Most people experience feelings of anxiety before an important event such as a big exam, business presentation or first date. Anxiety disorders, however, are illnesses that cause people to feel frightened, distressed and uneasy for no apparent reason. Left untreated, these disorders can dramatically reduce productivity and significantly diminish an individual's quality of life. Fortunately, there are effective treatments that can help.

How Common Are Anxiety Disorders?

• Anxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric illnesses in America affecting both children and adults.
• Anxiety disorders may develop from a complex set of risk factors, including genetics, brain chemistry, personality, and life events.
• Anxiety disorders are highly treatable, yet only about one-third of the more than 19 million suffering from an anxiety disorder receive treatment.
• Anxiety disorders cost the U.S. $46.6 billion in 1990 in direct and indirect costs, nearly one-third of the nation's total mental health bill of $148 billion.
• More than $22.84 billion is associated with the repeated use of healthcare services, as those with anxiety disorders seek relief for symptoms that mimic physical illnesses.
• People with an anxiety disorder are three-to-five times more likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than non-sufferers.

What Are the Different Kinds of Anxiety Disorders?
Panic Disorder—Repeated episodes of intense fear that strike often and without warning. Symptoms include heart palpitations, chest pain or discomfort, sweating, trembling, tingling sensations, feeling of choking, fear of dying, fear of losing control, and feelings of unreality.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder—Individuals are plagued by persistent, recurring thoughts (obsessions) that reflect exaggerated anxiety or fears; typical obsessions include worry about being contaminated or fears of behaving improperly or acting violently. The obsessions may lead an individual to perform a ritual or routine (compulsions)-such as washing hands, repeating phrases or hoarding-to relieve the anxiety caused by the obsession.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder—Can follow an exposure to a traumatic event such as a sexual or other criminal assault, witnessing a death, the unexpected death of a loved one, war, child abuse, natural disasters or crashes. There are three main symptoms associated with PTSD: "reliving" of the traumatic event (such as flashbacks and nightmares); avoidance behaviors (such as avoiding places related to the trauma) and emotional numbing (detachment from others); and physiological arousal such difficulty sleeping, irritability or poor concentration.

Phobias—Two major types of phobias are specific phobia and social phobia. People with specific phobia experience extreme, disabling, and irrational fear of something that poses little or no actual danger; the fear leads to avoidance of objects or situations and can cause people to limit their lives unnecessarily. People with social phobia or social anxiety disorder (SAD) have an overwhelming and disabling fear of scrutiny, embarrassment, or humiliation in social situations, which leads to avoidance of many potentially pleasurable and meaningful activities. Physical symptoms associated with this disorder include heart palpitations, faintness, blushing and profuse sweating.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder—Excessive, unrealistic worry that lasts six months or more; in adults, the anxiety may focus on issues such as health, money, or career. Almost always anticipating the worst even though there is little reason to expect it; accompanied by physical symptoms, such as fatigue, trembling, muscular aches, insomnia, abdominal upsets, dizziness, irritability, headache, or nausea.

What Are the Treatments for Anxiety Disorders?
Anxiety disorders are real, serious and treatable. Experts believe that anxiety disorders are caused by a combination of biological and environmental factors, much like other disorders, such as heart disease and diabetes.

The vast majority of people with an anxiety disorder can be helped with professional care. Success of treatment varies with the individual. Some people may respond to treatment after a few months, while others may take a year or more. Treatment is sometimes complicated by the fact that people very often have more than one anxiety disorder, or suffer from depression or substance abuse. This is why treatment must be tailored to the individual.

Although treatment is individualized, there are several standard approaches that have proven to be effective. Therapists will use one, or a combination of these therapies.

More medications are available than ever before to effectively treat anxiety disorders. These include antidepressants or benzodiazepines. If one medication is not effective, others can be tried. New medications are currently being tested or are under development to treat anxiety symptoms.

The two most effective forms of psychotherapy used to treat anxiety disorders are behavioral therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Behavioral therapy tries to change actions through techniques such as diaphragmatic breathing or through gradual exposure to what is frightening. In addition to these techniques, cognitive-behavioral therapy teaches patients to understand their thinking patterns so they can react differently to the situations that cause them anxiety.

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