Research Information System
Türkiye Aile Hekimliği Dergisi, vol.13, no.4, pp.206-209, 2009 (Peer-Reviewed Journal)
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) presents with excessive worrying and marked hypervigilance symptoms. It has different diagnostic criteria in ICD (International Classification of Disease) and DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). Despite the differences in diagnosis, it is known to be the second most frequent mental disorder after depression in primary care. Besides the economic burden on the health care system, decreased quality of life with decreased productivity is striking in GAD. Physicians in various countries are known to have difficulties in diagnosing GAD. Although the complexity of this situation is frequently explained by the patients’ presentations with physical symptoms rather than psychological and by the concern of stigmatization, is not possible to deny the contribution of the physicians’ approach to mental illnesses. GAD patients applying primary care facilities for their treatment constitute an important part of the patients that physicians have difficulties in managing and experien frustration. In this brief review, we aim to raise awareness in primary care physicians about GAD and discuss the difficulties of its diagnosis in primary care.