What is generalised anxiety disorder?

Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) is a type of anxiety disorder where people have persistent worry. It affects their day-to-day life on an ongoing basis.

While it is normal for most people to feel anxious at times, in an anxiety disorder, symptoms are more severe and affect your everyday activities.

There are different types of anxiety disorders. Some involve worry or panic in certain situations or triggered by specific things. In generalised anxiety disorder, worry occurs most of the time and in many different situations. GAD can include prolonged worry that lasts for months over many, often minor, issues. It can affect sleep, energy and general daily life.

Anxiety can be mild, moderate, severe or panic level, depending on how badly the symptoms are affecting you.

• Mild anxiety — can affect your functioning, but doesn’t significantly affect your daily activities.
• Moderate anxiety — affects you more than mild anxiety and you may feel that your level of worry is out of control often, but not every day.
• Severe anxiety — negatively affects your quality of life, making it difficult to function properly. You may have physical symptoms of anxiety most of the time.
• Panic-level anxiety — is characterised by fear, heart palpitations and fast breathing. This is considered a panic attack. They can be scary and significantly affect your wellbeing.

What are the symptoms of generalised anxiety disorder?

You could have generalised anxiety disorder if:

• you worry uncontrollably about many different things
• your worry makes it hard to do everyday things like working and seeing friends
• you're often tired but can't sleep properly
• you feel tense, or your jaw or back feels sore from muscle tension
• your heart races or your mouth gets dry
• you have difficulty concentrating
• you are irritable or restless

What causes generalised anxiety disorder?

A mix of individual and environmental factors can cause generalised anxiety disorder.

Factors include:

• family history
• personality
• experiences of trauma
• stressful life events
• unhelpful thinking patterns and beliefs
• imbalance of certain brain chemicals
• misusing drugs or alcohol

When should I see my doctor?

If you feel that worry affects your daily life, you should speak to your doctor. They can help you build a mental health care plan and refer you to a mental health professional, if needed.

Find out more about mental health and where to get help, including Australian mental health services. There is also a list of mental health helplines.

How is generalised anxiety disorder diagnosed?

Your doctor or a mental health professional may diagnose GAD if:

• you have symptoms of generalised anxiety disorder on most days
• symptoms last for 6 months or more
• your symptoms affect your activities in daily life

How is generalised anxiety disorder treated?

There are effective treatments available for generalised anxiety disorder. They will not get rid of worry completely, as this is a normal part of life from time to time. However, treatment can help you manage your symptoms so that you can live with worry more easily.

Treatment options can include:

• psychological therapy such as cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), narrative therapy or acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)
• online therapies — also known as e-therapies or computer-aided psychological therapy
• antidepressant medicines, if your symptoms are severe

Resources and support

There are Australian organisations that offer help and resources for people with mental health issues such as anxiety. If you feel like you need to speak with someone you can call these help lines.

• Call healthdirect on 1800 022 222 (known as NURSE-ON-CALL in Victoria). A registered nurse is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• For advice and to get connected to local mental health services, call Head to Health on 1800 595 212. Check the operating times.
• Beyond Blue — Call 1300 22 4636 for phone counselling or chat online.
• Suicide Call Back Service — Call 1300 659 467 for anyone thinking about suicide.
• Lifeline — Call 13 11 14 or chat online if you are having a personal crisis.

Online therapies for anxiety include:

• NewAccess — a free, six session mental health coaching program
• BRAVE Program — an online self-help program for treatment of anxiety in young people aged 8 – 17. It also offers support to carers and parents of young children.
• MindSpot — an 8-week online CBT courses for anxiety and depression
• ReachOut Worry Time — online app to help you reduce and manage your worries.

Do you prefer to read in languages other than English?

• Transcultural Mental Health Centre has many resources about wellbeing and mental health in different languages.
• Beyond blue has translated mental health resources.

Looking for information for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people?

• Yarn Safe and Wellmob have mental health information and resources for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.