Subjects from a family study who had panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder were compared on the pattern of their symptoms, age and type of onset, personality characteristics, course of illness, and outcome. Subjects with generalized anxiety disorder were shown to have fewer autonomic symptoms and an earlier, more gradual onset. Their illness was also observed to have a more chronic co...

Worry is a common phenomenon in children and adolescents, with some experiencing excessive worries that cause significant distress and interference. The metacognitive model of generalized anxiety disorder (Wells 1995, 2009) was developed to explain cognitive processes associated with pathological worry in adults, particularly the role of positive and negative beliefs about worry. This review ev...

The present study's main objective is to examine whether problem orientation and problem-solving skills differ according to generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptom level or clinical status (seeking help for GAD). Its secondary goal is to examine whether two cognitive variables (intolerance of uncertainty and beliefs about worry) vary according to GAD symptom level or clinical status. Three g...

Discussion surrounds the question as to whether criteria for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) should change, particularly in youth. This study examines the effects of possible criteria changes on GAD prevalence and clinical correlates. DSM-IV GAD was assessed using the M-CIDI in a community sample of adolescents and young adults. Diagnostic thresholds were modified in two age spans (9-20 and ...

One puzzle in high worry and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is the heterogeneity in the level of autonomic arousal symptoms seen among affected individuals. While current models agree that worry persists, in part, because it fosters avoidance of unpleasant internal experiences, they disagree as to whether worry does so by suppressing activation of autonomic arousal or by fostering persisten...

We report on the use of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) to identify individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Fifty individuals with primary or secondary GAD and 114 individuals with social anxiety disorder (without GAD) completed the PSWQ. In receiver operating characteristic analyses, a score of 65 simultaneously optimized sensitivity and specificity in discriminating ind...

Even though generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is one of the most common of the anxiety disorders, relatively little is known about its precursors. Bowlby's attachment theory provides a framework within which these precursors can be considered. According to Bowlby, adult anxiety may be rooted in childhood experiences that leave a child uncertain of the availability of a protective figure in tim...

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Investigations of the boundary between generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and normal worry have relied primarily on comparisons of GAD-diagnosed individuals with non-anxious controls. One limitation of this approach has been its inability to determine whether characteristics associated with GAD are unique to the disorder or are typical of severe worry more generally. The present studies made th...

Theories regarding worry have discussed both adaptive and maladaptive functions. The present study used rating scales of the six reasons for worry commonly reported by generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) clients to explore subjective perceptions of the functions of worry held by college student worriers meeting self-reported criteria for GAD and by control subjects. Subjects rated motivation, pr...