What is generalized anxiety disorder? Is it an anxious temperament or is it a symptom of another

mental illness such as depression? Or is it a valid disorder on its own caused by a buildup of

sexual tension? Welcome to the Carlite Psychiatry Podcast, keeping psychiatry honest since 2003.

And this is a throwback Thursday episode, where we're going to update this 2019 classic with new research and CME credits at the end.

25 different meds in 25,000 patients.

That's the full stack of psychopharm research and generalized anxiety disorder. In this month's issue, we cover a new meta-analysis on all that data.

Some of the meds rise to the top and some of them sink to the bottom.

Before we get into treatment, just what is this generalized anxiety disorder?

And where did it come from?

Generalized anxiety disorder is one of those disorders that's hotly debated. It entered the

DSM in 1980 and in every addition since then, people have tried to take it out of the diagnostic manual.

And although people think that it's a manifestation of another disorder like depression or dysthymia or panic, it's actually

been around for a long time. It was known to the ancient Greeks who called it vain fear. Aristotle

wrote of it, describing a man who by nature is

apt to fear everything, even the squeak of a mouse. Fast forward to 1869, and physicians had a new

word for this condition, pantophobia, meaning fear of everything. Who put the pan

in pantophobia? Pan means all. Pantophobia means fear of all things. Panic comes from a different

pan. The great god of Pan. No, he's not the god of Pan. He is Pan.

Right, Pan, the god of all things wild.

Because in ancient times, people would panic when they heard wild animal sounds outside their village at night.

And in ancient times, that kind of anxiety would have been normal because it was a wise

guide. It protected people from real dangers in the wilderness. Now, it might be that we have

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