Psychopathology of generalized anxiety disorder

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is one of the most common anxiety disorders and is associated with a substantial social and occupational impairment. The defining feature of GAD is excessive, generalized worry that the individual finds hard to control and is accompanied by a range of somatic symptoms. This contribution is a broad introduction to the psychopathology of GAD and discusses the diagnosis, epidemiology, aetiology and recent cognitive theories of the disorder.