Anxiety – 1 minute read Feeling
According to the Canadian Psychiatric Association, anxiety disorders are the most common type of psychiatric disorders.] Many patients with anxiety disorders experience physical symptoms related to anxiety and subsequently visit their primary care providers. Despite the high prevalence rates of these anxiety disorders, they often are under-recognized and under-treated clinical problems.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) anxiety disorders include disorders that share features of excessive fear and anxiety and related behavioral disturbances. These disorders include;
· separation anxiety disorder,
· selective mutism, <1%
· specific phobia, 5% of children and 16% of adolescents
· social anxiety disorder (social phobia), 8- 13%
· panic disorder, 3.7%
· agoraphobia, 1.5%
· generalized anxiety disorder, 8.7%
· substance/medication-induced anxiety disorder, (difficult to establish given the wide range of medications, drugs and toxins implicated in anxiety disorders)
· anxiety disorder due to another medical condition.
· Obsessive-compulsive disorder 2%
o acute stress disorder, and post traumatic stress disorder (included in the trauma and stress-related disorders) 8 % are no longer considered anxiety disorders as they were in the previous version of the DSM. However, these disorders are closely related to anxiety disorders and the sequential order of these chapters in the DSM-5 reflects this close relationship.
Read the entry on Causes of Affective Disorders for a more in-depth explanation of the causes of anxiety. In short anxiety appears to be caused by an interaction of bio-psychosocial factors, including genetic vulnerability, which interact with situations, stress, or trauma to produce clinically significant syndromes.
Symptoms vary depending on the specific anxiety disorder.
Treatment usually consists of a combination of pharmacotherapy and/or cognitive behaviour therapy/psychotherapy.
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