ABSTRACT
Most people worry about current and future events, and probably on a regular basis. This is normal and part of life and the human condition, perhaps. In some situations, anxiety can even serve as a motivational drive for changing our circumstances. However, what we need to know is how are these normal and rather common emotions of anxiety distinguished from more problematic, enduring, or pathological anxiety symptoms? According to DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994), the diagnostic criteria for a generalized anxiety disorder include excessive anxiety regarding a number of activities that the person finds difficult to control. Some of the consequent symptoms may include restlessness, fatigue, irritability, muscle tension, and difficulty falling asleep, among others. Furthermore, this anxiety causes significant distress and may interfere with the person’s social or occupational functioning. With regard to the diagnosis of the disorder in the presence of traumatic brain injury, once again, DSM-IV specifies that the disturbance is not due to a general medical condition and, where this is thought to be the case, 144technically speaking, an anxiety disorder due to a general medical condition should be diagnosed.
