1. Criteria

Excessive anxiety and worry occur more days than not for at least 6 months about a number of events or activities.

The individual finds it difficult to control the worry.

The anxiety and worry are associated with at least 3 of the following for more days than not: restlessness or feeling keyed up, easy fatigability, difficulty concentrating or mind going blank, irritability, muscle tension, and sleep disturbance.
In children, only 1 associated symptom is required.

The anxiety, worry, or physical symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment.

The disturbance is not attributable to a substance or another medical condition.

The disturbance is not better explained by another mental disorder such as panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, OCD, separation anxiety disorder, anorexia nervosa, or PTSD.

2. Context

Generalized anxiety disorder often sounds like a mind that cannot let go. The worry moves from one topic to another, keeps going even when the person knows it is excessive, and starts to show up in the body through tension, poor sleep, irritability, and mental fatigue.
Time threshold: This is not brief situational stress. The worry tends to stick around across months and becomes part of the person's daily life.
Breadth: The worry is usually broad rather than narrowly focused, moving across health, finances, work, family, and ordinary responsibilities.
Clinical overlap: It is worth checking whether this is really GAD or whether panic, OCD, PTSD, illness anxiety, substances, or a medical problem fits better.
Clinical focus: Most common brief outpatient severity tracker for generalized anxiety symptoms.

3. Validated scales

GAD-7

Most common brief outpatient severity tracker for generalized anxiety symptoms.

HAM-A

Clinician-rated anxiety severity measure used in specialty settings and trials.

OASIS

Short transdiagnostic measure of anxiety severity and impairment.

4. FDA approved treatments

FDA-indicated medications commonly used for GAD

FDA labeling for generalized anxiety disorder exists for select antidepressants and anxiolytics; verify product-specific age ranges and formulation details.

Common off-label medications

Interventional psychiatry modalities

TMS is being studied for anxiety disorders but is not standard first-line care.
Ketamine is investigational for anxiety-spectrum symptoms in some settings.
ECT is not a standard treatment for isolated GAD.

5. Top management articles

Evidence-based pharmacological treatment of generalized anxiety disorder Review literature
Efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety-related disorders: a meta-analysis Meta-analysis literature
Guidelines for the pharmacological treatment of anxiety disorders Guideline literature

Simple Psych

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

1. Criteria

Criterion A

Criterion B

Criterion C

Criterion D

Criterion E

Criterion F