The main characteristics of generalized anxiety disorders are excessive and uncontrollable worries regarding everyday events and situations. The main thing to consider in generalized anxiety disorders is that the duration of the worry that the patient feels is in absolute disproportion to the actual source of worry resulting in interference in everyday functioning.

People who suffer from generalized anxiety disorders tend to worry excessively about things such as their jobs, finances or their own health and that of family members. In addition, people who suffer from such a disorder may also worry about trivial matters such as meeting deadlines or keeping the house clean as well as organizing their workspace properly.

Generalized anxiety disorders may occur when the patient has excessive anxiety and worries about a number of activities and events that lasts for at least six months. In addition, the person may also find it difficult to control his feelings of worrying too much and symptoms regarding this are restlessness, feeling fatigued easily and being unable to concentrate. He or she could also experience their mind going blank, irritableness, tension of the muscles, disturbed sleep as well as excessive sweating. When a person feels that he may have a generalized anxiety disorder he or she may show physical symptoms that result in clinically important distraught states or impairment of social, occupational and other areas of functioning.

Women are at a Higher Risk

It is believed that as many as 2.8 per cent of the adult population of the United States between ages 18 to 54 have had generalized anxiety disorders and that translates to as many as four million Americans. Such disorders strike in early childhood or during adolescent years and are also found in adulthood as well. They are more prevalent amongst women than men and it is estimated that as many as 75 per cent of individuals suffering from this condition are female.

Research into generalized anxiety disorders suggest that it may be hereditary and may worsen when a person is under stress. These disorders occur at an early age and their symptoms get manifested a lot slower than other anxiety disorders and once, generalized anxiety disorders develop in a person, it becomes chronic. The best way to treat it is to take medication or undergo therapy or a combination of the two, which can be very effective. However, it is important to note that treatment and medications can reduce anxiety but perhaps not totally eliminate it.