Abstract
Anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are the most common mental health illnesses. According to the World Health Organization, over 300 million people have suffered from anxiety disorder in 2019. Statistics show that every third person of the world‘s population will experience anxiety disorders during their lifetime, which makes GAD an extremely important issue. A number of patients are suffering from anxiety for many years until they get the proper diagnosis. The difficulty of establishing the proper diagnosis, such as GAD, relies on non-specific symptoms, occurring GAD with other mental illnesses, but also somatic diseases. The DSM-V criteria are validated tools in the diagnostic process for patients with anxiety. Moreover, there are other useful screening forms available such as GAD-7, that are helpful and cost-effective. Despite the non-specific symptoms and comorbidity with other diseases, limited psychiatric specialists access and stigmatization of mental problems are other factors that extend the time to diagnose. All these aspects affect the quality of life for a number of patients suffering from anxiety problems.