A good way to understand a personality disorder is to compare it to the norm. It allows a person to contrast the differences in the disorder to the average by showing you both sides of the personality. Rather than solely focusing on the disorder, discussing the norm helps people to understand what aspects of the disorder are abnormal and what aspects are found in standard personalities. The personality disorder that I am going to compare to the standard in this paper is Generalized Anxiety disorder. To do this I am going to recount an experience that I have had, and then interpret how a person suffering from Generalized Anxiety Disorder might deal with the same experience.

Generalized anxiety disorder has a number of specific traits. The main trait is excessive anxiety and worry. This type of anxiety and worry should be occurring more days than not for it to be considered this type of disorder. Some of the other characteristics include restlessness, being easily fatigued, difficulty in concentrating, irritability, muscle tension, and disturbed sleep. When most of these symptoms are evident it is fairly clear that that individual most likely suffers

After the rigid drive Mr. Gad was extremely tired. Even though he had made it in Cincinnati before 7 PM he had to go to sleep. All of the worrying and thinking that had gone on made him tired. (Easily fatigued) However, when Mr. Gad was lying in bed he couldn't fall asleep. He continued to think about his schoolwork, his parents and about the worth of the trip in general. Mr. Gad got very little sleep that night. (Disturbed sleep)

After finally deciding that it would be fun to go on the trip Mr. Gad begins to prepare for the short excursion. Mr. Gad called some of his friends that were from Cincinnati and that may be going home for the weekend. To his dismay none of them were going, and this really upset Mr. Gad. Even though it really wasn't any of their faults that they weren't going to Cincinnati, Mr. Gad became short, cranky, and aggravated with them on the phone. (Irritable)

from Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

When he finally got onto the plane it seemed that the worries continued to follow him even into the air. His legs were cramped up and he tightly squeezed the armrest to relieve some of the pressure in his hands. (Muscle tension) Even though the process seemed horrific to Mr. Gad. He made it onto the plane and was on his way to Florida. But somehow I don't think that Mr. Gad will be able to fully enjoy himself with all the stresses that seem to follow him wherever he goes.

Even though I would find it hard to believe that a person with Generalized Anxiety could manage to make it through all of the steps that go along with making this particular trip. I am going to assume, however unlikely, that the person does achieve the goal of making it onto the plane. I am going to call the person with Generalized Anxiety Disorder Mr. Gad.

We both woke up a little later than what we had planned so the morning was very rushed. We quickly got dressed and started the drive to the airport. We got to the airport with only about ten minutes to spare and we finally caught our breath when we sat down on the plane. We were on our way to spending a very exciting

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1413
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)