About 31% of adults in the United States will experience an anxiety disorder sometime in their life.2 One of the most common anxiety disorders is generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). GAD causes excessive worry about everyday issues, such as health, money, and relationships.1

Other types of anxiety disorders include agoraphobia, panic disorder, and phobias. Some people might also have a health condition, such as thyroid problems, that causes anxiety.3 

Everyone may experience anxiety differently. Anxiety generally includes some of the following signs and symptoms.

Excessive Worrying

The primary characteristic of anxiety is worry. Most people worry from time to time. You might worry if you have a big event like a wedding coming up or are expecting the results of a health test. People with anxiety struggle with excessive worrying, which may occur as difficult-to-control intrusive thoughts about worst-case scenarios.4

Your worry will be exaggerated and out of proportion to the situation if you have an anxiety disorder.5 You may worry about losing your job even when there’s no reason to think it’s in jeopardy. Maybe you worry about your significant other breaking up with you even though things have been going well.

Each anxiety disorder has its own set of diagnostic criteria when it comes to worry. Excessive worrying needs to occur for at least six months to be diagnosed with GAD.6

Anxious thoughts and worrying can make it hard to settle yourself down and relax. People with an anxiety disorder may feel:1