psychiatric disorders
Overview of Anxiety Disorders
Introduction
Anxiety disorders are characterized by persistent and excessive fear and anxiety and the dysfunctional behavioral changes a patient may use to mitigate these feelings. Anxiety disorders are differentiated from one another based on the specific objects or situations that induce the fear, anxiety, and associated behavioral changes. Everyone periodically experiences fear and anxiety. Fearis an emotional, physical, and behavioral response to an immediately recognizable external threat (eg, an intruder, a car spinning on ice). Anxietyis a distressing, unpleasant emotional state of nervousness and uneasiness; its causes are less clear. Anxiety is less tied to the exact timing of a threat; it can be anticipatory before a threat, persist after a threat has passed, or occur without an identifiable threat. People often experience both fear and anxiety as changes in their body (eg, sweating, nausea) and their behaviors (eg, avoidance, anger). Often, people are aware of these physical and behavioral changes without clearly identifying that they are anxious or fearful. Adaptive anxiety can help motivate people to prepare, practice, and rehearse; it can also encourage appropriate caution in potentially dangerous situations. When anxiety causes dysfunction and undue distress, however, it is considered maladaptive and, thus, a psychiatric disorder. Anxiety disorders are more common than any other class of psychiatric disorder, with about one third of people meeting criteria for an anxiety disorder at some point in their lifetime ( General references ). Anxiety disorders tend to be underdiagnosed, however, and can be associated with , 5th edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR) lists the various anxiety disorders in order of the typical age of onset ( General references ): Separation Anxiety Disorder None Selective mutism Specific Phobias (animal, natural environment, blood-injection injury, situational) Specific Phobias None Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder None Agoraphobia None Generalized Anxiety Disorder None Substance-induced/medication-induced anxiety disorder Anxiety due to another medical condition Other specified anxiety disorder (applies when patient has significant symptoms but does not meet criteria for any specific anxiety disorder) Separation Anxiety Disorder None Substance-induced/medication-induced anxiety disorderandanxiety due to another medical conditionshould always be considered when people present with significant anxiety. Other disorders that often present with prominent anxiety include Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) , Anxiety disorders tend to be highly comorbid with other medical and psychiatric conditions. Depressive Disorders , 