title: Generalized anxiety disorder: is there any specific symptom?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The main aim of the present research was to evaluate the coherence of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) psychopathological pattern, the robustness of its diagnostic criteria, and the clinical utility of considering this disorder as a discrete condition rather than assigning it a dimensional value.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was designed in a purely naturalistic setting and carried out using a community sample; data from the Sesto Fiorentino Study were reanalyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 105 subjects who satisfied the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria for the diagnosis of GAD, only 18 (17.1%) had no other comorbid DSM-IV disorder. The most frequent comorbid condition was major depressive disorder (70.4 %). Only 2 of the GAD diagnostic symptoms (excessive worry and muscle tension) showed a specific association with the diagnosis itself, whereas the others, such as feeling wound up, tense, or restless, concentration problems, and fatigue, were found to be more prevalent in major depressive disorder than in GAD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study demonstrates that GAD, as defined by DSM-IV criteria, shows a substantial overlap with other DSM-IV diagnoses (especially with mood disorders) in the general population. Furthermore, GAD symptoms are frequent in all other disorders included in the mood/anxiety spectrum. Finally, none of the GAD symptoms, apart from muscle tension, distinguished GAD from patients without GAD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy. carlo.faravelli@unifi.it
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Faravelli
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Castellini
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Benni
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brugnera
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Landi
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lo Sauro
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pietrini
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rotella
authors.forename: Valdo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ricca
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged