Anxiety disorders assessment

Posternak MA, Mueller TI Assessing the risks and benefits of benzodiazepines for anxiety disorders in patients with a history of substance abuse or dependence. Am J Addict 10 48-68, 2001... 

A further factor concerns the milieu in which the anxiety disorders are encountered. These are essentially detected, diagnosed and treated by primary-care practitioners. In the UK, for instance, less than 10% of such cases are referred to specialists, although the figure tends to be higher in the USA and continental Europe. General practitioners often make syndromal or even symptomatic assessments rather than diagnosing disorders, so it may be difficult to extrapolate across countries. 

Coupland, N, Glue, P and Nutt, DJ (1992) Challenge tests assessment of the noradrenergic and GABA systems in depression and anxiety disorders. Molec. Aspects Med. 13 221-247. 

Assess the patient s symptoms and level of functional impairment to determine if pharmacotherapy is appropriate for the anxiety disorder. 

Another way that professionals assess for psychiatric disorders is to use an inventory that assesses for personality characteristics. The most famous of these inventories is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), which is now in its second edition as an instrument. Although the MMPI is actually a personality inventory, as it names suggests, many professionals will use it to spot suspected psychiatric disorders, such as depression, Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, and Anxiety Disorder. The MMPI has several scales to assess common personality traits, such as depression, mania, psychopathic deviance, and even alcohol and drug use (Weed, Butcher, McKenna, Ben-Porath, 1992). 

Delle Chiaie, R., Pancheri, P., Casacchia, M., Stratta, P., Kotzalidis, G.D. and Zibellini, M. (1995) Assessment of the efficacy of buspirone in patients affected by generalized anxiety disorder, shifting to buspirone from prior treatment with lorazepam a placebo-controlled, doubleblind study. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 15,... 

Insomnia Due to Another Psychiatric Illness. Insomnia is often a symptom of mood and anxiety disorders. Depression is classically associated with early-morning awakening of the melancholic type, whereas so-called atypical depression leads to hypersomnia. Anxiety commonly leads to problems falling asleep. These patterns are not invariable. One should therefore always perform a thorough assessment for anxiety or depression in patients complaining of insomnia. 

Study (country) reference Assessment instrument n Age Time frame Anxiety disorder (any) Panic disorder Agora- phobia Subtypes Specific Social phobia phobia GAD OCD PTSD... 

Table 2 also indicates that the prevalence estimates for 12-month, 6-month and point prevalences are lower when compared to the Ufetime estimates. This can be seen as one indicator of the fluctuating character of anxiety disorders. As discussed above, variation across studies is probably mainly due to differences in study characteristics. OveraU, the 12-month prevalence rates for any anxiety disorder result in an estimated median of 11%, indicating that 1 in 10 people were affected by an anxiety disorder in the year preceding the assessment. 

El-Khayat R, Baldwin DS (1998) Antipsychotic drugs for non-psychotic patients assessment of the benefit/risk ratio in generalized anxiety disorder. J Psychopharmacol 12 323-329 Elman MJ, Sugar J, Fiscella R, Deutsch TA, Noth J, Nyberg M, Packo K, Anderson RJ (1998) The effect of propranolol versus placebo on resident surgical performance. Trans Am... 

Bernstein, G.A., and Shaw, K. (1997) Practice parameters for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with anxiety disorders. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. / Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 36(10 Suppl) 69S-84S. 

Greenhill, T.T., Pine, D., March, J., Birmaher, B., and Riddle, M. (1998) Assessment issues in treatment research of pediatric anxiety disorders what is working, what is not working, what is missing, and what needs improvement. PsychopharmacolBull34 155-164. 

The validity of anxiety disorder diagnoses in children and adolescents is tied to reliable and valid pediatric anxiety assessment tools. This chapter focuses on up-to-date clinical assessment methods, as well as treatment modalities for the most common anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. The Assessment section includes an overview of anxiety screens, sem-... 

D. How severe or impairing is the anxiety disorder Clinical Global Impressions-Severity (CGI-S) Global Assessment of Function (GAF)... 

Beidel, D.C. (1991) Determining the reliability psychophysiological assessment in childhood anxiety. / Anxiety Disord 5 139—150. Beidel, D.C., Neal, A.M., and Lederer, A.S. (1991) The feasibility and validity of a daily diary for the assessment of anxiety in children. Behav Ther 22 505—517. 

King, N.J. (1994) Physiological Assessment. In Ollendick, T.H., King, N.J., and Yule, W. (eds.) International Handbook of Phobic and Anxiety Disorder in Children and Adolescents. Plenum. 

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