General, persistent, constant, and often rehabilitating levels of anxiety
Specifics of GAD
No triggers, physiological symptoms typical of a hyperactive autonomic nervous system, lasts from 6 months to years, 5% of people are afflicted by it in some point in their lives
Panic Disorder
Characterized by brief, abrupt, and unprovoked recurrent episodes of intense and uncontrollable anxiety
Fears losing control of self, going crazy, having a heart attack, of dying; fear of having a panic attack can lead to the development of the disorder; susceptible to agoraphobia due to association with panic attacks; afflicts 1.5% of US population
Generalization
transfer of an anxiety learned to one stimulus to a similar stimulus