Overview and clinical presentation of generalized anxiety disorder

After a short history of the development of the American Psychiatric Association classification system, anxiety as a symptom, syndrome, and diagnosis and its evolution from Freud to DSM-IV are discussed. Diagnostic criteria of generalized anxiety disorder are compared for DSM-III, DSM-III-R, DSM-TV, and ICD-10. Recommendations for possible revision of generalized anxiety disorder diagnostic criteria as presently codified in DSM-IV are made, with focus on worry as the cardinal anxiety symptom, the use of the descriptor excessive, duration of illness, and severity of symptoms.