Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about

generalized anxiety disorder.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero tocom slash generalized anxiety disorder or in the

psychiatry section of the zero to finals more medicine book. So let's jump straight in. Generalized

anxiety disorder or GAD is a mental health condition that causes excessive and disproportionate anxiety and worry

that negatively impacts the person's everyday activities.

Symptoms should be persistent occurring most days for at least six months

and not caused by substance use or another condition.

Panic disorder involves recurrent panic attacks.

The panic attacks are unexpected, meaning they appear randomly, often without a trigger,

and result in worry about future attacks and maladaptive behaviour changes to avoid the attacks,

for example avoiding activities.

Secondary causes of anxiety include substance use, for example, caffeine, stimulants,

broncholidilators like salbutamol, and cocaine.

Substance withdrawal, for example withdrawal from alcohol or benzodiazepines,

hyperthyroidism, feochromocytomaoma and Cushing's disease.

Let's talk about the presentation.

Emotional and cognitive symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder include excessive worrying,

being unable to control the worry, restlessness, difficulty relaxing, being easily tired, and difficulty

in concentrating.

The physical symptoms of anxiety, which are caused by overactivity of the sympathetic nervous

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