Anxiety Disorders

Weather worries can threaten a child's mental health

(HealthDay)—The monstrous tornado that devastated Moore, Okla., on Monday, killing dozens of adults and children, is a stunning example of violent weather that can affect a child's mental well-being.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 21, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

To suppress or to explore? Emotional strategy may influence anxiety

When trouble approaches, what do you do? Run for the hills? Hide? Pretend it isn't there? Or do you focus on the promise of rain in those looming dark clouds? New research suggests that the way you regulate ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 13, 2013 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

US psychiatry gets makeover in new manual

The latest makeover to a massive psychiatric tome honored by some, reviled by others and even called the "Bible" of mental disorders is being released Saturday with a host of new changes.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 18, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

One in five U.S. kids has a mental health disorder, CDC reports

(HealthDay)—As many as one in five American children under the age of 17 has a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year, according to a new federal report.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 16, 2013 | popularity 2.7 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Chronic pain sufferers likely to have anxiety

Patients coping with chronic pain should also be evaluated for anxiety disorders, according to new research published in General Hospital Psychiatry.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 15, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

World first clinical trial supports use of Kava to treat anxiety

(Medical Xpress)—A world-first completed clinical study by an Australian team has found Kava, a medicinal South Pacific plant, significantly reduced the symptoms of people suffering anxiety.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 13, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Early stress may sensitize girls' brains for later anxiety

High levels of family stress in infancy are linked to differences in everyday brain function and anxiety in teenage girls, according to new results of a long-running population study by University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists.

Neuroscience created Nov 11, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Neuroscientists discover new player in how brain deals with stress

Neuroscientists investigating the 'brain code' claim to have made a significant step forwards in understanding how the brain deals with stress- and mitigates its impact.

Neuroscience created Oct 03, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Stress in the city: Brain activity and biology behind mood disorders of urban residents

Being born and raised in a major urban area is associated with greater lifetime risk for anxiety and mood disorders. Until now, the biology for these associations had not been described. A new international study, which involved ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Jun 22, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Heavy drinking rewires brain, increasing susceptibility to anxiety problems

Doctors have long recognized a link between alcoholism and anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Those who drink heavily are at increased risk for traumatic events like car accidents and domestic ...

Neuroscience created Sep 02, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Memory appears susceptible to eradication of fear responses

Fear responses can only be erased when people learn something new while retrieving the fear memory. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by scientists from the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and published in the leading ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Feb 18, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Brain imaging reveals reduced brain connections in people with generalized anxiety disorder

(Medical Xpress)—A new University of Wisconsin-Madison imaging study shows the brains of people with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) have weaker connections between a brain structure that controls emotional response ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Sep 04, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study finds gender, employment status and social conditions key factors in development of mental disorders

Being a woman, unemployed and living in a situation of social adversity are the three strongest trigger influences in subjects with a genetic predisposition to mental disorder. Moreover, in Andalusia, over 20% of the population ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 13, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Study links deletion of brain-derived neurotrophic factor to major depression, anxiety, and obesity

McGill researchers have identified a small region in the genome that conclusively plays a role in the development of psychiatric disease and obesity. The key lies in the genomic deletion of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Oct 08, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Freud's theory of unconscious conflict linked to anxiety symptoms in new brain research

An experiment that Sigmund Freud could never have imagined 100 years ago may help lend scientific support for one of his key theories, and help connect it with current neuroscience.

Psychology & Psychiatry created Jun 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 1 | with audio podcast


Anxiety disorder is a blanket term covering several different forms of a type of mental illness of abnormal and pathological fear and anxiety. Conditions now considered anxiety disorders only came under the aegis of psychiatry at the end of the 19th century. Gelder, Mayou & Geddes (2005) explains that anxiety disorders are classified in two groups: continuous symptoms and episodic symptoms. Current psychiatric diagnostic criteria recognize a wide variety of anxiety disorders. Recent surveys have found that as many as 18% of Americans may be affected by one or more of them.

The term anxiety covers four aspects of experiences an individual may have: mental apprehension, physical tension, physical symptoms and dissociative anxiety. Anxiety disorder is divided into generalized anxiety disorder, phobic disorder, and panic disorder; each has its own characteristics and symptoms and they require different treatment (Gelder et al. 2005). The emotions present in anxiety disorders range from simple nervousness to bouts of terror (Barker 2003).

Standardized screening clinical questionnaires such as the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale or the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale can be used to detect anxiety symptoms, and suggest the need for a formal diagnostic assessment of anxiety disorder.

This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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