Thursday, March 16, 2017

How I remember the duration of symptoms for Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) required for diagnosis

The symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder should be present for at least 6 months. For me, it's hard to remember the duration of the symptoms in psychiatry. So I mnemonic-ify them :D

I remember G6PD, and say G6AD instead!

For those who don't know what GAD is here is the DSM V criteria for diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder...

A. Excessive anxiety and worry (apprehensive expectation), occurring more days than not for at least
6 months, about a number of events or activities (such as work or school performance).

B. The individual finds it difficult to control the worry.

C. The anxiety and worry are associated with three (or more) of the following six symptoms (with at least some symptoms having been present for more days than not for the past 6 months):
Note: Only one item required in children.
1. Restlessness, feeling keyed up or on edge.
2. Being easily fatigued.
3. Difficulty concentrating or mind going blank.
4. Irritability.
5. Muscle tension.
6. Sleep disturbance (difficulty falling or staying asleep, or restless, unsatisfying sleep).

D. The anxiety, worry, or physical symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

E. The disturbance is not attributable to the physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse,
a medication) or another medical condition (e.g., hyperthyroidism).

F. The disturbance is not better explained by another medical disorder (e.g., anxiety or worry about
having panic attacks in panic disorder, negative evaluation in social anxiety disorder [social phobia],
contamination or other obsessions in obsessive-compulsive disorder, separation from attachment
figures in separation anxiety disorder, reminders of traumatic events in posttraumatic stress disorder,
gaining weight in anorexia nervosa, physical complaints in somatic symptom disorder, perceived
appearance flaws in body dysmorphic disorder, having a serious illness in illness anxiety disorder,
or the content of delusional beliefs in schizophrenia or delusional disorder).

That's all!
-IkaN

1 comment:

  1. The duration for which a defined set of symptoms must be present to diagnose particular psychiatric disorder is very important and commonly appears on our PG entrance tests.
    Here's a little trick to remember the same
    Gas hai PPI do.

    GAS Hai - 6m
    PPI - 1m
    DO - 2w
    For the first set GAS Hai it's 6 months
    For the next set PPI it's 1 month
    For the nxt set DO it's 2 weeks (do hafte)

    G- GAD(Generalised Anxiety Disorder)
    A- ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder
    S- Schizophrenia and Somatic Symptom Disorder
    H- Hypochondriasis
    (Hypochondriasis is not a diagnosis in the DSM-5, it has been replaced by Illness Anxiety Disorder)

    P- Panic disorder
    P- PTSD(Post traumatic stress disorder)
    I- Insomnia

    D- Depression
    O- OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)

    ReplyDelete

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