We all worry about our everyday problems: kids, finances, or careers. Worrying a little is natural and normal, but apparently it’s not healthy to fret 24/7.

According to HealthDay, if you’re one of those individuals that worry too much, you may have what doctors call generalized anxiety disorder, or GAD - a condition marked by worry about most aspects of life that you feel you can’t control.

GAD can leave you feeling physically exhausted and emotionally drained, and also frustrate loved ones, HealthDay says.

“This worry process never ends,” said Dr. David H. Barlow, professor of psychology and psychiatry at Boston University and founder and director emeritus of the university’s Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders.

“The key psychological feature of GAD is a state of chronic, uncontrollable worry,” he added, noting that about 6 percent of Americans suffer from the condition at some point in their life.

“They are always anticipating the worst,” Barlow said. They worry about major concerns as well as ones most of us would consider minor, he explained. They can’t seem to stop the worrying, even when they know it’s unrealistic or unfounded. And once one worry is over, the next one surfaces.

People struggling with GAD “know the worry is out of proportion” to reality, said Jerilyn Ross, a licensed clinical social worker and president and CEO of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America.

All this worrying leaves GAD sufferers living in a chronic state of physical tension, Barlow said. Many have trouble sleeping, are irritable, can suffer from gastrointestinal distress, and can be left with frayed relationships. Other symptoms can include muscle aches and trembling and twitching, according to the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health.

Fortunately, there are successful treatment options for GAD, and they don’t take years, HealthDay says.

The trend is toward targeted, goal-driven sessions, with intense treatment lasting a couple of months or so, then tapering off to occasional sessions. Usually, cognitive behavioral therapy - including talk therapy, cognitive “restructuring” to change the way people view situations that typically trigger worry - can help, along with exercise, according to HealthDay.

Ross says the goal is to get the person with GAD to experience the feeling of worry and “desensitize” him or her to it, or ‘to experience it over and over again almost until it gets boring.”

According to Barlow, it’s also helpful to teach the patient new ways to experience emotions, how to experience emotions in more positive ways, to ride them through, to accept them, to let them run their natural course.

In addition to cognitive or behavioral therapy, medications can also help, Barlow said, including the antidepressants Prozac, Paxil and Effexor.

To learn more about generalized anxiety disorder, visit the Anxiety Disorders Association of America at http://www.adaa.org.