The diagnosis of Anxiety Disorders in older adults is made all the more difficult because the stigma of mental illness makes it hard for elders to talk about them.
And it’s not helped along by the fact that, until recently, Anxiety Disorders in older adults was little-studied and were treated with dismissal and veiled ageism. However, research is accelerating in the treatment of older adults, and there are some very effective therapies becoming available.
Still, diagnosis of Anxiety Disorders in older adults is difficult at best, because it takes a great deal of sensitivity and experience to ask the right questions. Family and friends are very important in the diagnosis, since they can see the changes in moods, behavior, and habits that a physician cannot see.
This post is the second in a two-part series on the Anxiety Disorders in older adults. Yesterday’s post addressed how many older adults have Anxiety Disorder, how it is strongly linked with depression, and the risk factors. This post covers the following topics:
- Why are Anxiety Disorders so hard to diagnose in older adults?
- Overview of treatment of Anxiety Disorders in older adults
- Medications for Anxiety Disorders in older adults
- Therapy for Anxiety Disorders in older adults
- Asking the right questions to diagnose Anxiety
- Worried about an aging parent or loved one?
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Anxiety Disorder,
Elderly,
Elders,
GAD - General Anxiety Disorder,
OCD - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,
Older Adults,
Panic Disorder
Anxiety Disorders in older adults is a huge problem that has been ignored, causing a great deal of unnecessary suffering.
Research on older adults’ Anxiety Disorders lags behind that of other mental conditions, such as depression and Alzheimer’s. Until a few years ago, Anxiety Disorders were believed to decline with age. But now experts are beginning to recognize that Anxiety is as common in the old as in the young, although how and when it appears is distinctly different in older adults.
Sadly, because of the lack of information on Anxiety Disorders in older adults, especially in how to diagnose them, many go undiagnosed and untreated. James Maddux and Barbara Winstead state: 1
[I]n comparison to other diagnoses (e.g. depression) less is known about the etiology [causes], including clinical characteristics, course, treatment, and prognosis of anxiety disorders in late life. … Because anxiety disorders are difficult to diagnose in older adults, they are often undiagnosed.
Yet, late-life Anxiety Disorders are what Keri-Leigh Cassidy and Neil Rector call a “sleeping geriatric giant.” Anxiety Disorders are twice as prevalent as dementia among older adults, and 4 to 8 times more prevalent than major depressive disorders, causing significant impact on the quality of life, morbidity, and mortality of older adults.2
The annual U.S. health care costs due to late-life Anxiety Disorders in 1990 was estimated to be $42.3 billion. The numbers are surely higher now, and likely to go higher yet as the Baby Boomer generation grows older.3
This post is the first in a two-part series on the Anxiety Disorders in older adults. Tomorrow’s post addresses the diagnosis and treatment of Anxiety Disorders, and gives some tips on how to tell if your parent or loved one is suffering from them. This post covers the following topics:
- How prevalent are Anxiety Disorders in older adults?
- What are the most common Anxiety Disorders in older adults?
- Anxiety Disorders in older adults are strongly linked with depression
- What are the risk factors for Anxiety Disorders in older adults?
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Agoraphobia,
Anxiety Disorder,
Elderly,
Elders,
GAD - General Anxiety Disorder,
OCD - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,
Panic Disorder,
SAD - Social Phobia,
Specific Phobias
Suicidal behavior has not been associated with the Anxiety Disorders alone until recently.
It has long been known that as many as 90 percent of suicides in the United States are associated with mental illness, especially substance abuse disorders, schizophrenia, and mood disorders such as depression. Up to 75 percent of all people with depression, schizophrenia or other mental illnesses who attempt or complete suicide also are diagnosed with one or more of the Anxiety Disorders.
As recently as 1999, the Surgeon General could only say that, ” it is likely that the rate of comorbid [simultaneous] anxiety in suicide is underestimated.” There had been no studies at the time of Anxiety Disorder alone being a risk factor for suicide.
However, since then there have been a number of studies of the risks of Anxiety Disorders alone for suicide. It has been universally found that the suicide risk in patients with Anxiety Disorders is much higher than previously thought. Bob Montgomery and Laurel Morris say,
Patients with anxiety problems, especially but not only panic problems, suffer an unexpectedly high rate of heart disease and suicide. Suicide has long been recognized as a risk associated with depression. But [when] researchers compared a group of anxious with a matched group of depressed patients and found that the suicide rates for anxious patients were equal to or slightly higher than for the depressed patients.
This post summarizes some landmark studies from the past three years that have proven Anxiety Disorders, both alone and in association with other mental illnesses, are a significant risk factor for suicidal ideation, attempts, and completions.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Agoraphobia,
Anxiety Disorder,
GAD - General Anxiety Disorder,
OCD - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,
Panic Disorder,
SAD - Social Phobia,
Specific Phobias,
Suicide
by Mike Nichols on September 24, 2008 · 6 comments
Drugs are commonly used in conjunction with therapy to reduce the effects of Anxiety Disorders.
One of the purposes of psychiatric medications is to relieve a person’s symptoms enough to allow therapy to be effective. This has been a standard approach for years.
A radical new approach to drugs and therapy has been proposed by researchers and published in the June 15, 2008, issue of Biological Psychiatry.
Instead of using drugs to relieve symptoms, they propose using certain drugs to enhance learning during therapy sessions, improving the effectiveness of behavioral therapy treatment for Anxiety Disorders.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Anxiety Disorder,
Exposure Therapy,
Medications,
OCD - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,
Panic Disorder,
PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
Therapy
by Mike Nichols on September 23, 2008 · 5 comments
Modern psychiatry has long held that Anxiety Disorder and depression are two distinct conditions.
However, in the real world, many suffer from both. Surveys show that half of Anxiety Disorder sufferers also have symptoms of clinical depression. And 60-70 percent of people with major depression also have an Anxiety Disorder.
Evidence is growing that they are really two aspects of one disorder. Looking at them that way, some experts say, could speed the development of therapy and medications that better treat both conditions.
David Barlow, director of the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University, states that:
[Anxiety Disorders and depression are] probably two sides of the same coin. The genetics seem to be the same; the neurobiology seems to overlap.
This post explores several similarities between Anxiety Disorders and depression, along with the risks of getting both disorders, the benefits of early treatment, and a summary of how the disorders are treated together.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Anxiety Disorder,
Depression,
OCD - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,
Panic Attacks,
Panic Disorder,
PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
SAD - Social Phobia,
Specific Phobias
by Mike Nichols on September 11, 2008 · 0 comments
The subject of this blog are the Anxiety Disorders, obviously.
But I just realized that, aside from the reference information listed on the sidebar, I have never given a succinct list of what the primary Anxiety Disorders are.
This is the first of a two-part series that describes the main Anxiety Disorders. Note that every heading has a hyperlink to the full Reference article. Today’s post will cover the following:
- General characteristics of Anxiety Disorders
- Agoraphobia
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) estimates that about 18.1 percent of the American people age 18 and older suffer from some sort of Anxiety Disorder. That’s 55 million people! According to the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA), the US economy loses over 42 billion dollars yearly due to undiagnosed, misdiagnosed and under-treated Anxiety Disorders. Less than one-third of those affected with Anxiety Disorder are treated, the ADAA found in a 1999 study.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Agoraphobia,
Anxiety Disorder,
GAD - General Anxiety Disorder,
OCD - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
by Mike Nichols on September 10, 2008 · 3 comments
Stress seems to be just another component of the modern life.
It is so common that it is treated as a joke by standup comedians, in tv sitcoms and in the print media. Here’s one for you, brought to you by one of the prominent stress reduction gurus:
- Picture yourself near a stream.
- Birds are softly chirping in the crisp, cool, mountain air.
- No one knows your secret place.
- You are in total seclusion from that hectic place called “the world”.
- The soothing sound of a gentle waterfall fills the air with a cascade of serenity.
- The water is clear.
- You can easily make out the face of the person you’re holding under the water…
Can you relate to this joke? It’s funny because you can picture being at the breaking point, with the person causing so much stress leaving the picture permanently.
But stress is no laughing matter. It can ruin your physical and mental health. It can ruin your relationships and make your life a living hell. Following are lists of signs of stress to watch out for, along with information on how stress can affect your body and mind.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Bipolar,
Depression,
GAD - General Anxiety Disorder,
Mental Health Professionals,
OCD - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,
Panic Attacks,
Panic Disorder,
PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
SAD - Social Phobia,
Stress
by Mike Nichols on August 28, 2008 · 1 comment
Anxiety is the most common mental disorder experienced by older adults.
Anxiety Disorders affect over 18 percent of people over the age of 60. As many as 7 percent of this age group have Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), a disorder characterized by uncontrollable worries about everyday things.
Despite its prevalence, Anxiety Disorders remain one of the most undiagnosed and undertreated conditions in this age group. This is due to the failure of the current model of the primary care physician as gatekeeper model.
Eric J. Lenze, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, says,
Studies have shown that generalized anxiety disorder is more common in the elderly … than depression, which affects about 3 percent of seniors. Surprisingly, there is little research that has been done on this disorder in the elderly.
Due to the lack of evidence, doctors often think that this disorder is rare in the elderly or that it is a normal part of aging, so they don’t diagnose or treat anxiety in their older patients, when, in fact, anxiety is quite common in the elderly and can have a serious impact on quality of life.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Agoraphobia,
Anxiety Disorder,
Elderly,
Elders,
GAD - General Anxiety Disorder,
OCD - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,
Panic Attacks,
Panic Disorder,
primary care physician,
Psychiatrist,
Psychologist,
PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
SAD - Social Phobia,
Specific Phobias
Anxiety Disorder sufferers have long known that they are more susceptible to physical diseases.
But now a study headed by Jitender Sareen of the University of Manitoba has detailed just what Anxiety Disorders can do to you physically.
It was proven several years ago that those with Anxiety Disorders are more prone to heart problems. This new study shows that people with Anxiety Disorders also have an increased risk of developing physical ailments, particularly thyroid diseases, respiratory diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, arthritis, allergies, and migraine diseases.
Early treatment of Anxiety Disorders is essential to warding off physical diseases caused by it. Sareen said,
Right now there is a long delay between someone developing an anxiety problem and seeking appropriate treatment — usually 10- 15 years. The hope is to get people with anxiety problems to go get help earlier. The treatments are quite effective if you get at it early before you get secondary [health conditions].
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Agoraphobia,
Anxiety,
Anxiety Disorder,
GAD - General Anxiety Disorder,
OCD - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,
Panic Disorder,
PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
Research,
SAD - Social Phobia
