Anxiety Disorders and Comorbidities

Abstract

Diagnosing and managing anxiety disorders may be quite challenging at times. Time constraints and sheer patient volume may prohibit the primary care clinician from making complete and appropriate mental health diagnoses. It is not uncommon for a patient to have complex coexisting disorders with overlapping symptoms. Determining a primary versus a secondary diagnosis may also be difficult. Interestingly, long-term follow-up studies have shown that the development of an anxiety disorder is commonly followed by depression. With exceptions for the elderly, this sequence occurs more commonly than the development of depression followed by anxiety. To increase practitioner awareness, this chapter reviews the comorbidities that may occur with anxiety disorders and offers general practical guidelines for therapy to improve global patient functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)