Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a type of anxiety disorder (obviously) in which a person feels tense and apprehensive on a very regular basis (sometimes it seems like they feel this way all the time). In addition, these feelings are accompanied by actual increases in the autonomic nervous system, such as increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, increased blood flow to the muscles and away from the GI tract, etc. A person with GAD may feel tense, upset, jittery, on edge, etc. almost all the time, have a very difficult time relaxing, feel muscle aches and pains quite often, be consistently looking around for danger, hardships, and problems, and may also be depressed. Most often there isn't a definable, tangible source of the anxiety. Instead these people have anxieties about general situations and life events. They worry about situations that may arise somehow, some way in the future. But most often the source is so general that the person can't even identify it. They just know that something bad is out there and will happen to them.