Anxiety Disorders

Introduction

Anxiety Disorders affect about 40 million American adults age 18 years and older (about 18%) in a given year, causing them to be filled with fearfulness and uncertainty. Unlike the relatively mild, brief anxiety caused by a stressful event (such as speaking in public or a first date), anxiety disorders last at least 6 months and can get worse if they are not treated. Anxiety disorders commonly occur along with other mental or physical illnesses, including alcohol or substance abuse, which may mask anxiety symptoms or make them worse. In some cases, these other illnesses need to be treated before a person will respond to treatment for the anxiety disorder.

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Stress, anxiety, and depression prevent healthy sleep patterns by making you too alert or making you sleep too much. Some prescription and OTC drugs can cause insomnia. The list of reasons why people experience insomnia is a long one, including a change in our sleep patterns as we age.

One in ten children under the age of 15 is suffering from mental illness and the prevalence of mental disorders is on the increase, according to a report published June 19, 2006 by the British Medical Association.

The British Government was urged to employ more psychotherapists to help people with mental health problems get back to work.

Researchers, led by Professor Lord Richard Layard of the London School of Economics Centre for Economic Performance's Mental Health Policy Group, published their findings in the Center's Depression Report on June 21, 2006. Lord Layard said an expansion of psychiatric services would pay for itself by cutting the cost of unemployment.

"... psychotropic drugs are a bow to a little-discussed truth fraught with implications: Mentally ill service members are being returned to combat." And they are returning to Iraq with anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medications.

According to an article in The Healthy Place.com's Depression Community, " ... officials at Veterans Affairs centers across the nation are reporting a spike in veterans with underlying symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including flashbacks, nightmares, panic attacks, anger, emotional withdrawal and depression."