Understanding Anxiety

Course overview

This health update, ?Understanding Anxiety?, reviews and describes the most common anxiety disorders. It examines Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), panic disorder including nocturnal panic, phobias including agoraphobia and social phobia, separation anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It discusses screening for anxiety, measuring anxiety, and methods used to treat the various anxiety disorders. It also reviews co-morbidities. Understanding the very common experience of anxiety and anxiety disorders is important for healthcare professionals because they are going to see anxiety in its many forms throughout their professional and personal lives. Anxiety experienced by clients takes many forms, and needs to be appropriately addressed by the healthcare provider. And managing one?s own anxiety as well as responding to that of family members and friends makes the understanding of anxiety and anxiety disorders important for healthcare providers from many angles. This health update will address all of the many dimensions of anxiety and provide practical suggestions for managing one?s own anxiety as well as helping others manage theirs.