Concerns have been raised that the DSM-IV requirements of 6-month duration, excessive
worry, and three associated symptoms exclude a substantial number of people with clinically
significant anxiety from a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). We examined the
implications of relaxing these three criteria for the estimated prevalence and predictive
validity of GAD using nationally representative data from the US National Comorbidity
Survey Replication. Relaxing all three criteria more than doubles the estimated prevalence …