[Etiological factors of generalized anxiety disorder].

Generalized Anxiety disorder (GAD) is a widespread psychiatric syndrome involving significant consequences on people's health. However, recent data show that this disorder has received little attention when compared to other anxiety disorders. A review of the publication on GAD also stated that the majority of research has been conducted on descriptive issues, whereas etiological factors received lower rates of publication. This may be explained by the fact that changes in the conceptualization of GAD slowed down the progression of researches focussing on the identification of factors implicated in the development and the maintenance of its symptoms. For example, in the third version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental disorders (DSM) published in 1980, GAD could only be assigned if patients had a persistent anxiety without reporting specific symptoms of other anxiety disorders (eg Specific Phobias, Panic Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder). With DSM III-R and DSM IV, excessive worry became the central feature of GAD, which increased its diagnostic validity. Taking that into account, where do we stand in the comprehension of GAD? What are the etiological factors identified as playing a role in the development and the maintenance of GAD and its central feature, excessive and uncontrollable worry? The goal of this article consists to provide answers to these questions by reviewing the literature of the current knowledge of GAD and examining various theories and explanatory models available. Firstly, many studies suggest that environmental factors are implicated in the development and maintenance of GAD. However, the majority of researches rests on an out-of-date conceptualization of GAD. Furthermore, the nature of experimental designs used in researches limits their conclusion. The first environmental factor documented is negative life events. Researchers noted that the occurrence of one or more negative life events being significant and appearing in an unexpected way was associa-ted with an increase in the risk to develop a GAD (eg. Familial problems (eg conflicts, abuses), considered as chronic stress-inducing situations, have also been suggested as etiological factor of GAD. Among the other environmental factors identified are separation during childhood, role inversion during childhood, lack of social interactions, poor life satisfaction, and modeling of a relative having an anxiety disorder. The cognitive and behavioral approach has been widely used during the last two decades to precise the etiology of GAD. First of all, some studies have pointed out the function of worry, which is to suppress images associated with negative thoughts (eg. Thus, GAD patients seem to develop excessive worries in order to prevent more negative feeling associated with the images of a thought. Other authors suggested that a deficit of attention might be responsible of excessive worry. Finally, some cognitive variables such as intolerance of uncertainty, false beliefs about worry, negative problem orientation and cognitive avoidance have been suggested as playing a determinant role in the development and maintenance of GAD. In order to resume the empirical findings available in the literature, an etiological model gathering the cognitive, behavioral, and environmental factors implicated in GAD is proposed. This model suggests that GAD is the result of a psychological vulnerability activated by a tension resulting from a negative event. Finally, recommendations are brought concerning future researches on GAD and its central characteristic, excessive and uncontrollable worry.