Although generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) has traditionally been understudied, several authors have stated that interest in GAD has recently increased. However, no data exist to confirm or refute this assertion. The present study investigates publication rates for the anxiety disorders from 1980 to 1997 in two extensive databases: PsycLIT and MEDLINE. GAD publications were examined in two ways. First, the annual percentage of anxiety disorder publications devoted to GAD was calculated. Second, GAD publications were classified into one of four categories: descriptive, process, treatment, and review. The results show that GAD is considerably less studied than panic disorder/agoraphobia, posttraumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Though the percentage of anxiety disorder publications devoted to GAD increased considerably during the 1980s, it has generally remained stable in the 1990s. The results also show that descriptive and treatment issues account for the vast majority of GAD publications. The author concludes that the paucity of research into process issues is unfortunate because intensified investigation of the specific processes involved in GAD may lead to new breakthroughs in our understanding and treatment of this anxiety disorder.
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is one of the most commonly diagnosed anxiety disorders, with a lifetime prevalence of 4.1–6.6% in the general population Blazer, Hughes, George, Swartz, & Boyer 1991 and Kessler et al. 1994. Further, the principal feature of GAD (i.e., worry) may be a process fundamental to other anxiety and mood disorders (Barlow, 1988), suggesting that increased knowledge of GAD would lead to a better understanding of other disorders. Despite prevalence of GAD, presence of worry in many other clinical disorders, and the importance of worry as a fundamental coping process, it is widely acknowledged that GAD has been understudied (e.g., Barlow, Rapee, & Brown 1992, Butler & Booth 1991 and Sanderson, Beck, & McGinn 1994). However, there exist recent conflicting reports indicating that interest in GAD has begun to increase (e.g., Borkovec & Newman 1999, Butler 1994 and Tallis & Eysenck 1994).
No data exist at this time to confirm or refute this assertion, above and beyond showing that interest in the anxiety disorders in general has increased. For example, Norton, Cox, Asmundson, and Maser (1995) assessed number of anxiety disorder publications from 1981 to 1990 by searching two well-known databases: PsycLIT and MEDLINE. Their results reveal a dramatic increase in the number and proportion of anxiety disorder publications during that time period. In 1981, anxiety disorder publications made up only 0.19% of PsycLIT and 0.06% of MEDLINE abstracts. By comparison, in 1990, anxiety disorder articles accounted for 2.10% of PsycLIT and 0.21% of MEDLINE abstracts. Thus, there has been a marked increase of interest in the anxiety disorders in the 1980s.
