Short course
5.3
Treating anxiety disorders
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© 1998 MJA
| Diagnosis and management
| The presentation of most anxiety disorders is stereotyped (see sections 5.4 to 5.8) |
| | Anxiety outside the stereotypes -- particularly in patients over 40 with no previous history of anxiety -- is likely to have other causes that must be recognised and treated:
- Depressive disorder (requiring antidepressant therapy)
- Life crisis (requiring supportive care -- help the patient evaluate the situation, decide what to do, and carry out what has to be done)
- Other physical disorders (eg, hyperthyroidism)or mental disorders (eg, schizophrenia).
| | A central feature of all anxiety disorders is that patients complain of the physical symptoms of the "flight or fight" response -- rapid heart rate, need to overbreathe, tremor and shaking, nausea, sweating and focusing of attention |
| | Education about the meaning of these symptoms is a key part of treatment (ie, that they do not indicate physical illness, that they can be understood and controlled).
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