What differentiates an anxiety disorder from typical adolescent worry?

• A. Worry is normal and is always proportional to the situation.
• B. Worry is limited to school performance.
• C. Excessive, persistent worry that impairs functioning and is not proportional to the situation.
• D. Worry is always about future events.

Answer: (C)

The important idea here is that anxiety disorder is marked by worry that goes beyond a normal response: it is excessive, lasts over time, and interferes with daily functioning, and it isn’t tied to what’s really happening in a proportional way. In adolescence, normal worry fits the situation, is reasonable, and tends to lessen when the stress passes. But with an anxiety disorder, the worry is persistent and pervasive, can affect academics, relationships, sleep, and mood, and doesn’t match the actual level of threat.

That’s why the best choice describes worry that is excessive, persistent, and impairing, and not proportional to the situation. The other statements describe aspects of typical worry (proportionality, limited focus on school performance, or always about future events) that don’t capture the impairment and disproportion that distinguish an anxiety disorder.