interfere with the patient’s work, relationships, and all other parts of life. The mind putting so much stress on the body through anxiety can lead to poor performance in all other branches of normal activity. This may cause a snowball=like effect where the patient exhibits more stress trying to correct the damage brought upon by Generalized anxiety disorder.
Ref of Symptoms:
Mayo Clinic Staff, http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/generalized-anxiety-disorder/basics/symptoms/con-20024562
**Image Credit: Marcia Katz,