Anxiety disorder

anxiety disorder, any of several disorders that are characterized by a feeling of fear, dread, or apprehension that arises without a clear or appropriate cause. Anxiety normally is an adaptive mechanism that signals a potentially harmful internal or external change and thereby enables individuals to avoid harm or to cope with stress. When anxiety occurs for seemingly no reason or in an exaggerated manner in response to relatively innocuous stimuli and disrupts a person’s life, an anxiety disorder may be diagnosed.
Anxiety disorders are some of the most-common psychiatric disorders in the world. However, despite effective treatments, many affected individuals are not diagnosed or treated adequately. Anxiety disorders often are chronic and disabling conditions associated with enormous emotional and monetary costs.

Common anxiety disorders

Generalized anxiety disorder

People with generalized anxiety disorder have persistent worry and anxiety symptoms for at least a six-month period. The condition affects women more than men, with the average age of onset being about 30 years. It tends to run a chronic course. Generalized anxiety disorder often is accompanied by other conditions, such as depression, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and substance abuse. Certain indices of disability in generalized anxiety disorder, particularly role impairment, are comparable in severity to those of major depressive disorder. The concurrent presence of depression or other conditions in generalized anxiety disorder increases not only the person’s burden of disability but also the economic costs (due to absenteeism, increased health care use, and hospitalizations) associated with the disorder.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by the presence of repetitive, highly intrusive, anxiety-provoking thoughts, impulses, or images known as obsessions. In about 80 percent of cases, obsessions lead to mental and motor compulsions (repetitive ritualized thoughts or acts) to reduce the anxiety. People with OCD may spend several hours each day engaged in compulsions, to the exclusion of normal life activities. OCD usually manifests in children or young adults, tends to run a chronic waxing-and-waning course, and is associated with significant disability in many life areas. Many OCD patients report low self-esteem, tend to seek help very late, and have high rates of major depression during their lifetime. People with severe OCD may have serious impairments in social functioning and may be financially dependent on others.

Panic disorder

Panic disorder is characterized by sudden, sometimes spontaneous attacks of terrifying anxiety accompanied by symptoms such as the experience of terror, heart palpitations, and sweating. Fear of the attacks themselves generates a pattern of avoidance that can severely constrict the person’s life. During attacks, fear that the symptoms may signal a heart attack, stroke, or other medical problem leads to repeated emergency room visits and expensive workups. People with panic disorder tend to use medical care more frequently than people without the condition. The degree to which patients with panic disorder are impaired may be influenced by various factors, such as age, education, panic disorder diagnosis, or the presence of another psychiatric condition (specifically, major depression).

Post-traumatic stress disorder

Persons who experience life-threatening trauma (e.g., sexual abuse, combat, natural disasters) may be affected by recurrent intrusive thoughts and dreams of the traumatic event, abnormally increased alertness and anxiety, and emotional numbing as well as avoidance of situations that remind them of their trauma. These symptoms are characteristic of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is a very common condition that tends to run a chronic course. It often is associated with other anxiety disorders, depression, and substance abuse. Patients may be irritable and angry, which can lead to difficulty in interpersonal relationships.
Veterans with war-related PTSD have high rates of health complaints, medical conditions, and health care use. Similar impairments of subjective distress, poor physical and emotional health, and impaired social and role functioning are experienced by nonveteran PTSD patients (e.g., rape victims). PTSD often co-occurs with chronic pain and other medical conditions (such as HIV) and is associated with intensified pain, greater disability, and worse medical outcomes. PTSD is associated with an elevated suicide rate.

Social anxiety disorder and specific phobias

Social anxiety disorder typically develops in adolescence, is more common in women, and usually runs a chronic course. Symptoms may include a fear of strangers, a fear of humiliation or of being judged by others, and an avoidance of social situations where attention centres on the individual. When confronted with these situations, the individual may experience blushing, diarrhea, elevated heart rate, nausea, sweating, or trembling. Social anxiety disorder often is accompanied by depression and an increased risk of alcohol abuse. Patients with subthreshold symptoms of social anxiety disorder can suffer from significant disability, potentially increasing concurrent depression.
Specific phobias involve irrational fear that is focused on a particular entity (e.g., dogs) or situation (e.g., driving through a tunnel). Symptoms of anticipatory anxiety, distress when in the presence of the feared object or situation, and active avoidance of triggering situations are characteristic of individuals with specific phobias.

Treatment of anxiety disorders

There are several treatment options for anxiety disorders, including cognitive behavioral therapy and medications. However, the shame, fear, and stigma that often accompany diagnoses cause many patients to avoid seeking care in the first place. Other obstacles to treatment may include failure of the health system to detect an anxiety disorder. Even when treated, many patients are left with residual symptoms and disability. However, there is clear evidence that both effective psychotherapeutic and medical treatment can improve personal and occupational functioning, raise quality of life, and reduce unnecessary medical use costs for most anxiety disorder cases. In addition, specifically targeting functional gains rather than only symptom reduction with treatments has been proposed as a means of greatly improving functional outcomes for persons with anxiety disorders. Routine use of simple validated rating scales can objectively document functional impairment, aid in evaluating the true efficacy of treatments, and assist patients in their application for disability benefits or appropriate workplace accommodations.