Anxiety Disorders

Treatments Work
by National Institute of Health

Anxiety disorders like panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder are more common than most people realize. Over 19 million adults in America suffer from these chronic conditions, which can seriously interfere with work and personal relationships.

Dr. Dennis Charney, director of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) wants you to know that there are effective ways to treat these conditions. "Treatment works as well as, if not better than, most treatments for other serious medical disorders," he says.

Types of Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety disorders can become very serious if left untreated. It's important to realize that they can also be accompanied by depression, eating disorders, substance abuse or another anxiety disorder, compounding the problem. There are several types of anxiety disorders. They include:

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). SAD is the most common of the anxiety disorders, with 15 percent of the American population afflicted by it. It is characterized by a persistent fear of social or performance situations.

"In social situations," Dr. Charney explains, "people with SAD become very nervous. They feel that people are looking at them, that they're not saying the right things, that they don't look right." These people can become very shy and begin to avoid social situations. As a result, they don't have as many friends as they could. It also affects their ability to perform at work because many jobs involve speaking in front of other people and being in group meetings where you are expected to make a contribution. So SAD can have a very broad effect on your life.

"This should be separated from shyness," Dr. Charney stresses. "Shyness is a temperament. Some people are more shy than others. SAD produces impairment."

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a reaction to a terrifying event that keeps returning in frightening, intrusive memories. The traumatic event could be something you see or something that happens to you directly.

"PTSD produces an intense fear and a sense of helplessness," Dr. Charney says. People with this disorder can become detached and emotionally numb. They may feel guilt for surviving. "The survivors wonder, why me?" he says. They also often have problems sleeping.

PTSD is fairly common. At some point in their lives, 40 to 80 percent of people are exposed to a very serious, traumatic event. At any given time, eight percent of the people in the U.S. have PTSD.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Everyday events and decisions cause exaggerated worry and tension in people with GAD. "Patients with GAD are worrywarts," Dr. Charney says. "They feel the world in general is not a safe place, that bad things happen to good people like themselves. They are always feeling distressed." They become restless, fatigued, irritable, and tense.

"People with GAD have chronic, moderate levels of symptoms associated with lots of worrying," Dr. Charney explains, "but they don't have panic attacks that send them to the emergency room." About six percent of the U.S. population suffers from GAD.

Panic disorder. People with panic disorder have recurrent, unexpected feelings of extreme fear and dread that strike for no apparent reason, causing their heart to race, rapid breathing, sweating, and shakiness. These "attacks" can send people to the hospital believing they are having a heart attack.

"It could come right out of the blue for no apparent reason," Dr. Charney explains, "when you're not in a situation that would normally make you feel stress or anxiety or fear."

People with this condition often avoid places where they've had panic attacks, and in severe cases, may become housebound. Two to four percent of the people in America suffer from panic disorder.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). People who suffer from OCD become trapped in a pattern of repetitive thoughts and behaviors that are senseless and distressing but extremely difficult to stop. If severe and left untreated, OCD can destroy a person's capacity to function at work, at school, or even in the home. OCD affects more than two percent of the country's population.

About the Author

NIH is the nation's medical research agency - making important medical discoveries that improve health and save lives. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research.