What is Generalized Anxiety Disorder? - Dr. Anupama Maruvada

Generalized Anxiety disorder is a condition characterized by pervasive worry. It creates a distress about everyday things. It creates beyond the scope of anxieties and phobias. In children the anxieties are often focused on the performance in school, performance in sports and sometimes it may be focused on home situations. The triggers for the Generalized Anxiety disorder is not external, but internal. These may make the child with Generalized Anxiety disorder feel restless, fatigued, tense or irritable or trouble concentrating or sleeping. It was believed until recently that Generalized Anxiety disorder rarely emerges before adolescence but nowadays occurrence of this condition in children 6 – 9 years is increasing. The prevalence is more in girls than in boys. The best treatment for Generalized Anxiety disorder at such a young age is cognitive behavioural therapy. If it does not go through any improvement then the patient may have to go through drug therapy.