Generalized anxiety disorder publications: So where do we stand?

Although generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) has traditionally been understu died, several authors have stated that interest in GAD has recently increas ed. However, no data exist to confirm or refute this assertion. The present study investigates publication rates for the anxiety disorders from 1980 t o 1997 in two extensive databases: PsycLIT and MEDLINE. GAD publications we re examined in two ways. First, the annual percentage of anxiety disorder p ublications devoted to GAD was calculated. Second, GAD publications were cl assified into one of four categories: descriptive, process, treatment, and review. The results show that GAD is considerably less studied than panic d isorder/agoraphobia, posttraumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Though the percentage of anxiety disorder publications devoted t o GAD increased considerably during the 1980s, it has generally remained st able in the 1990s. The results also show that descriptive and treatment iss ues account for the vast majority of GAD publications. The author concludes that the paucity of research into process issues is unfortunate because in tensified investigation of the specific processes involved in GAD may lead to new breakthroughs in our understanding and treatment of this anxiety dis order. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.