Delimiting the boundaries of generalized anxiety disorder: differentiating high worriers with and without GAD

Investigations of the boundary between generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and normal worry have relied primarily on comparisons of GAD-diagnosed individuals with non-anxious controls. One limitation of this approach has been its inability to determine whether characteristics associated with GAD are unique to the disorder or are typical of severe worry more generally. The present studies made this differentiation using a virtually unstudied population: severe worriers failing to meet the diagnostic criteria for GAD. These studies assessed the prevalence of non-GAD high worriers in several college samples and identified features distinguishing them from individuals with GAD. Non-GAD high worriers far outnumbered GAD high worriers and reported many of the same symptoms as their GAD-diagnosed counterparts. However, results revealed several characteristics that consistently distinguished the two groups. Implications for the conceptualization, assessment, and investigation of worry and GAD are discussed.