Abstract
Two methods of recruiting patients with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) were compared. One hundred general practitioners in the immediate neighbourhood of a major urban hospital were approached for referrals, and an article on generalised anxiety asking for volunteers was placed in the evening newspaper. The former resulted in ten doctor-initiated referrals, two of whom fulfilled DSM-Ill criteria for GAD. The latter resulted in over 500 volunteers. In a random selection of 136 volunteers who secured their doctors' approval, 56 fulfilled GAD criteria. The majority of the remainder had a depressive illness. The newspaper article was more economical of researchers' time and more successful in finding suitable subjects than directly approaching general practitioners.