How common is generalised anxiety disorder?

Abstract

Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) as currently defined is a very common disorder with an estimated lifetime prevalence reported in European and US epidemiological studies of 4–6% and a 12-month prevalence of 1.5–2% (Figure 2.1). Prevalence estimates inevitably vary depending on the strictness of the diagnostic definition used to define a case. Higher estimates can be expected if the less demanding one-month minimum duration criterion is applied.² The later, more restrictive criteria of DSM-IV appear to identify a smaller, more stable, possibly more homogeneous group, albeit one where the presentation is somewhat skewed in the direction of psychic symptomatology. As with other depressive and anxiety disorders, there is an over-representation of women, in whom the disorder is observed twice as frequently as in men.