Anxiety Disorders

While anxiety helps humans survive day-to-day experiences and prepares the body to face threats and danger, obsessive anxieties and fears serve negative functions by maintaining the stressful state and preventing normal and healthy relaxation. When this phenomenon occurs, anxiety disorders, a group of behavior abnormalities characterized by feelings of doom and excessive fear, may develop. Throughout the industrialized world, billions of dollars are spent each year in providing treatment for anxiety disorders. Many individuals, however, never seek professional help in dealing with these conditions despite major reductions in quality of life. In the United [Page 151]States, the medical cost of treating anxiety disorders is twice that spent on other medical conditions, even among populations who are ill. Medications used in treatment of these disorders are among the most widely used drugs in the world.

Both white and black Americans exhibit similar patterns of anxiety disorders. However, African Americans are more likely to suffer from hypertension, which has been associated with anxiety disorders. Hispanic Americans, particularly from countries of the Caribbean, are prone to ataque de nervios, which is similar to classic panic attacks. Affected individuals may episodically shout uncontrollably or burst into tears. Attempts to use Western treatments for anxiety disorders have generally not been successful in non-Western nations. This is due in part to the fact that Eastern societies tend to look for specific reasons for anxiety disorders that range from work stress to environmental stressors. The assumption is that if those causes are removed, the disorder will vanish.

Individuals who suffer from anxiety disorders tend to be tense, worried, unhappy, pessimistic, and unable to separate real from imagined dangers. Anxiety disorders include panic disorder without agoraphobia, panic disorder with agoraphobia, agoraphobia without a history of panic disorder, specific phobias, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), acute stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, anxiety disorder due to a generalized medical condition, sub-stance-induced anxiety disorder, and anxiety disorder not otherwise specified.