Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Understanding GAD: Symptoms, Causes, Chronic Worry Patterns, and How Treatment Helps You Take Back Your Life

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a chronic condition marked by excessive worry, persistent tension, and difficulty controlling anxious thoughts, even when there is no immediate threat. People with GAD often describe their anxiety as a constant background noise—always present, always pulling their attention toward worst-case scenarios.

This is not simply “being a worrier” or “overthinking.”
GAD affects the nervous system, relationships, sleep, concentration, and daily functioning.

People with GAD are often:

Highly responsible

Empathetic

Thoughtful

Hardworking

Deep feelers

Emotionally intuitive

But anxiety steals their energy, confidence, and presence.

What Causes GAD?

GAD develops from a combination of:

  • Genetics

  • Temperament (especially sensitivity + conscientiousness)

  • Learned coping patterns

  • Chronic stress

  • Family modeling of worry

  • Trauma or prolonged emotional strain

  • Neurochemical imbalances

  • Cognitive patterns that reinforce fear

Many clients feel relieved to learn: GAD is not your fault and it’s treatable.

Common Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Mental Symptoms

  • Excessive worry that feels impossible to stop

  • Persistent fear about everyday situations

  • Difficulty making decisions

  • Overthinking or second-guessing yourself

  • Difficulty concentrating

  • Constant “what if?” thinking

  • Feeling on edge or unable to relax

  • Mental exhaustion

Physical Symptoms

  • Muscle tension or aches

  • Jaw clenching

  • Stomach issues, nausea, IBS

  • Chest tightness

  • Restlessness

  • Fatigue

  • Sleep difficulties

  • Racing heart

Emotional Symptoms

  • Irritability

  • Feeling overwhelmed

  • Disconnected from joy

  • Fear of making mistakes

  • Feeling like “something bad is coming”

These symptoms can last months or years without proper support.

How We Treat Generalized Anxiety Disorder

At The OCD Relief Clinic, we use evidence-based treatments to help clients quiet chronic worry, retrain their nervous system, and regain emotional balance.

1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

We help clients:

  • Identify and challenge anxiety-driven thought patterns

  • Replace catastrophic predictions with realistic thinking

  • Break cycles of worry and rumination

  • Build confidence in decision-making

  • Strengthen emotional resilience

2. Exposure-Based Approaches (ERP & Tolerating Uncertainty)

Even though ERP is designed for OCD, elements of ERP are incredibly effective for GAD:

  • Learning to sit with uncertainty

  • Reducing avoidance and safety behaviors

  • Building trust in your ability to cope

  • Re-engaging in activities anxiety has limited

3. Somatic and Nervous-System Regulation

We integrate skills for:

  • Reducing physical tension

  • Lowering baseline anxiety

  • Improving breathing and grounding

  • Managing panic symptoms

4. Values-Based Work & Life Balance

Many GAD clients struggle with perfectionism, people-pleasing, or fear of mistakes.

We support:

  • Clarifying values

  • Setting boundaries

  • Building self-compassion

  • Restoring joy and presence

How GAD Clients Benefit From Our OCD Program

Our clinic’s OCD program is uniquely helpful for GAD, even though GAD is technically a different diagnosis because the two disorders share:

  • fear of uncertainty

  • mental checking

  • avoidance

  • perfectionism

  • reassurance-seeking

  • over-responsibility

  • distorted risk perception

GAD clients benefit greatly from OCD-style treatment because it teaches them to:

  • build tolerance for uncertainty

  • interrupt worry loops

  • stop avoiding feared situations

  • reduce compulsive reassurance

  • retrain their brain’s threat system

  • live more flexibly and authentically

Many GAD clients say ERP was the missing piece they never got in traditional anxiety therapy.

Common Questions Asked About Generalized Anxiety Disorder

  • If worry feels constant, uncontrollable, and impacts your daily life for more than six months, GAD may be present.

  • Yes, persistent mental looping, second-guessing, and inability to shut off the mind are hallmark symptoms.

  • Yes. With evidence-based treatment, physical and mental symptoms improve significantly.

  • No. They share overlap (worry, uncertainty, rumination), but OCD includes compulsions that reduce anxiety.

  • SSRIs, SNRIs, and sometimes beta-blockers can significantly reduce symptoms when combined with therapy.

  • Your brain has fewer distractions, making worry loops louder. Treatment helps break this cycle.

  • Absolutely, GAD commonly triggers muscle tension, stomach issues, headaches, and chest tightness.

When to Reach Out for Help

If you feel like worry is running your life, or like your mind never rests, effective, compassionate help is available.

At The OCD Relief Clinic, we help individuals with GAD:

quiet chronic worry

reduce physical tension

break patterns of rumination

tolerate uncertainty

build self-compassion

reconnect with joy and balance

You don’t have to navigate anxiety alone.


Serving Weber County, Davis County, and all of Utah via telehealth

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