How Common Is Generalized Anxiety Disorder?

Generalized anxiety disorder affects 2.7 percent of the U.S. adult population in any given year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). And it’s about 75 percent more common in women than men.

Realizing you’re not alone may be one of the first steps you take toward dealing with your anxiety. “The first thing I do is tell patients that treatment is out there and it does work. And then I tell them that I’ve seen this a lot, which makes them feel better,” says Beth Salcedo, MD, the medical director of The Ross Center in Washington, DC, and the past board president of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

What Are the Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder?

Generalized anxiety disorder involves numerous psychological symptoms, including:

Excessive worry about everyday things
Restlessness and inability to relax
Difficulty concentrating
Sleep issues, such as trouble falling asleep or staying asleep
Irritability
Feeling that everything will turn out badly

These issues may be accompanied by a number of physical symptoms, such as:

Muscle tension and muscle aches
Fatigue

Age may affect the kind of symptoms you experience. According to a 2018 study, patients with generalized anxiety disorder who were older than 65 tended to have trouble sleeping and more depression than patients younger than 45.

The kinds of worries differed as well: older patients worried more about their health and their family, while younger patients worried more about their future and the health of others.

What Causes Generalized Anxiety Disorder?

The exact causes of generalized anxiety disorder are unknown. Risk factors for GAD may include:

Genetics Anxiety disorders are known to run in families.
Brain Structure and Activity Researchers believe that differences in the areas that regulate stress and anxiety may contribute to the disorder.
Traumatic Events Experiencing trauma, such as childhood abuse, may trigger the condition.
Chronic Health Conditions Having a chronic medical condition may increase the risk of GAD.

Women who are pregnant may also experience generalized anxiety disorder — and possibly at a higher rate than the general population. It’s estimated that 8.5 to 10.5 percent of women will suffer from GAD during pregnancy, and that 4.4 to 10.8 percent of women will have it postpartum, according to a study from 2015.

If you feel that you’re suffering from generalized anxiety disorder during this time, it’s important to talk with your doctor about symptoms and whether you need treatment. Your doctor will discuss the risks and benefits of taking medication, if that becomes necessary.

How Is Generalized Anxiety Disorder Diagnosed?

As with other anxiety disorders, there’s no specific test to diagnose generalized anxiety disorder.

Your doctor may conduct a physical examination and order blood tests to rule out other possible causes of your symptoms.

A diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder is based on both your psychological and physical symptoms.

According to the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic criteria, you have GAD if you’ve had difficult-to-control, excessive worry about numerous events or activities more often than not for at least six months, and if you have experienced at least three of the following six anxiety symptoms:

Restlessness or edginess
Becoming easily fatigued
Difficulty concentrating, or feeling as if your mind has gone blank
Irritability
Muscle tension
Sleep issues

Your symptoms must also be severe enough to cause significant distress or impair your ability to go about your daily life, and must not be due to substance abuse or other disorders or health issues.

What Is the Treatment for Generalized Anxiety Disorder?

The two main treatments for GAD are psychotherapy and medications. Your doctor may prescribe a combination of treatments.

Therapists often use an approach called cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, to treat generalized anxiety disorder.

This popular form of therapy, which is used for a variety of psychological disorders, helps people identify, understand, and change the thoughts and behaviors that contribute to their condition, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

Your doctor might first prescribe an antidepressant (which can also be effective for anxiety) to help with your symptoms, and tell you that it may take four to six weeks to start feeling the effects, says Ken Duckworth, MD, the chief medical officer for NAMI and an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Your doctor may also work with you to figure out whether to up your dosage or add a second medication; often, one medication can enhance the effects of the other or mitigate its side effects.

A number of different medications may be used to treat GAD, including:

Antidepressants such as sertraline (Zoloft), fluoxentine (Prozac), duloxetine (Cymbalta), escitalopram (Lexapro), or paroxetine (Paxil)
An anti-anxiety drug such as buspirone (Buspar)
Benzodiazepines such as lorazepam (Ativan), diazepam (Valium), or alprazolam (Xanax)

Antidepressants are a first-line treatment for GAD.

Benzodiazepines should only be prescribed for a short time. Unlike antidepressants, they can become addictive even after a short period of time.

You may also find some relief through mindfulness-based exercises like meditation, says Dr. Salcedo. Research suggests that these therapies can be helpful in alleviating anxiety symptoms.

Deep-breathing exercises may also help.

Exercising, too, is important in treating and managing anxiety, even as anxiety may make you less inclined to want to workout. According to some studies, regular exercise works as well as medication to reduce symptoms of anxiety in some people.

Among the benefits, according to Harvard Medical School: moving your body decreases muscle tension; upping your heart rate can change your brain chemistry, increasing the availability of anti-anxiety neurochemicals; and exercise activates the part of the brain responsible for executive function, helping to control the amygdala, the part of the brain that is central to our experience of fear.

Additional reporting by Carlene Bauer.

Editorial Sources and Fact-Checking

Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Prevalence of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Among Adults. National Institute of Mental Health.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder: When Worry Gets Out of Control. National Institute of Mental Health. 2022.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Symptoms and Causes. Mayo Clinic. October 13, 2017.
Misri S, Abizadeh J, Sanders S, Swift E. Perinatal Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Assessment and Treatment. Journal of Women’s Health. September 2015.
Altunoz U, Kokurcan A, Kirici S, et al. Clinical Characteristics of Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Older vs. Young Adults. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry. February 2018.
Locke A, Kirst N, Shultz CG. Diagnosis and Management of Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder in Adults. American Family Physician. May 1, 2015.
Psychotherapy. National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Types of Medications. National Alliance on Mental Illness. August 2017.
Benzodiazepine-Associated Risks. National Alliance on Mental Illness. February 2019.
Anxiety and Complementary Health Approaches: What the Science Says. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. August 2020.
Exercise for Stress and Anxiety. Anxiety and Depression Association of America. October 28, 2022.
Can Exercise Help Treat Anxiety? Harvard Health Publishing. October 24, 2019.

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What Is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?