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Anxiety disorder: Symptoms, diagnosis and
treatment
Anxiety disorder: Symptoms
and diagnosis
 Anxiety
disorders usually have their origins in the normal experience of anxiety.
Anxiety can arise suddenly, as in panic or may develop gradually over a much
longer period of time. The feeling of anxiety may range in intensity from
barely noticeable to a full-blown panic attack, during which a person may
experience shortness of breath, dizziness, and increased heart rate.
Anxiety disorders may be so
distressing and so disturbing of one’s lifestyle that they may lead to other
psychological symptoms such as depression. Sometimes, however, depression may
develop first to be followed at a later point in time by anxiety or an anxiety
disorder.
The diagnosis of an anxiety
disorder is based upon the symptoms involved. Because different individuals can
experience anxiety to a greater or lesser degree without any difficulty, anxiety
disorders frequently may be relatively difficult to diagnose. Only abnormal
anxiety resulting in interference in one’s life will result in an anxiety
disorder. Most clinicians will do a family history of an anxiety disorder
(except post-traumatic stress disorder) in order to make a diagnosis of an
anxiety disorder.
Anxiety disorder treatment
An accurate diagnosis of an
anxiety disorder is absolutely imperative in order to provide the proper
treatment as different anxiety disorders receive different forms of treatment.
Also, anxiety disorders must be distinguished from anxiety that occurs in many
other mental health disorders, for which different treatment approaches are also
used. Depending upon the diagnosed anxiety disorder, psychotherapy or
medications may be used either alone or in combination. Both of these
treatments have been found to significantly relieve the distress and dysfunction
that most people experience as a result of their anxiety disorders.
Some information from the
Merck Manual of Medical Information
Additional
Information and webpage by
Paul Susic
MA
Licensed Psychologist Ph.D. Candidate
(Health and Geriatric Psychologist)
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