Contents

Disclaimer

Oxford University Press makes no representation, express or implied, that the drug dosages in this book are correct. Readers must therefore always check the product information and clinical procedures with the most up to date published product information and data sheets provided by the manufacturers and the most recent codes of conduct and safety regulations. The authors and the publishers do not accept responsibility or legal liability for any errors in the text or for the misuse or misapplication of material in this work. Except where otherwise stated, drug dosages and recommendations are for the non-pregnant adult who is not breastfeeding.

Show Summary Details
Page of

Generalized anxiety disorders 

Generalized anxiety disorders
Chapter:
Generalized anxiety disorders
Author(s):

Stella Bitran

, David H. Barlow

, and David A. Spiegel

DOI:
10.1093/med/9780199696758.003.0097
Page of

PRINTED FROM OXFORD MEDICINE ONLINE (www.oxfordmedicine.com). © Oxford University Press, 2020. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Medicine Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).

date: 03 July 2020

Anxious apprehension and overconcern are common to many anxiety and mood disorders. Prior to 1980 in the American DSM diagnostic system, and 1992 in the international ICD system, individuals who experienced those symptoms in the absence of a realistic focus of concern were classified as having an ‘anxiety neurosis’ (DSM-II) or ‘anxiety state’ (ICD-9). In DSM-III, panic disorder was split off from that classification, and the residual category was renamed generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). A similar nomenclature was adopted in ICD-10. Since its inception, GAD as a nosological entity has been troubled by problems of poor reliability and high comorbidity. Those concerns have prompted several revisions of the DSM criteria and also have raised more basic questions regarding the validity of GAD as a disorder distinct from other anxiety and mood states. The question of what is the nature of GAD is still being debated and it remains one of the least reliably diagnosed anxiety or mood disorders. This diagnostic unreliability has led to various suggestions for revisions to the diagnostic criteria and criticisms of the current definition of GAD.

Access to the complete content on Oxford Medicine Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts for each book and chapter without a subscription.

Please subscribe or login to access full text content.

If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.

For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.